Bond set to bed No 56

The new James Bond film will be called Spectre, and Lea Seydoux, Monica Bellucci and Christoph Waltz will join the cast.

Bellucci and Seydoux were unveiled yesterday as Bond girls Lucia Sciarra and Madeleine Swann at a 007 press conference at Pinewood Studios, near London.

Waltz will play the villain known as Oberhauser - adding to rumours that he will revive the character of Blofeld, the evil genius behind Spectre - the Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion.

Andrew Scott - Moriarty in the BBC drama Sherlock - will play MI5 man Denbigh.

Dave Bautista, who appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy, has also been cast.

Bond, played for the fourth time by Daniel Craig, will drive an Aston Martin DB10.

The plot details read: "A cryptic message from Bond's past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organisation.

"While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind Spectre."

007 by the numbers

• 7:The record-breaking number of rolls the Aston Martin DB5 completed in Casino Royale.
• 23:James Bond movies so far.
• 23:Number of times "Bond. James Bond" is said in the films.
• 41:Average age of actors who played Bond.
• 47:Highest number of "kills" by Bond in one movie, GoldenEye.
• 55:Number of women Bond has bedded.
• 86:Number of Bond girls across the series.
• 365:The number of people Bond has killed.
• $225-million:The budget allocation for Quantum of Solace, the most expensive Bond movie.
• R105-billion:Box office gross of the Bond series.
• October 23 2015:The planned release date of the 24th Bond film.