High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! M is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, as well as the films in the Bond franchise. M has been portrayed by Dame Judi Dench since 1995. Ian Fleming based much of M's character on Admiral John Godfrey, Fleming's superior in British Naval Intelligence during World War II. After Fleming's death, Godfrey complained "He turned me into that unsavoury character, M."[cite this quote] Fleming biographer John Pearson also hypothesised Fleming's characterisation of M reflects memories of his mother.