The spy chief known as M has always been James Bond's boss in the films inspired by Ian Fleming's books, not that he - or she - was always able to exercise much authority over the world's most famous (and disobedient) secret agent. Yet for more than 60 years, 007 has been firmly under the thumb of the Broccoli family. Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli launched the Bond films in 1962, with his partner Harry Saltzman, and their company Eon Productions has been running Bond ever since. Until now. Cubby died in 1996 but this year the news broke that his daughter Barbara Broccoli, and stepson Michael G Wilson, had agreed to sell creative control of the franchise to Amazon. It is CEO Jeff Bezos and his underlings who now have a licence to thrill, and Bezos wasted no time in asking on social media, 'Who'd you pick as the next Bond?' Well, the latest betting has James Norton (pictured) in the running, along with Aaron Taylor-Johnson and -Babygirl star Harris Dickinson, but there are whispers the next Bond could be female or non-binary. Amazon did not shoot this down with their statement last week, saying: 'We are committed to honouring the legacy of this iconic character while bringing a fresh, exotic new chapter to audiences.' That word 'exotic' troubles traditionalists. We've been used to exotic scenes in Bond since the first film, Dr No, in which Ursula Andress emerged from the sea in her bikini. But interpretations of 'exotic' differ. Can Bezos be trusted with the joystick? Whatever, with Bond facing an uncertain future, let's consider his past. Eon made 25 Bond films (others made the 1967 spoof Casino Royale and the 1983 Never Say Never Again) and here I rank them in what I consider to be their rightful order of greatness, from best to worst... All 25 films are available to rent or buy on Prime Video or Sky. Some can be watched for free this week on ITVX (as marked) 1 GOLDFINGER (1964) The third Bond film stands supreme in each of the most important departments. It has the best 007 (Sean -Connery), most menacing villain (Gert Frobe's Auric Goldfinger), the most memorable henchman (Olympic wrestler Harold Sakata as the silent but deadly manservant Oddjob), the swishest car (Aston Martin DB5), the sexiest femme fatale (Honor Blackman's Pussy Galore, below, with Bond), the most fiendish mode of murder (Shirley Eaton as the ill-fated Jill Masterson, sprayed with gold, above right) and the ultimate theme song (by Shirley -Bassey). It even has the greatest one-liner. Bond: 'Do you expect me to talk?' -Goldfinger: 'No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die.' The pre-titles sequence has rarely been bettered (it's the one with a wet-suited 007 emerging from the sea with a model seagull on his head), indeed practically every scene is a classic, from Bond -confounding Bernard Lee's M with his knowledge of vintage French brandy, to him outsmarting the cheating Goldfinger over a game of cards, and later, a game of golf. Ian Fleming died during filming, but by then he knew that his cherished characters were in safe hands. By the time of the premiere in September 1964, Bond-mania was almost as frenzied as Beatlemania. At the Odeon Leicester Square the crowd broke through the security barriers and crashed through the cinema's glass windows, scaring the life out of Tania Mallet (who played Jill Masterson's sister Tilly). It was 'like a tidal wave', she later recalled. The only boxes this -glorious picture does not tick are those of political correctness. The screenplay implied that Pussy Galore was a lesbian until Bond 'converted' her. I once interviewed Blackman, incidentally. She was pushing 90 but still positively purred about Connery. He was, 'I think, the sexiest creature I have ever met.' ITVX 2 FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963) Many purists consider this the greatest of them all, and I can understand why. Terence Young's film introduced both the evil organisation SPECTRE, and 007's perennial arch-nemesis, Ernst Blofeld, while the fight on the Orient Express between Connery's Bond and assassin Red Grant (Robert Shaw) is superbly orchestrated even by modern standards. And who can forget the sadistic, deadly-booted Rosa Klebb, brought to life by the great cabaret star Lotte Lenya? It's said that Ian Fleming's fifth Bond yarn was chosen for adaptation because President John F Kennedy had named it among his favourite ten novels. Whatever, it practically overnight turned Bond into the world's most famous secret agent - and Connery into a superstar. 