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
O.K. Connery contemporary reviews, Bosley Crowther writing for "The New York Times" referred to the film as "a wobbly carbon copy of the James Bond thrillers" "Variety" described the film as so "unbelievably inept", that "many viewers may find it hilarious fun." The "Monthly Film Bulletin" stated that "O.K. Connery" was a "grotesque parody of a parody" noting endless allusions to Neil Connery's brother Sean Connery. The review concluded that "the film as a whole is bad enough to be hysterically funny." "The Cleveland Press" referred to the film as a "dreary and dismal espionage movie" stating that the film lacked the