James Bond actor Daniel Craig has described the latest film in the franchise as the "culmination of all [his] ambitions." Spectre is the 24th Bond film, and Craig's fourth, after previously starring in Casino Royal, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall.

Craig said: "You've got to update the role without ruining it because people have got such strong feelings and strong emotions about what a Bond film is. I set out to do these with Casino [Royal] and we stripped it back because we wanted to begin again.

"I always had the intention to bring all of the stuff back. This is a culmination of all my ambitions as far as I'm concerned, because we've reintroduced the old gags, but hopefully they feel fresh and they feel new."

The film sees Bond face off against a mysterious organisation called Spectre, fronted by Franz Oberhauser played by Christoph Waltz.

Director Sam Mendes said: "I was still in a room making adjustments to it on Saturday [17 October], which is exactly the same time-scale as Skyfall. But because I'm used to theatre, it feels natural to me to be working up until the last minute."

The film also stars Naomi Harris as Moneypenny, Ben Whishaw as Q and Ralph Finnes as M.

Harris said: "What's great about Spectre is that it reflects society at the moment in terms what is visible and not visible. There'll always be more issues in life, unfortunately.

"We have seen a massive shift in the importance of women in the Bond movies, and not just in terms of Moneypenny's role, but also in terms of the Bond girls as well. You'll see Léa [Seydoux]'s character and how strong she is, and also Monica Bellucci's character.

"Women are incredibly important in their roles in the Bond movies now, which I think is a great development."

Spectre is out in UK cinemas on Monday 26 October.