Maryam d’Abo on Bond, journalism and Spanish Oranges

Spanish Oranges, Alba Arikha’s drama about artistic creation and married life, opens with a spiky encounter between the celebrated novelist Fiona and the journalist interviewing her. Maryam d’Abo, who stars in the London production, joined Arikha from Paris for a video call and admits to a wariness of journalists after her formative Bond experience.

At 26 she played Kara Milovy, a Czech cellist and would‑be sniper who falls for Timothy Dalton’s Bond in The Living Daylights. She recalls the deluge of press at the time and the Fleet Street journalists who could be harsher and more judgmental; interviews were edited and left her feeling exposed.

Still, she calls the Bond production "like a big family" with producers very present, and insists she is not blaming Bond for any missteps in her career. D’Abo later made the documentary Bond Girls Are Forever to trace how the films’ female roles evolved and mirrored social change, from the tongue‑in‑cheek 1960s to the more troubling treatments of the 1970s, and toward greater empowerment.

United Kingdom, London

maryam d'abo, spanish oranges, alba arikha, living daylights, kara milovy, timothy dalton, bond girls, fleet street, journalism, empowerment