Continuity of M? (May have been brought up before)...

Brosnan_fan

So this question may very likely have been brought up before, but I'm very interested to settle this, in case this gets raised when I'm discussing Bond with friends/acquaintances.

Was Robert Brown meant to be the exact same M as Bernard Lee's? I was wondering if there was an official word on this from Eon; particularly Cubby Broccoli or Michael Wilson.

Perhaps even Roger Moore has something quoted which could shed some light on the matter? )

Jarvio

I read once that Robert Brown's M was actually the same as admiral hargreaves (who he played in TSWLM), and he got promoted to M by the time of OP. Which would make him different from Bernard Lee's M. Whether this is true or not I don't know.

Sir Miles

I'm pretty sure there has never been an official line on this...so you can decide for yourself

Barbel

Not from EON, but official Bond author Raymond Benson treated Sir Miles Messervy and Admiral Hargreaves as two distinct characters.

Silhouette Man

Difficult one - I think you could go either way on this one - I've seen these typews of debates over on CBn. I think both Lee and Brown play the same M, but you could look at it the other way, I suppose. i forgot about Benson - you're right.

Thunderpussy

In my Mind, after Lee. M is Admiral Hargreaves, who's been promoted.

MooseWithFleas

That's my stance too, though I'm kind of glad that EON has left it up for interpretation. For that matter, I wonder if Judi Dench's M is the same M. In my mind, the only one we can be sure is not the same is Dench and Fiennes since we see both characters in the same movie and both mentioned as M.

Thunderbird 2

For me the Judi Dench M's are easier to seperate.

In SF, M (Oliva Mansfield) says she was head if section fir Hong Kong at the time of the handover of the state back to China in 97 when Silva started his rebelious streak. Silva in his own way verifies this when showing his, disfigurement.
Barbara Mawdsley M (name is from the books) became head if MI6 in 1996 the year Goldeneye was released. A year before Hong Kong was given back to China. Also the way the characters react to Bond and other characters around them is subtly different too.

Re Robert Brown's M I agree with TPussy. I think he is a promoted Admiral Hargreaves.

Rik

I always pictured them as two seperate characters who had the same post in the secret service