Watch the full ad here:

Giles's thoughts:

"If entertainment is the cost of admission to someone’s brain this ad smashed a downstair’s window and has occupied my mind since 1991.

Starring Rowan Atkinson as bungling sub-Bond spy Richard Latham (plus long-suffering sidekick, Bough), BMP’s series of Barclaycard ads ran for 17 instalments and went on to inspire the Johnny English series of feature films.

The campaign is an almost perfect example of showmanship, of advertising as entertainment – with the aim being to raise smiles across the full spectrum of TV viewership, and not simply the most lucrative target audience. For example, I was at least 8 years away from qualifying for any 'in-market' segment but I got to enjoy it with everyone else.

So, with 2025 eyes how do we explain the impact of what was essentially a series of well-conceived character sketches, with a Barclaycard (and, as its holder, Bough) benefit coming to the rescue every time? Perhaps the fact that the humour was smart and simple, with a ‘set-up’ that could be revisited over a series of exotic 007 locations. The writing was as good as the talent deserved – ‘Bedouin Birthing Blanket’ is a phrase that sings in the mind. And the proposition was distinct in its category – behaving less like a financial services ad and closer to the kind of wit we were more used to seeing from the ‘big’ lager ads of that time.

Most of all though, it’s a testament to some traditional principles of effective, endearing ‘two-hander’ comedy, having more in common with the back-and-forth of classic comedy double acts than a bank trying to get you to spend more money than you actually have. Pure gold."