JAMES BOND
NEWS

LUKE G. WILLIAMS listens to the latest Ian Fleming audiobook release of CASINO ROYALE and uncovers evidence of further textual tampering…

Sometime in December something strange happened.

Having recently invested in a monthly Audible subscription, I had started to use my monthly free credit to download the brilliant collection of Ian Fleming audiobooks that had been first issued in 2012 and featured a bewilderingly brilliant array of premier British acting talent – Bill Nighy, Toby Stephens, David Tennant, Kenneth Branagh, and Rosamund Pike among them.

But when I went to download one of the missing titles in my digital collection – CASINO ROYALE read by Dan Stevens – the title seemed to have disappeared.

A glitch? A software error?

It soon became clear it was neither of those things. In fact, as 2025 had dawned, the entire Fleming oeuvre had been removed from sale – not just on Audible, but on all other digital audiobook platforms too. Unless, that is, I wanted to buy a foreign language version – in Spanish, Hindi, German etc.

Knowing that Ian Fleming Publications (IFP) had been engaged in the process of producing new recordings of the Fleming novels this was an unsurprising rather than sinister development.

However, the sudden and unexpected nature of the removal still grated on me. For one, my original CD copies of these peerless audio recordings had long been lost in the midst of various house moves, and now I could no longer replace them all with digital versions. Furthermore, the line-up of narrators attached to the new recordings, however accomplished some of them are, simply does not compare to the superlative 2012 vintage.

What most annoyed me – however – was my suspicion that the removal of the 2012 audio recordings means that we will never again be able to easily access, or purchase, audio editions of the original Fleming texts – namely, the texts as they were before they were controversially re-edited by IFP in 2023 amid much media ballyhoo.

So I wrote to IFP for some clarity about what was going on.

Here are the questions I put to them:

“1. Why are these set of recordings no longer available? Will they be available again in the future? Why was no warning given to fans that they were about to disappear, which would have given fans the opportunity to buy any titles they currently do not own.

2. When will the new versions be released in the U.K.? (I understand some have already been released in the USA)?

3. Will the new recordings be the re-edited versions of Ian Fleming’s work which are currently in print? If so, will the original versions of his texts as they were originally published ever be available in print or audio format again?

4. Will there be newly recorded versions of all 14 Fleming books?”

The answers I received two weeks later were as follows, but did not fully answer all of my questions.

“Thank you for your enquiry and your interest in Ian Fleming's James Bond audiobooks. Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding. It has been a busy time here at IFP.

“We also apologise for the disappointment caused by Audible removing the James Bond audiobooks from their site. This happened because our license with them had ended recently. Since then, as you are hopefully aware, we have released new audio editions in the UK which are now available on Audible and most other audio platforms.

“To answer your other questions, the new audio series includes all fourteen Bond books and the two non-fiction titles and have been recorded from the paperback texts released in 2023.”

No answer then, to my question as to whether the pre-2023 versions of Fleming’s work will ever be released again, although I suspect the answer is ‘no’.

So where does this leave Fleming readers?

I don’t have the time, energy or inclination to recite all the arguments for and against the re-editing of Fleming’s books. Suffice to say, however, that my own take on this matter is that a disclaimer/‘trigger’ warning – such as that which appears at the beginning of the 2023 editions – is apt and sensible and should be sufficient and allowed to exist alongside the original texts in an un-edited state.

I do not deny that some of the details and linguistic terms used within the Fleming canon are offensive and inappropriate, but I would argue that their inclusion, within a book which contains a contextual warning, might actually serve the useful purpose of enlightening and educating modern readers about how society and language have changed since the books were originally written.

Besides, once you start re-editing, where do you stop, and how do you decide what to keep and what to remove? It becomes a pointless, thankless, and possibly never-ending task.

The new audio edition of CASINO ROYALE is a case in point.

When IFP launched their new ‘re-edited’ texts in 2023, they issued a statement on their website in which they were frustratingly vague about which books had undergone revisions. This statement suggested that the changes made were restricted to “some racial words likely to cause great offence now” and that the “changes [made] are very small in number. Indeed some books, including CASINO ROYALE, remain completely unaltered.” Furthermore, IFP emphasised that they “felt strongly that it was not our role to comb out every word or phrase that had the potential to offend”.

Given these assurances, it came as something of a surprise, therefore, when listening to the new audiobook version of CASINO ROYALE, narrated by Richard Armitage, to discover that a further unannounced 23-word edit has been made to the text which means it now differs from the 2023 “unaltered” edition.

This discovery is at odds with the assurance IFP gave me – referenced above – that the new audio versions have been “recorded from the paperback texts released in 2023”. (At this point, devotees of Fleming’s work can probably make an educated guess about which 23 words have been removed from CASINO ROYALE).

Fleming’s original text of his debut 007 novel, as well as the 2023 paperback re-release, contains within chapter 23 TIDE OF PASSION, the following passage:

“And now he knew that she was profoundly, excitingly sensual, but that the conquest of her body, because of the central privacy in her, would each time have the sweet tang of rape. Loving her physically would each time be a thrilling voyage without the anticlimax of arrival. She would surrender herself avidly, he thought, and greedily enjoy all the intimacies of the bed without ever allowing herself to be possessed.”

The new audio edition, however, omits 23 words from this section of text, so that it now reads as follows:

“And now he knew that she was profoundly, excitingly sensual. Loving her physically would each time be a thrilling voyage without the anticlimax of arrival. She would surrender herself avidly, he thought, and greedily enjoy all the intimacies of the bed without ever allowing herself to be possessed.”

I will leave it to readers to make their own judgements about whether such an excision was necessary or desirable.