3 SKYFALL (2012) Easily the best Bond film of the 21st century so far, in which Daniel Craig's 007 gives even Connery's version a run for his money, not least because, in Javier Bardem's twisted -cyberterrorist (and former MI6 agent) Raoul Silva, he must confront one of the most menacing Bond villains of all time. With Skyfall, director Sam Mendes pumped new life back into the franchise after the uneven Quantum Of Solace (2008). But he also gave us a rush of nostalgia, putting Bond back at the wheel of his Aston Martin DB5 and dishing up one of the most poignant scenes since Diana Rigg copped it in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), as Judi Dench bowed out dramatically, dying in Bond's arms after being shot, ending 17 magnificent years as M. 4 ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (1969) Among Bond fans, the consensus is that George Lazenby was a dud in his only crack at the role. The Australian model was certainly no Connery. But I think history has been harsh on his acting. He's a bit mechanical, but the film itself is a corker. It has superb action scenes shot in the Swiss Alps, a fabulous John Barry score, and an -exploration of Bond's more sensitive side as he marries, then mourns, Diana Rigg's Contessa 'Tracy' di Vicenzo, assassinated in a drive-by shooting. All this and Louis -Armstrong too, singing We Have All The Time In The World. Not to mention Telly Savalas as Blofeld and a dazzling array of Bond girls including Anouska Hempel, Jenny Hanley and Joanna Lumley. ITVX 5 LIVE AND LET DIE (1973) Jeremy Brett, Julian Glover and Michael Billington were all in the running to succeed Sean Connery before Roger Moore got the gig, playing Bond more or less as he had Simon Templar in The Saint, winningly self-deprecating and almost parodically debonair. His first and best outing as 007 is a proper joyride (pictured), with a gloriously bonkers plot. It also has one of the most jaw-dropping Bond stunts (our hero crosses a crocodile-infested lake, using the ferocious beasts as stepping stones), and my favourite of all the pre-title sequences, the Dixieland funeral in New Orleans. 6 CASINO ROYALE (2006) Not to be confused with the 1967 spoof of the same title, this introduced the Daniel Craig years with terrific swagger (pictured), and really in the nick of time. Craig's predecessor Pierce Brosnan was a better 007 than some insist, but there's no doubt the venerable franchise was beginning to look its age. Casino Royale was a brilliant rebranding, giving us a much harder-edged Bond, a top-notch villain in Mads Mikkelsen's sinister Le Chiffre, and Eva Green's smart, sultry, doomed double agent Vesper Lynd, who gets most of the film's best lines. Saturday, 8pm, ITV4, and ITVX 7 DR NO (1962) Lieutenant-Colonel Jasper Weston-Davies is not a name readily associated with Bond, but he it was, under the pen name Berkely Mather, who re-worked the 'unsatisfactory' original script. He did a fine job. Seeing the inaug-ural Bond film now, the limited budget is evident, but there is some -pleasingly snappy dialogue and plenty of wonderful moments. The most enduringly famous is surely our introduction to Honey Ryder (pictured, with Bond), in the bikini-clad form of Ursula Andress, emerging from the sea. Even more significantly, it was the world's introduction to Connery's original and definitive Bond. 8 YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967) Roald Dahl was hired to write the script and proved himself more than equal to the double-entendres and loopy plotting required. This picture, directed with tremendous flair by Lewis Gilbert, scaled new heights of excess: Blofeld's lair, beneath a Japanese volcano, was the most wildly inventive we'd seen. As for the SPECTRE chief himself, he is played, for the first and only time, by Donald Pleasence (pictured). In my view, there has never been a better Blofeld. Nor have there been many better theme songs than Nancy Sinatra's version of You Only Live Twice. Broccoli wanted her father, Frank, to perform it, while composer John Barry asked for Aretha Franklin, but Nancy nails it. 9 NO TIME TO DIE (2021) Nobody can deny Daniel Craig went out with a spectacular bang in his valedictory performance as Bond, or that Cary Fukunaga's movie (the longest of them all, at two hours, 43 minutes) delivers some stunning set-pieces. On the downside, Craig's Bond becomes uncomfortably touchy-feely and I was more than a little disappointed with Rami Malek's scarred baddie, who is nowhere near as formidable or as original as he should have been. But there are ample -compensations, such as Ana de Armas as the world's least probable, but most alluring, CIA agent (pictured). ITVX 10 THUNDERBALL (1965) Following in Goldfinger's footsteps was quite a challenge. They all gave it their best shot, lavishing on Thunderball a huge budget and generating frenzied anticipation. Not even Connery could contain his enthusiasm, telling the Daily Mail the film's premise was 'wildly exciting' (by Bond standards it was business as usual, featuring SPECTRE pinching two nuclear warheads). Connery added it 'could be even better than the last one'. Which it wasn't. But it went ballistic at the box office. Adjusting for inflation, no Bond picture made more money until Skyfall. 