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Q (Major Boothroyd)
Character from the James Bond franchise
Occupation	Quartermaster
Affiliation	MI6
Portrayed by	Peter Burton, Desmond Llewelyn, John Cleese, Alec McCowen, Geoffrey Bayldon

Q is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and films. Q (standing for Quartermaster), like M, is a job title rather than a name. He is the head of Q Branch (or later Q Division), the fictional research and development division of the British Secret Service. The character actually appears only fleetingly in Ian Fleming's novels, but comes into his own in the successful Bond film series; he is also mentioned in the continuation novels of John Gardner and Raymond Benson. The character, Q (although he is not always identified by that title), has appeared in every 007 film except Live and Let Die (as Desmond Llewelyn, who was playing Q at the time, was bound by commitments to other projects) and Casino Royale (2006) (as there was no place for Q in the script). Casino Royale showcases a number of gadgets and sophisticated tools used by Bond; however, the film does not indicate whether a Q Branch exists per se in the rebooted Bond universe. Quantum of Solace screenwriter Paul Haggis confirmed that 'Q' is not included in the script for that film.

Ian Fleming based the character of Q on Charles Fraser Smith, a real life engineer of gadgets for escaping servicemen during the Second World War.