Daniel Craig – who portrays cinema’s most famous spy for the fifth and last time in upcoming film No Time to Die – has “given us woke 007, who’s tender, cries, and gets into the shower in his tuxedo to comfort a woman,” according to Charlie Higson, author of the Young Bond novels.

Since 2006’s Casino Royale, in which he gained worldwide fame, the English actor has played James Bond in the eponymous film series. No Time To Die, his fifth and last Bond film, will be released next week on September 30.

“He’s given us a woke 007, who’s tender, cries, and gets into the shower in his tuxedo to comfort a woman,” the 63-year-old told the Radio Times.

Daniel Craig ‘is a woke 007’ says Young James Bond author ‘Ian Fleming not total dinosaur’ (Image: GETTY)

“Coming out of the sea in skimpy shorts made him the sex object, not Eva Green.”

Since British novelist Ian Fleming established the series in 1953, the character of James Bond has evolved dramatically, according to Higson.

In the Radio Times, he asks, “Would the original Bond survive in our modern world, or would cancel culture succeed where Spectre has failed so often and finish him off for good?”

The author of five Young Bond novels feels Craig’s version retains elements of Fleming’s 007: “The damaged public-school thug with a strong sense of justice – but a lot has changed.”

He stated that Ian Fleming’s James Bond would be perplexed by modern culture as well: “He’d be able to mansplain the correct temperature that champagne should be served at, but he’d be all at sea trying to negotiate the correct use of pronouns.”

He did, however, say that the writer “kicked against the old-fashioned, 1950s view that women should be simpering housewives, put on a pedestal and wooed. Many in his books were athletic and independent just like the heroines in the new film .”

“Many in his books were athletic and independent just like the heroines in the new film. Fleming/Bond (their views were interchangeable) wasn’t a complete dinosaur.”

Higson continued: “Yes, Bond had a love of petrol-guzzling cars, but Fleming was a keen naturalist and, were he still around, would probably be something of an eco-warrior.

“Yes, Bond was an old Etonian who also went to Fettes (from Boris Johnson’s old school to Tony Blair’s), but he was also an outsider who went after dodgy millionaires and warmongers.

“He would hate self-serving, cheating politicians as much as the rest of us. Donald Trump is in many ways a modern Goldfinger.”

Craig, who also serves as a co-producer on No Time To Die, has advocated for the inclusion of diverse female characters in the Bond franchise.

“There are certain things attached to Bond of which we would say: ‘No, you can’t do that anymore,” Craig told the Radio Times. “We’re very conscious of what’s going on in the world at the moment, but we’re still storytellers, we’re still trying to entertain an audience.”

Asked if he would support a more diverse appointment as his replacement, Craig said: “There should simply be better parts for women and actors of colour. Why should a woman play James Bond when there should be a part just as good as James Bond, but for a woman?”