11 THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977) Intriguingly, a brilliant young director called Steven Spielberg was keen to take the helm and in some ways it's a shame Cubby Broccoli turned him down (especially given the henchman, played by 7ft 2in Richard Kiel, pictured with Moore, was called Jaws). Broccoli turned to Lewis Gilbert, who delivered again in this mad yarn about a shipping baron who threatens to nuke New York City. Was this, not Live And Let Die, Moore's finest hour as 007? Moore thought so. ITVX 12 THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (1987) After seven Roger Moore films, seeing Timothy Dalton as Bond (pictured) was rather like adjusting to a new prime minister. That august position could not be taken more seriously than Dalton took Bond. In fairness, his interpretation was much truer to Ian Fleming's creation than Moore's, and I know some who put this film in the top five of all time. For me, it's never what you'd call great fun. That said, it also kept half an eye on topical issues. Aids was still raging and Bond is pretty much -monogamous. Apart from Maryam d'Abo's pretty Czech cellist, he keeps his fiddling to a minimum. 13 QUANTUM OF SOLACE (2008) Roger Moore wasn't wrong when, while praising Craig's Bond, he wondered 'what the hell' was going on. All Bond plots should have twists and turns but this one, something about Bolivian oil, really doesn't have to be quite as labyrinthine. Still, there's a truly exhilarating pre-titles car chase, and a young Gemma Arterton with surely the most cherishingly silly of all Bond-girl names, Strawberry Fields. Arterton now wishes she hadn't taken the part, or had at least struck a blow for womankind by insisting on saying no to Bond, and wearing 'really, really flat shoes'. 14 GOLDENEYE (1995) Pierce Brosnan's debut as Bond wasn't half bad. And Sean Bean was astutely cast as an ex-MI6 agent gone rogue. Six years had passed since Licence To Kill, so in effect this was a reboot, with Brosnan offering a 007 more in the wisecracking Moore mould after the intense Timothy Dalton years. GoldenEye also marks Judi Dench's debut as M, but it's a Bond veteran, Desmond Llewelyn as gadget maestro Q, who bags the film's biggest laugh. 'Don't touch that,' he says, as Bond inspects a bread roll, expecting it to contain booby traps. 'That's my lunch.' ITVX 15 OCTOPUSSY (1983) I vividly recall seeing this film (pictured) with my then-girlfriend in Dundee, the week it came out; funny how certain trips to the cinema linger in the memory. And I know that back then, befuddled as we were by the near-incomprehensible plot, we both loved it. Maud Adams is marvellous in the title role, Steven Berkoff is entertainingly nuts as a mad Soviet general, and Moore's Bond disarms a nuclear device dressed as a clown, which doesn't happen every day. The Indian backdrop is excitingly exotic too, although the really noteworthy location is the Berlin border crossing Checkpoint Charlie. It was perhaps the most evocative of all Cold War sites, yet this was the only time it was used for a Bond shoot. 16 SPECTRE (2015) Skyfall was a very difficult act to follow and Spectre (pictured) was, as it were, given the slip. It has the same director (Sam Mendes), the same Bond (Daniel Craig), and some genuinely stirring action scenes, but one overwhelming disappointment in Christoph Waltz's underwhelming Blofeld - Waltz never seems to grasp the importance of being Ernst. On the other hand, maybe it's the fault of the script, in particular a sub-plot preposterous even by 007 standards, which reveals Blofeld to be Bond's foster brother. Mendes himself has acknowledged that the writing process was 'rushed'. ITVX 17 TOMORROW NEVER DIES (1997) Like those who pick England football managers, the moguls who select actors to play James Bond usually go for the opposite of what came before. It was certainly the case when Timothy Dalton was followed by Pierce Brosnan, whose wit and charm in 1995's GoldenEye came as a relief after a two-film humour bypass. In his second picture as Bond, Brosnan really settles into the role, while Jonathan Pryce's megalomaniacal media mogul (pictured) presages the TV hit Succession as an attempt to lampoon Rupert Murdoch. 