In the Footsteps of the Stars Trail Cont...
The Docklands and Canary Wharf
The Isle of Dogs has been a regular star of the big screen, with many a blockbuster filmed on the block.
Tower Hamlets Council has teamed up with Canary Wharf Group (CWG) to produce a map of these famous locations so that people can take in the sights and let their cameras roll!
One of the most recognisable and widely used film locations in the world is the iconic Canary Wharf and it has been the star of many great films from romantic comedies to action adventures and sci-fi thrillers.
The diverse real life role of Canary Wharf over the last 40 years – from thriving port to industrial wasteland and now modern city - has inspired world-class film-makers to tell their stories here.
The Isle of Dogs movie map pinpoints key spots around the Isle of Dogs featured on the big screen as well as locations further off the beaten track - like the popular movie sets at Trinity Buoy Wharf, East India Dock.
The map invites film lovers to come and relive some of their favorite scenes. On the guided walking tour you can take in the locations of over a dozen famous movie moments before taking a well earned break at the Fat Boys Diner in Trinity Buoy Wharf – the café Gwyneth Paltrow visits in the 1998 romantic movie ‘Sliding Doors’.
The Isle of Dogs has provided stunning locations for some of the biggest blockbusters like the action-packed opening scenes of James Bond’s ‘The World Is Not Enough’ where the docks and the River Lee play host to a high speed jet boat chase; and Basic Instinct 2 where a Dutch Spyker supercar is blown up; and more recently ’28 Weeks Later’, the sequel to the cult hit movie ‘28 Days Later’ where Canary Wharf is transformed into District 1, the ‘clean’ area of London that has been cleared of the fictional Rage virus.
Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs Film Map - Route Description - download the map here (PDF).
The Isle of Dogs has provided stunning locations for some of the biggest blockbusters such as the action-packed opening scenes of James Bond movie The World is Not Enough, and more recently Batman Begins, The Constant Gardener and Love Actually.
West India Quay – Gangsters
Start your tour at West India Quay DLR station. The building towering over the station is 1 West India Quay, which houses the Marriott Hotel and exclusive penthouse flats owned by several Premiership footballers and Aussie actress cum pop star Holly Valance. The building is 111m high, designed by HOK Architects and completed in 2003. In the film "Layer Cake" (2004), Daniel Craig's un-named character is dangled over the edge of the still unfinished tower by gangster Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon). (A)
Walk past the cranes to the SS Robin, the world's oldest complete steamship. It’s now a gallery and arts venue, hosting photographic exhibitions. Past the SS Robin is the pedestrian bridge over the North Dock.
Before you go over the bridge, take a look at the old warehouses on West India Quay which now house the Museum in Docklands as well as bars and restaurants. This is all that remains of the original 19th Century dock buildings. In the classic British gangster movie "The Long Good Friday" starring Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren, his gang boss character Harold Shand parks his yacht here as he tries to impress a visiting American Mafia don. (B)
Walk over the bridge. From the middle, looking past 1 West India Quay and the Docklands Bridge, the large flat building you can see with a pale yellow roof is Billingsgate Market, a location for thriller "28 Days Later" and James Bond film "The World is Not Enough".(C)
On the other side go up the steps on Wren’s Landing onto North Colonnade.
Canary Wharf – Spies and Style
On the other side of the road is Cabot Hall. Film Director Guy Ritchie was here in early 2006 to launch his Youth film Competition with UK Youth. (D)
Turn left along North Colonnade and walk towards One Canada Square. This is the tallest building in Britain at 800 feet/244 metres, completed in 1991 and designed by Cesar Pelli Architects. In spoof spy comedy "Johnny English" (2003), starring Rowan Atkinson, the building starred as the office HQ of the fiendish french villain Sauvage, played by John Malkovich. It has also appeared in many recent TV adverts and in the TV show "The Apprentice". During the 1990's the tower was home to the controversial TV station Live TV: remember News Bunny and The Weather in Norwegian? More recently London's 2012 Olympic Bid was masterminded from the top floor. (E)
Walk past Bank of America and HSBC's HQ along the side of Canada Square. Canada Square is slightly larger than Trafalgar Square and hosts summer concerts as well as an annual car show and an Ice Rink during the winter.
