DANIEL Craig, director Cary Joji Fukunaga and co-star Lashana Lynch are pictured on the red carpet ahead of the premiere of the new James Bond film No Time To Die at the Royal Albert Hall in London last night.

The highly anticipated release is the 25th Bond film and fifth and final movie featuring Craig as 007.

It faced more than a year of delays due to the Covid-19 outbreak, but is out in UK cinemas tomorrow.

The action takes place after the capture of villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, played by Christoph Waltz, with Bond no longer in active service. Fukunaga described the premiere as a “momentous occasion”.

He said: “With any kind of great momentous occasion there are many emotions taking place.

“All of us are very excited to finally be sharing the film with audiences. But obviously there is a lot of sadness about it being Daniel’s last film. I think also about all the hard work that went into it, we can breathe a sigh of relief.”

Asked about the inclusion of complex female roles, he added: “I think Daniel’s Bond is already very different from previous Bonds and Barbara Broccoli remains successful because she reflects the world.

“I think in this one there aren’t any huge surprises but we made sure the women have more than one dimension.”

Also at the premiere were screenwriters Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, and singer Billie Eilish and her musician brother Finneas O’Connell, who co-wrote the new Bond theme song.