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Bond films 'getting more violent'

Incidents of violence in the 007 series have more than doubled since 1962

James Bond films are getting more violent, according to new research.

The University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, has studied all 23 Bond films, spanning 50 years.

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The number of violent incidents were then logged and collated, showing that since the first Bond film 'Dr. No' in 1962 to 'Quantum of Solace' in 2008, the number of violent acts had more than doubled.

109 incidents occur in 'Dr. No', compared to 250 in 'Quantum of Solace', but some films proved considerably more violent than others.

1997 film 'Tomorrow Never Dies', featuring Pierce Brosnan as Bond, clocks up 400 violent incidents, almost twice as many as 'The World Is Not Enough' in 1999, also featuring Brosnan.

“They got quite a bit more violent over time,” said Robert Hancox, the senior author of the study, which has been published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

“The change has been in the portrayal of severe violence. The main point of this is that it's not just Bond.

“It's about what's happening in movies and media in general, and that they tend to be getting more violent.”

Those behind the study are particularly concerned with how increasing levels of on-screen violence may be affecting children.