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"Our man's in position on the center camera. It's like a terrorist supermarket. Chinese Long March Scud, Panther AS-565 attack helicopter, a pair of Russian mortars, and the crates look like American rifles. Chilean mines, German explosives. Fun for the whole family."
― Charles Robinson to M[src]

Charles Robinson is a fictional MI6 aide and Deputy Chief of Staff who appears in the James Bond films Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Die Another Day (2002). He was portrayed by British actor Colin Salmon.

Biography[]

Background[]

Robinson fulfilled much the same role as Bill Tanner, bringing James Bond up to speed on the latest events and the parameters of his mission.

Tomorrow Never Dies[]

Robinson serves as the intermediary between James Bond, the command centres (headed by M and Admiral Roebuck) and the support ship HMS Chester as the latter infiltrated a terrorist arms bazaar on the Russian border, part of a joint operation between that country and the United Kingdom. Bond's mission was simply to perform reconnaissance before the Chester launched a cruise missile that would kill "half the world's terrorists," according to Admiral Roebuck.

However, upon the agent's discovery of a pair of SB5 nuclear torpedoes affixed to one of the aircraft being sold at the bazaar, a shocked Roebuck immediately phoned the Chester and ordered them to abort the missile. It was out of range and Bond, hearing this from Robinson, sprang into action to steal the jet and managed to evacuate the torpedoes moments before impact. The command centre initially believed, due to the destruction of their cameras in the area by the blast, that he had been unsuccessful. Bond then radioed the centre and asked where the admiral would like the armaments delivered.

A short time later after Bond had returned to England, Robinson accompanied him, Miss Moneypenny, and M as the agent was briefed on his next mission: to investigate the actions of media mogul Elliot Carver and his relation to the sinking of the HMS Devonshire, a ship that had been seemingly sunk by Chinese MIGs during a confrontation. As a result of the escalating tensions between the United Kingdom and Red China from this incident, which in reality had been engineered by Carver utilizing a Stealth Ship, the two countries seemed prepared to go to war. As Robinson and M observed the fleets of the two countries nearing one another in the South China Sea, Carver's plot was exposed.

The World Is Not Enough[]

Robinson is seen here and there, but is mainly visible near the end of the film when he, R (who has just become the new Q) and M all notice via satellite footage that James Bond is having a rather erotic encounter in a hotel with Christmas Jones.

Die Another Day[]

Robinson appears at the beginning during a realistic training simulation that James Bond is participating in and later reappears near the end of the film while working with the NSA and M to help diffuse the growing threats by the main antagonists. Upon the arrival of Bond and Jinx, informs that the North Korean hardliners staged a coup and are preparing to invade South Korea under the leadership of Gustav Graves [Colonel Tan-Sun Moon].

Behind the scenes[]

Initially Charles Robinson was intended as a replacement for the character of Bill Tanner when Michael Kitchen was unavailable to reprise his role from GoldenEye. However, since his performance in Tomorrow Never Dies, he went on to appear in three consecutive films as a regular. Both characters then appeared in The World Is Not Enough.

Colin Salmon, who played the character, had strongly voiced his desire to take on the role of James Bond following Eon's decision to recast the role for 2006's Casino Royale. British bookmakers at one point stopped taking bets on Salmon becoming 007 #6 due to the volume of press speculation. He repeatedly received the backing of outgoing 007 Pierce Brosnan - although he believed the producers did not "have the bottle" to go down that route[1]. Salmon said of the praise, "It's the ultimate accolade. There are some great candidates out there, but Pierce has watched me do five or six screen tests, and he knows I can do it"[2].

Gallery[]

Charles Robinson/Gallery

References[]

  1. "Bonding Session" (Newspaper article), Daily Mirror, 14 February 2005. (in English) 
  2. "Colin Salmon talks about Brosnan tipping him for 007 - `It is the ultimate accolade!`" (Newspaper article), The London Evening Standard, 24 October 2003. (in English) 

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