MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
This next story may be a case of life imitating art. Years after Judi Dench played James Bond's boss on the big screen, a woman will soon lead the real MI6, Britain's foreign intelligence service, for the first time. I spy NPR's Lauren Frayer in London.
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: She may be the most famous spy chief on screen...
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)
JUDI DENCH: (As M) May I remind you that you're the reason I'm here, 007.
(As M) If you think for one moment I don't have the balls to send a man out to die, your instincts are dead wrong.
FRAYER: Move over, Judi Dench. A real-life female spymaster has now come out of the shadows. Before today, 47-year-old Blaise Metreweli had almost no internet footprint. There's but one photo of her. Few know the sound of her voice. But she's now been named the first ever female head of MI6, the only publicly named employee of Britain's foreign intelligence agency. The government says she's a career intelligence officer who's worked in the Middle East and Europe, most recently as Q...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SKYFALL")
BEN WHISHAW: (As Q) There's a microdermal sensor in the grip. It's been coded to your palm print so only you can fire it.
FRAYER: ...The equivalent of James Bond's gadget master, which is actually a real job - the head of MI6 technology and innovation.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SKYFALL")
WHISHAW: (As Q) Were you expecting an exploding pen? We don't really go in for that anymore.
FRAYER: So Q is now becoming C, the chief of MI6. Metreweli will be in charge of recruiting secret agents to steal secret information from Britain's adversaries. In one of her only known interviews under - yep, you guessed it - a code name, she called Vladimir Putin's Russia an unpredictable storm. That was back in 2021 before his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Lauren Frayer, NPR News, London.
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTY NORMAN'S "THE JAMES BOND THEME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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