18 LICENCE TO KILL (1989) This wasn't meant to be Timothy Dalton's (pictured) swansong as Bond, and for that matter it wasn't meant to be called Licence To Kill; the title was Licence Revoked until the producers realised that US test audiences thought it referred to a driver's licence (as if Bond getting a driving ban for speeding might be a storyline). The film itself isn't bad, with classy stunts and exciting chases, as long as you can accept the scarcity of wit, mischief and glamour, and the dark, violent excess. It's the second-best of the two Dalton Bonds (he declined to return for a third, fretting that he'd get stuck in the part), but it just about holds its head up as a 1980s action thriller. ITVX 19 FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (1981) This was English director John Glen's feature-film debut, and he went on to helm four more 007 pictures, making him the most prolific of the Bond directors. He was a skilled craftsman, and just what the franchise needed after Moonraker, a rare Lewis Gilbert misfire. For Your Eyes Only brought Bond back down to earth. And there's one laugh-out-loud scene, when Moore's Bond enters a confessional box and says, 'Forgive me, father, for I have sinned,' to which Desmond Llewelyn as Q, in clerical robes on the other side of the partition, replies, 'That's putting it mildly, 007.' ITVX 20 DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971) Lazenby got too big for his Beretta after filming On Her Majesty's Secret Service and diva-ishly quit the role, so Connery was seduced back with a huge $1.25m fee plus a share of the profits. Yet even he couldn't rescue Guy Hamilton's ultra-camp movie, with its overtly gay henchmen Mr Wint and Mr Kidd, a circus elephant playing a fruit machine in a Las Vegas casino, and Charles Gray's Blofeld behaving like a Peter Sellers caricature of a hairdresser. All that, plus the name of Lana Wood's character Plenty O'Toole, almost as puerile as the film's moon buggy chase. But on the upside, there's another sparkling Shirley Bassey theme song and the iconic Ford Mustang stunt in a Vegas alley. 21 THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974) The late Christopher Lee brings proper actorly heft to the role of evil assassin Francisco Scaramanga, making him just as urbane as Moore's 007. Indeed, he's the best thing in a film that begins well - and gives Britt Ekland a juicy part as inexperienced agent Mary Goodnight (pictured) - but ends up limping towards a feeble climax. The film has one of the oddest of all Bond baddies in Scaramanga's diminutive manservant Nick Nack (played by 3ft 11in Herve Villechaize) and the whole thing is rather summed up by the smutty, altogether desperate lyrics of Lulu's theme song: 'He has a powerful weapon...' 22 A VIEW TO A KILL (1985) Had David Bowie not turned down the invitation to play the psychotic villain, Zorin, this film might be remembered for more than just Roger Moore's last outing as Bond. Christopher Walken took the part but he does little to redeem one of the more plodding pictures of the series - despite its classic stunt when May Day (Grace Jones, pictured) dives off the top of the Eiffel Tower. 23 THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH (1999) Not only is the world not enough to rescue this rather clunky effort, Pierce Brosnan's penultimate stab at Bond, nor are Robert Carlyle as the chief baddie, ex-KGB agent Renard, and Robbie Coltrane, again playing the Russian mobster we first met in GoldenEye. The plot is muddled, but there are some decent action sequences and Sophie Marceau makes a first-class femme fatale (pictured, with Brosnan). But poor Denise Richards (later to blunder into a tumultuous marriage to Charlie Sheen) is hilariously miscast as nuclear physicist Dr Christmas Jones. 24 DIE ANOTHER DAY (2002) The Bourne Identity had come out five months earlier, and Matt Damon's Jason Bourne made Brosnan's Bond look old hat. What's more, Die Another Day became notorious for its product placement, earning the nickname Buy Another Day. John Cleese has fun as Q (pictured), but there is an over-reliance on special effects that led one critic to write that 40 years of Bond history had been thrown 'down the toilet' in favour of 'flashes and bangs'. And the worst Bond film ever... 25 MOONRAKER (1979) Sending Bond into orbit was a costly mistake (at $34m it was more than twice the price of its predecessor, The Spy Who Loved Me). Director Lewis Gilbert said that when he began making feature films in 1948 he could knock off an entire picture for less than the Moonraker phone bill. What's more, the plot is ridiculous and the stunts are clownish. Still, the story did make possible one of the cheekiest quips, when Q announced that Roger Moore's Bond (pictured, with Lois Chiles as Holly Goodhead) was 'attempting re-entry'. Also, the baddie, Hugo Drax, was a wildly rich entrepreneur with a God complex who was desperate to conquer space, so that now seems rather prescient...