Judi Dench’s 9 James Bond movies as M ranked and Skyfall isn’t No 1

Dame Judi Dench celebrates her 90th birthday today and has a film back catalogue across decades to be proud of.

Yet the Oscar winner who started out in Shakespeare is best known for her nine appearances as M across the Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig James Bond films.

The first female MI6 chief in the franchise (whose real name in-universe is Olivia Mansfield) stuck around for the Casino Royale reboot and died on-screen in Skyfall before a couple more cameo appearances.

Looking back, we’ve ranked them all by Dench’s appearances as M, and you may be surprised that neither Skyfall, Casino Royale, nor GoldenEye are No 1. Warning: Spoilers ahead.