But, in my opinion, to proudly trumpet the 2023 paperback edition of CASINO ROYALE as “unaltered” and then covertly alter it for an audio release billed as “unabridged” is disingenuous, and leaves readers inevitably wondering what other further unannounced changes to Fleming’s original texts may have been made for these new audio releases.

Only time, and further listening, will tell…

The muted buzz of London’s midday traffic filtered through the open window on the ninth floor of the grey building opposite Regent’s Park that was then – and is now – the headquarters of the British Secret Service.

When James Bond came through the door, M. was sitting at his broad desk, lighting his pipe. He made a vague gesture with the lighted match towards the chair on the other side of the desk and Bond walked over and sat down.

M. glanced at him sharply through the tobacco smoke and then threw the box of Swan Vestas matches on to the empty expanse of red leather in front of him. He lifted his eyes from his pipe and cleared his throat. “I’ve got a rather disturbing matter to discuss with you, 007,” M. said, gruffly.

Bond settled into the chair, his attention fully engaged as he looked across into the lined sailor’s face that he loved, honoured, and obeyed. This sounded interesting. After weeks of paperwork drudgery and office canteen life it was about time the old man put him to effective use again. Bond felt the quickening of his pulse, a feeling he had so often experienced in this room.

"Disturbing, sir?” Bond said, trying not to sound over-eager. “The world’s been getting progressively more absurd by the day. What’s got your feathers ruffled this time sir?"

M.’s damnably clear grey eyes turned cold as he pushed a brown manilla folder across the desk towards Bond. “Take a look at this. I think you’ll find it... interesting,” M. suggested, arching his left eyebrow as he sat back in his chair.

Bond glanced down at the contents of the folder, which appeared to be a printout of an email thread, as well as posts from social media pages and James Bond ‘fan forums’. He never frequented such places, but he had vaguely judgmental notions about the sort of people that did. He read quickly, his brow furrowing with a mixture of confusion and consternation.

“You’ll remember that back in 2023 the complete works of Ian Fleming – your works – underwent some revisions,” M. continued, a grimace etched across his tired face. “Well, audio versions of these sanitised versions have now replaced the originals as well. The texts as Fleming wrote them… are no longer commercially available – except via second-hand retailers, of course.”

“It seems further changes have also been made to the 2023 texts,” M. added with a resigned sigh. “There’s no longer any reference to ‘the sweet tang of rape’ in CASINO ROYALE, for example. Lord knows what other extra edits these chaps might have snuck in.”

Bond couldn’t help laughing. It was, however, a laugh edged with bitterness. “The final step in the total sanitisation of Fleming, then sir? I can’t imagine the Commander would have had much patience for that.”

“Nor can I,” M. replied grimly. “But that’s the direction his so-called literary guardians have been heading in for a while now. And who knows where it will end? Before we know it Pussy Galore will probably be re-named Kitty Galore. And I doubt your rants about women drivers or people with their hormones mixed up will survive too long either. And as for those expanded universe titles featuring Q. and the other Double-Os…”

M.’s voice trailed off. Nothing more needed to be said about those books, Bond admitted to himself as his eyes narrowed into fierce slits. “You’re telling me the world’s about to get an increasingly ‘politically correct’ Bond?” he pondered. “One where the truth about Cold War espionage, the rough edges of the character, and the moral ambiguity that Fleming so carefully crafted... all gets cleaned up?”

“Exactly,” M. replied, leaning back in his chair. “And not only that, but now these revised editions are out there in all formats, the original texts, the very essence of what Fleming created in the first place, has been swept away in a tide of… sanitisation.”

M. never swore, but he enunciated the last word with distaste, as though it was a particularly unmentionable and filthy expletive.

Bond gave a short, sharp laugh, though it held little mirth. “Perhaps we should remove all the cigarettes and dry martinis too...”

“Don’t give them any ideas,” M. said impatiently, his sharp eyes fixing on Bond’s face. “Don’t forget those tampering twits at EON Productions got rid of your smoking habit back in the 1990s. Besides, the danger isn’t just what they’re doing to your image, 007, it’s what they’re doing to the entire narrative.”

“Fleming made you more than just a spy – he made you a symbol of the age in which he was writing. Warts and all. It might not chime with the modern world, but it reflected the world as it was back then. That’s all under threat now.”

Bond paused, as the enormity of the implications sank in. “So this is about more than just audiobooks and re-edited texts, sir. Someone wants to rewrite the past... literally.”

M.’s steely gaze never wavered. “Precisely. And the question is who would benefit from erasing the original Bond – the man who, for better or worse, captured the essence of an entire era? Who’s really behind this, 007?”

Bond shrugged his shoulders and sat up straighter, his mind already racing through the possibilities. SMERSH? SPECTRE? Some new and fiendish organisation that hadn’t yet appeared on his radar?

“The question isn’t who’s behind it — it’s what they hope to achieve,” he reflected. “Fleming created me with a purpose – to reflect the world of espionage and reassert fading British prestige. And he did it in a way that no one else could. If they replace those stories, if they control the narrative… well, they control history.”

M.’s lips tightened into a thin smile. “And we can’t let that happen, James. Not on our watch.”

Bond stood, the resolve in his posture now unmistakable. “‘I’ll get to the bottom of it, sir. Someone’s going to regret tampering with Fleming’s legacy. When I find out who’s behind this, they’ll learn what happens when you try to rewrite the truth.”

M. gave a brief nod. “Keep me informed, 007. And for God’s sake, don’t let them succeed. A sanitised Bond is no Bond at all.”

As he squared his shoulders to leave, Bond gave a sardonic smile, one that didn’t quite reach the edge of his eyes. “Don’t worry, sir. I’ll make sure they get the message. The old-fashioned way, if necessary.”

With that, Bond turned and walked out, the green baize door clicking softly shut behind him.

Ian Fleming Publications Audiobooks

FACT FILES - The James Bond Novels