Anthony Horowitz says his wife edited out sexism in his Bond novel Trigger Mortis

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The writer said it was hard to keep the sexism out with Bond's character
His wife, Jill Green, was angry about some of the things he had written
Horowitz admitted there are some things about the spy he can't change
The new novel Trigger Mortis was released for public sale on September 8

By Anthony Joseph for MailOnline

Published: 11:47 EST, 27 September 2015 | Updated: 02:21 EST, 28 September 2015

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Anthony Horowitz, right, with his wife Jill Green pictured at a party in 2012

New James Bond author Anthony Horowitz admitted his wife was behind the editing out of sexism in the latest novel Trigger Mortis.

The writer said that remaining attractive to a modern audience, given the main character's attitude to women, was one of the hardest things to do.

Horowitz said his wife went over the first draft and was 'angry' about some of the things he written.

He told the Radio Times: 'My wife Jill Green, who is the producer of Foyle's War, read the first draft and was quite angry about some of the language and some of the words I used and the descriptions.

'And she was right as she always is and I had to cut back and cut back.

'I had to really bring it back over the line again. Bond's whole attitude to women, although it's part of his character it doesn't really play very well these days.'

Horowitz, who also writes the ITV series his wife produces, also struggled with Bond's smoking habit.

The 60-year-old said: 'I have never had a character smoking in one of my books.

To give Bond his 30 a day habit was against my instinct'.

Horowitz added that he was reluctant to give the villain of his new novel a physical deformity such as Scaramanga's third nipple because that trope had been mocked so successfully in the Austin Powers films.

'There are three things you have got to get right. One of them is the title, the other is the girl and the other is the villain.'

When asked what aspect of Bond's character could not be changed and whether he thought the recent films such as Casino Royale and Skyfall were too dark, Horowitz said: 'I love Daniel Craig as Bond, I think he is great in the part.

'My first favourite Bond film is Goldfinger and my second is Casino Royale.

The writer said that remaining attractive to a modern audience, given the main character's attitude to women, was one of the hardest things to do. Pictured is Sean Connery starring as James Bond in Thunderball

Horowitz said: 'I love Daniel Craig (pictured) as Bond, I think he is great in the part.

'Bond, when he is fallible, when he is missing, shoots and misses, when he questions himself too much, departs for me from the Bond that I love.

'Not really of Sean Connery but of Ian Fleming. So the later films Quantum of Solace and Skyfall I liked not quite as much, I found some of those departures, as a Bond nerd as a Bond anorak, I enjoyed less.

'But that said what I think that the film-makers have done brilliantly is actually to keep the core of what Bond is, to keep the loyalty, to keep the intelligence services, to keep that sense of drive and adventure, exotic locations, beautiful women and all that and to keep it pretty much intact and take it into the 21st Century.'

Horowitz was commissioned by the estate of Bond's creator Ian Fleming to pen the latest Bond novel, Trigger Mortis, which was published earlier this month.