Thunderball (novel) "Daily Express" strip was cut short on the order of its owner, Lord Beaverbrook, after Ian Fleming signed an agreement with "The Sunday Times" to publish a short story. On screen, "Thunderball" was released in 1965 as the fourth film in the Eon Productions series, with Sean Connery as James Bond. The second adaptation, "Never Say Never Again", was released as an independent production in 1983 also starring Connery as Bond and was produced by Kevin McClory. BBC Radio 4 aired an adaptation in December 2016, directed by Martin Jarvis. It starred Toby Stephens as Bond and Tom Conti as
James Bond filmography 007's defining characteristic: he's an absolute swine". James Chapman commented on the realism and violence in the film noting that Bond is seen to seriously bleed for the first time in the series; Chapman also identified a number of violent scenes which make "Casino Royale" notable in the series. In 2012 "Skyfall" was released: it was Craig's third outing as 007. Reviewing the film, Philip French, writing in "The Observer", considered that Craig managed to "get out of the shadow of Connery", while the "New Statesman" thought that he had "relaxed into Bond without losing any steeliness". Notes References James