Matt Carter's new film, In From The Side, is about a romance between two gay rugby players. In this conversation we tackle (sorry!) avoiding 'gay film' cliches, different masculinities, alternatives to monogamy, drinking culture and how to shoot sex scenes intimately but tastefully.

Check out my earlier conversation with Matt, about his 'gay James Bond' film here: https://www.licencetoqueer.com/blog/matt-carter 

Bisexual Bond expert Ben Williams and I have been speaking for years behind the scenes, emboldening each other to be more openly queer. After they came out as non-binary, we thought it was about time we tackled The Big Stuff more publicly: gender binaries, putting who we’re attracted to into boxes and, perhaps most profoundly of all, what needs to be going down in our personal lives to make sense of Quantum of Solace.

Please note that while I always aim to make Licence To Queer family-friendly, this podcast contains a few swear words from Ben. Even though Ben was on their “best behaviour,” they understandably got quite animated considering the personal nature of much of our discussion.

For 70 years, Her Majesty was the only consistent recurring 'character' across the different versions of Bond, serving as an inspiration for many, including women and those men who had to keep their sexuality secret.

With the first book in her new trilogy, Kim Sherwood has blown the world of Bond wide open - and then some! In this far-ranging conversation we discuss diversifying MI6, seeing 007 from different angles, setting up threads for the next instalment and much more.

Two of my dearest friends Han (until last autumn a Bond first timer) and Maz (ardent Brosnan-era admirer) join me for The World Is Not Enough at our local cinema. Hear our thoughts from before and after the film.

Licence To Queer regulars will already know Han and Maz. We introduced Han to the world of Bond for the first time in September 2021 and talked about what it was like for Maz growing up as a queer female Bond fan in Ireland. You can hear this on an earlier podcast. Scroll down or go to https://www.licencetoqueer.com/blog/lgbt-lesbians-and-gays-bond-together

GoldenEye was the first Bond film I saw in the cinema, aged 13. Seeing it at the cinema 27 years later, aged 40, would it be an emotional experience? (Yes. The short answer is Yes.)

I also had the good fortune to meet Thomas (@TEG79 on Instagram) who you can hear on this episode and Doug Astley (@TheDougHQ on twitter) who was sat next to me the whole time (although we didn't realise this immediately!)

Despite me being British, sport has always bored me to tears. So imagine my surprise when I found myself bawling my eyes out with pride in our sportspeople twice in one day! Perhaps their Bond-like approach to overcoming adversity had something to do with it?

Running probably saved my life. It’s saved Bond’s more than a few times as well. Here, I look back at his running career - which was not exactly impressive until Daniel Craig brought more metrosexual physicality to the character - and compare it with my own, which started soon after my first viewing of Casino Royale.

More than shifting his gender or sexual orientation, surely the boldest way to reinvent Bond would be to make him care for something other than himself. A cat, perhaps? After looking back over 70 years of books and films, I’m convinced the idea has legs (four of them).

An award-nominated voice actor and filmmaker, Kathryn Vinclaire is also a massive Bond fan who identifies as bisexual. Like many of us - even gay-identifying men like me - she has a “massive crush” on Diana Rigg in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. We discuss her Tracy Bond awakening moment and why the world of Bond is such an open space for queer people like us.