Fire wrecks James Bond Stage

The large James Bond stage at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire has been destroyed by fire.

At least eight fire engines tackled the blaze at the set, where filming for the new movie Casino Royale has finished. Eyewitness Jen McVean, who owns a firm at the studios in Iver Heath, said the stage was "completely on fire". The large sound stage had been transformed into a replica Venice where the film, with a reported budget of £39m ($72m), is partly based.

Mrs McVean, 27, said earlier the stage looked completely on fire. "Nothing is salvageable and there are many, many fire engines there," she added. She saw the black smoke billowing above the studios from her garden which is around a mile away. She went to the studios to make sure her special effects firm was not affected. The roof covering the stage has caved in due to fire damage and firefighters used special equipment to reach it.

A spokeswoman for the Buckinghamshire Fire Brigade said they were alerted at 11.18am on Sunday. A spokesman for Pinewood Shepperton said: "We do not know the extent of the damage to the 007 stage, although it is believed to be significant. "Filming was not taking place. A production had completed filming and its film sets were in the process of being removed." Pinewood - which began life in 1935 - has a long association with the Bond films, starting with the first movie Dr No in 1962.

Pinewood which merged with Shepperton Studios in 2001 attracts a range of films of varying budgets. Together with Ealing, the three studios have formed the backbone of the British film industry for 70 years.

It took more than a year for a sound stage to be rebuilt following a fire at the studios in 1984.

It reopened in January 1985 as the Albert Broccoli sound stage, in honour of the producer of many Bond movies. The original stage was first created in the late 1970s during the filming of The Spy Who Loved Me and was created when the script called for filming two submarines inside an oil tanker. The stage was built complete with an enormous water tank. Other Bond scenes filmed around the studio include a car chase in Goldfinger's factory, and Spectre island in From Russia With Love.

Pinewood was hit again in 1997, when a fire broke out in the roof of a sound building where The Avengers was being filmed.

Coutesy BBC News

30th July 2006