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The Mission: Impossible franchise is a series of action thriller films starring (and produced by) Tom Cruise, who plays special agent Ethan Hunt of the Impossible Missions Force. Focusing on the crime-busting activities of an organisation of secret government agents, the spy thrillers were based on a TV series of the same name.

The original series was made for US television and aired between 1966 and 1973, spawning the modern-day series of films which began in 1996. Hunt becomes the IMF's chief team leader and the plot revolves around him - unlike the television series, which had an ensemble cast.

The series of five films has become the highest-grossing franchise of all time at the box office, earning $2 billion worldwide to date. A sixth film is in the making, which is set for release in 2018.

In the first film, Agent Hunt was framed after other IMF agents were murdered during a disastrous mission to the Prague Embassy - he must clear his name. He was also framed for selling government secrets to a criminal and fights to expose the true villains.

The storyline was changed countless times, right up to filming, as the cream of Hollywood scriptwriters and film makers - including Sydney Pollack, David Koepp, Robert Towne and Steven Zaillian - were doing re-writes as filming began. Mission Impossible became the third highest-grossing film of 1996 and was well received by the public and critics alike.

With Cruise starring alongside Thandie Newton, Mission: Impossible 2 was released in 2000. Newton played international thief Nyah Nordoff-Hall, who was enlisted by Hunt to work for the IMF to stop a rogue IMF agent, Sean Ambrose (played by Dougray Scott) from stealing a deadly virus. Nordoff-Hall's former lover Ambrose intended starting a pandemic and holding the world to ransom by offering to sell an antidote to the highest bidder.

Released in 2003, Mission: Impossible 3 saw Ethan assembling a team to take on an elusive arms and information dealer Owen Davian (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) after he threatens to sell a dangerous and mysterious artefact called "The Rabbit's Foot", therefore putting it into the wrong hands.

Released in 2011, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol began with Ethan and the rest of the IMF team being wrongly accused of bombing the Kremlin, while chasing a criminal known as Cobalt, (played by Michael Nyqvis). Ethan and three fellow agents battle to prevent him from starting global nuclear war.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation saw the IMF threatened by an evil syndicate made up of rogue operatives and assassins who will kill to order. Released in 2015, the most recent film saw Ethan facing the prospect of the IMF being disbanded. He assembles his team for the dangerous mission to prove the mythical syndicate actually exists and to destroy them by any means possible.