This year it might be different. Producers believe Dame Judi Dench's performance as M in Skyfall, the 23rd Bond adventure, is worthy of an Oscar and are campaigning for her to be nominated.

Skyfall is Dench's seventh outing as the formidable MI6 chief but the latest film puts her at the heart of the action for the first time.

The 77-year-old actress is much admired by the academy. She has been nominated for six films and won the best supporting actress Oscar in 1999 for her eight-minute cameo in Shakespeare In Love.

Barbara Broccoli, who took over production of the Bond films from her late father, Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, expressed her frustration about the franchise being overlooked.

"Over the years they have made ground-breaking contributions to cinema. I am surprised that there haven't been acting nominations, if not for Bond then for the support," she said.

Broccoli said she "wouldn't be surprised if Judi were nominated for this one".

A nomination for Daniel Craig as Bond should not be out of the question either, according to Broccoli, who described him as "that extraordinary combination of movie star and great actor".

The franchise has picked up only two Oscars from a total of nine nominations - best sound effects for Goldfinger (1964) and best visual effects for Thunderball (1965).

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) was nominated in three categories - best art direction, best original score and best original song for Carly Simon's Nobody Does It Better - but won nothing.

The other nominations were best sound effects for Diamonds Are Forever (1971), best original song for Live and Let Die (1973), best visual effects for Moonraker (1979) and best original song for the Sheena Easton theme for For Your Eyes Only (1981).

Naomie Harris and Berenice Marlohe are the nominal Bond girls in Skyfall, but Broccoli said they had little in common with some of their predecessors. She admitted that Bond's treatment of women in the middle years of the franchise were "distasteful".

"Now it's about . strong women who give as much as they get."

The producers say the franchise will carry on for years, thanks to its very British hero.

Michael G Wilson, Broccoli's co-producer (and stepbrother) said: "A lot of people think the British have more class, a sense of taste and a sense of dress style. But what Cubby managed to do was put more - as Ian Fleming described it - 'blunt instrument' in there. So you had a guy who had all the British attributes but in a tough American style."