James Bond's Naomie Harris begs Daniel Craig to return to role of 007

Skyfall star Naomie Harris has begged her co-star Daniel Craig to return to the role of James Bond.

Speculation is rife about whether Craig will be back on the big screen as 007 and Tom Hiddleston, Tom Hughes and James Norton are among the actors touted as his replacement.

However, Harris, who plays Moneypenny, has said she is desperate for Craig to make a fifth outing as the spy with the licence to kill.

She told the Press Association: "Of course I want to be back with Daniel, I started with Daniel. When I was nervous on my first day it was Daniel who calmed my nerves.

"He's an extraordinary actor and I think he's the best modern Bond that we have had and I desperately want him back. Come back Daniel!"

While Harris, 40, has enjoyed huge success in British films, she said she had to go to America to take her career further.

Speaking at the premiere of her new movie Moonlight at the BFI London Film Festival, she said: "I definitely think that for my career to have continued I definitely had to go to America and I'm really glad that I did, there is just a lot more material.

"But I live here, I never left London and I'm able to work here as well as there and I couldn't ask for more."

Harris said there is still a lack of parts for black actors and she is not surprised by the BFI's recent findings that almost 60% of films in the past 10 years had no black actors in them.

She said: "It's not surprising because that's what we see, we see a lack of diversity.

"But what I think is really positive is that is changing and I think this year in particular shows that. We have got to be aware that there is room to grow but also celebrate that there has been real change."

Moonlight, which chronicles the life of a young gay man from childhood to adulthood and has an entirely black cast, was a story she hadn't come across before, she said.

"It sheds light on an area we don't usually see, it sheds light on a love story we don't usually see and it was such a beautiful script," Harris added.

Moonlight will be released in UK cinemas on October 21.