It was pretty much a law of diminishing returns where the Pierce Brosnan Bond-era was concerned and by the time of his third outing as the double agent things were starting to get more and more ridiculous regarding plot, excessive action scenes and an over-reliance on technological devices of some sort. Still, it was enjoyable enough and the follow up ‘Die Another Day‘ (2002) made it seem not so bad after all!

The MI6 Headquarters building is Vauxhall Cross (below); the same building which would reappear in ‘Skyfall‘ (2012). It’s located at 85 Albert Embankment next to Vauxhall Bridge.

The pre-titles sequence along the River Thames is actually the longest one of all the 23 James Bond films clocking in at just over 14 minutes. It starts off at the MI6 building, and goes past Westminster, which is clearly seen alongside Big Ben, as the chase continues on down to Tower Bridge.

Perhaps the most memorable part of the chase was on 10 minutes at Glengall Bridge (below) in the East End’s docks where, with the bridge closing in true dramatic movie style, Bond hits a special button which allows the boat (Q’s retirement recreational boat no less which is on show at the ‘Bond In Motion’ exhibition at London Film Museum) to go under the water to avoid the bridge. No doubt the underwater scene was shot in the studio but it was classic Bond with him slyly finding a moment to adjust his tie!

The bridge, which opened in 1990, is located at Millwall Inner Dock and Crossharbour Station on the DRL Line is technically the closest station though many of the other stops on this line are in close proximity too. I actually walked from Canary Wharf which is three stops away!

From there the chase proceeds along Ornamental Canal (below) at Wapping Lane where he soaks a couple of traffic wardens at the right-angle bend as they motor on towards the purposely built canoeing clubhouse.

A brief detour on tarmac and then its back on the water as the scene comes to a climax in Greenwich at the Millennium Dome (below) as it was known then. These days its sponsored and is called the O2 Arena. Sadly, my photo below is a rather poorly scanned photo which I took back in 2005. 

Not quite London, but Luton is near enough to the nations capital for its airport to have been re-named London-Luton in 1990 to re-emphasise the airport’s proximity to London……and if it’s good enough for them then it’s good enough for Tokyo Fox!! So with that in mind let us remind you that Luton Hoo, Hotel, Golf & Spa (also used in ‘Eyes Wide Shut‘ and ‘Four Wedding’s And A Funeral‘) in Bedforshire was actually used to portray the interior of Electra’s Baku palace in Azerbaijan.

Click here to see 15 ‘fake’ Bond filming locations.

After that, the action moves on to a few places including Turkey where the Maidens Tower (below); a tiny islet off the coast at Uskudar, is where ‘M’ (Judi Dench) is taken prisoner.

Bonus: London has of course regularly appeared in many Bond films and is the true home of 007. It made a brief appearance on 15 minutes in ‘Quantum Of Solace‘ (2008) when Daniel Craig’s Bond is driven into the entrance of a high rise apartment (below) belonging to a deceased double agent where he and M realise the extent of the mysterious organisation. The flats are called The Water Gardens and they’re on Burwood Place close to Edgware Road tube station.

The city of London featured extensively throughout the awesome follow up ‘Skyfall‘ (2012) which you can see in detail here.

For other London filming locations click on the links below:

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