Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond
BBC America | SKY | Release Date: January 29, 2014
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
11
Negative:
1

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
NewsdayDiane WertsJan 27, 2014
Season 1 Review: Their [John Brownlow and co-writer Don Macpherson's] saga is so vividly shaded, even minor characters resonate. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyJan 29, 2014
Season 1 Review: With fine supporting players like Anna Chancellor as Fleming’s wartime superior, Second Officer Monday, and Rupert Evans as Ian’s brother Peter, this four-part series makes us care about people whose fate neither we nor they can easily summarize. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterTim GoodmanJan 29, 2014
Season 1 Review: Directed with aplomb by Mat Whitecross, who periodically decides, in the course of this four-hour feast, to stop making a movie about a man and instead make a Bond movie, Fleming is the kind of movie that winks at you constantly and you never get annoyed by the intimations. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushJan 29, 2014
Season 1 Review: Actually, his greatest gift was that of imagination, and Fleming is especially enjoyable as it dramatizes the exploits that would give birth the immortal 007. Read full review
75
New York PostMichael StarrJan 28, 2014
Season 1 Review: The performances here are all good, and the chemistry between Cooper and, particularly, his lovers is palpable. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert LloydJan 29, 2014
Season 1 Review: Despite its troublesome subject, the series succeeds, moderately, in letting you know that it knows that Bond, as his creator conceived him, is a relic, and that Fleming's pulp-novel aspirations are worth skewering. Read full review
70
SlateWilla PaskinJan 29, 2014
Season 1 Review: The Bond stuff is, on the whole, more enticing than Ann and Ian’s psychological pas de deux, which skirts up against real issues--and rape fantasies--before giving them a gauzy gloss of true love. Read full review
63
People WeeklyTom GliattoJan 31, 2014
Season 1 Review: Cooper is compelling as an overconfident hothead who sees creative potential around each corner. Trouble is, no matter what the writers dream up for Fleming, Fleming has already dreamed up better for Bond. [10 Feb 2014, p.48]
63
RedEyeCurt WagnerJan 28, 2014
Season 1 Review: If only writers John Brownlow and Don Macpherson focused more on Fleming's wartime spy-jinks than on his extended mating dance with the already married and cheating Ann. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesLori RacklJan 27, 2014
Season 1 Review: Fleming’s life could have used an editor; the four-part series feels repetitive and should have been cut in half. Read full review
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