Walk another day

Some of the James Bond franchise's most famous scenes have been captured around the capital, discovers Carla Passino

- Carla Passino

WITH three recycled-plastic ships floating in mid air above gushing fountains and a Ukrainian flag flying defiantly above the South Wing, Somerset House hardly recalls St Petersburg, but the London landmark played the role brilliantly in GoldenEye. Filmed on a steely day in April, the scene has Pierce Brosnan's James Bond driven by CIA operative Jack Wade in a crumbling car that breaks down in the middle of Central Square', against the backdrop of a fake Lenin bust, only to be fixed with a good hammering. Location consistency has never bothered 007 filmmakers, so, two years later, in a much swankier motor-his customary Aston Martin DB5Bond, still played by Mr Brosnan, passes through Somerset House's North Wing arch to meet Judi Dench's M in Tomorrow Never Dies.