Q (James Bond)

Q
James Bond character
Desmond Llewelyn as Q in the Eon series
Portrayed by	Peter Burton (1962) Desmond Llewelyn (1963–1999) Geoffrey Bayldon (1967) Alec McCowen (1983) John Cleese (2002) Ben Whishaw (2012–present)
Information
Occupation	Quartermaster
Affiliation	MI6
Classification	Ally

Q is a fictional character in the James Bond films and film novelizations. Q (standing for Quartermaster as well as a reference to the deceptive Q-ships), like M, is a job title rather than a name. He is the head of Q Branch (or later Q Division), the fictional research and development division of the British Secret Service.

Q has appeared in 21 of the 24 Eon Productions James Bond films, the exceptions being Live and Let Die, the 2006 Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. The character was also featured in both non-Eon Bond films, the 1967 Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again.

Q has always been portrayed in the James Bond films as a man. However, MI6 chief Alex Younger revealed in a speech at the 2017 Women in IT Awards that the real-life Q is a woman.

The character Q never appears in Ian Fleming's novels, and only the Q Branch is mentioned; although Q does appear in the novelizations by Christopher Wood, and the later novels by John Gardner and Raymond Benson.

In John Gardner's novels, the post of Q is taken over by Ann Reilly (called Q'ute by her colleagues). She also forms a relationship with Bond. It is supposed that she held the post for a short while only, because Raymond Benson's novels return Boothroyd to the post without explanation.

Charles Fraser-Smith is widely credited as the inspiration for Q due to the spy gadgets he built for the Special Operations Executive. These were called Q-devices, after the Royal Navy's World War I Q-ships. In the Fleming novels there are frequent references to Q and Q Branch with phrases like "see Q for any equipment you need" (Casino Royale) and "Q Branch would handle all of that" (Diamonds Are Forever), with a reference to "Q's craftsmen" in From Russia with Love.