Dame Judi Dench has joked she'll haunt the next James Bond film.

The 78-year-old actress' character M - who she played for six years - was killed off in the last 007 movie 'Skyfall' after she was gunned down and replaced by spy chief Gareth Mallory (played by Ralph Fiennes) as the head of M16.

When told that John Logan was doing the screenplay for the upcoming Bond adventure, she said to the Daily Mail newspaper: ''How dare he do that! How dare he!

''I'll come back in the window of M's office, showing the red card to Ralph Fiennes and I'll have a big, big photograph on his desk with my tongue out. I'll haunt them.''

Despite having fond memories of her time working on the James Bond movies, she admits she's had just as many giggles starring opposite Steve Coogan - who portrays Sixsmith - in this year's drama 'Philomena'.

Dench - who is an Oscar award contender for her performance as Philomena Lee - explained: ''Steve made me laugh every single day. He's an idiot. What better relationship can you have? Especially when you're doing something quite serious. He just made me cry laughing.''

The film, directed by Stephen Frears, is based on the true story of a woman Philomena Lee (Dench) looking for her son that the Catholic church stole from her more than 50 years before.