We’re currently working on an exciting Bond-related Esprit story that will appear in the magazine in 2025, so to get us in the mood we’ve dug out this Thames TV interview with director Lewis Gilbert. He gives reporter Tony Bastable some behind-the-scenes insight into its creation and why they used real cars for most of the stunts. He also tells viewers: “There was nothing wrong with the old Aston Martin but Lotus is really a car for today”. It was aired in May 1977, two months before the cinema release of The Spy Who Loved Me.