On the east side of the square is Canada Place. This building houses Waitrose on the basement, ground and first floors, and the Conran restaurant Plateau on level 4. In the film "Batman Begins" (2005), the Plateau was the venue for Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) to make a display of himself - he allowed his two female companions to climb into a fish tank. On the way out of the building he meets love interest Rachel played by Mrs Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes. Canada Square was dressed as a New York street for the occasion, with NYPD police cars, fire hydrants and New York Times boxes placed on the sidewalks. (F)
Across the road from Waitrose is 20 Canada Square, the home of McGraw Hill and Standard and Poors. Jude Law was here in the foyer to film the New Year's Eve party scene for his big screen remake of "Alfie" (2004). (G)
Turn your back on Waitrose and walk along South Colonnade towards One Canada Square and the Reuters building.
Turn left in front of the Reuters building and go down the steps into Reuters Plaza.
Reuters Plaza and Canary Wharf Tube – Love stories
Reuters Plaza was the location for a key scene in the award winning "The Constant Gardener" (2005), when Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) is trying to find out how his beloved wife Tessa (Rachel Weisz) was killed. Here he meets up with his murdered wife's brother - one of the few people he can trust. The clocks in the plaza are an art installation by Konstantin Grcic, and are featured in the BBC News 24 and BBC London news titles. (H)
A little further on, to your left is Canary Wharf's stunning Jubilee Line station, which doubled as a secret spy lair for "Agent Cody Banks II Destination London" (2004) starring Frankie Muniz. Colin Firth also filmed a scene for the British blockbuster "Love Actually" (2003), struggling down the station's escalators laden with Christmas shopping. In the apocalyptic thriller "28 Days Later", Jim (Cillian Murphy) and his fellow survivors run through the vast, deserted station. (I)
Past the station, turn right onto Heron Quay.
Heron Quay – Stunts and Car Crashes
100m along this road is a small roundabout, with a bridge and a guard box on the corner. This was the location for the opening scenes of "Basic Instinct 2" (2006). Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) dispatches her boyfriend Kevin Franks (played by ex footballer Stan Collymore) by crashing their £180,000 Dutch Spyker supercar into the dock. (J)
Originally the producers intended to film the car simply driving around the Wharf and then do the stunt using computer generated imagery. However, having seen some test shots, they decided to do it for real, which required the car to be blasted into the air using a 40ft nitrogen powered air-ram up a ramp, while blowing up the guard box at the same time. It took two days to film for just 10 seconds in the movie, and the stunt wrote off two of the supercars in the process. In the final take you can see how close the car came to flying across the whole dock – it nearly reached the Reuters building on the other side.
You are now leaving Canary Wharf which has played three types of location during the last 40 years - thriving port, industrial wasteland and now modern city. It's no wonder that so many location managers have found it a useful site. But it's not just Hollywood that's taken a shine to the area: Bollywood film "Bollywood Queen" (2002) was also filmed around the estate.
Turn left along the riverside walkway and left again to bring you to the bridge over south dock. (K) Before you go over the bridge, look to your east along the edge of the dock. This dockside, and the one further along at Wood Wharf, were used in the film “Patriot Games” (1996) for the scene where Sean Bean’s terrorist character escapes from police custody, by blowing up a police van and two unmarked police cars. The driving was done here but the explosions were carried out in the Royal Docks.
Walk over the bridge and look east again when you reach the other side (L). From here you can see through to the Millennium Dome, now the 02, used in several recent movies and about to become a major entertainment complex.
South Quay and Millwall Dock – Shaken, not stirred
Continue east along the dockside and then turn right following the signs to South Quay DLR station. When you get to the station, cross over the road to reach Millwall Inner Dock (M). This is the scene of much of the amazing boat chase in the opening sequence of James Bond film "The World is Not Enough" (1999). James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) in his jet-boat is chasing the “Cigar Girl”, an assassin played by Maria Grazia Cucinotta, in her Sunseeker powerboat.
Walking about 200m along the eastern dock-side you reach the London Arena building, now closed, and a floating Chinese restaurant. Here in the dock was the scene for the stunt where Bond jumps over a stationary boat, corkscrews through the air and knocks the machine gun off the back of the Cigar Girl’s boat.
A little further along, you will reach the Glengall lifting Bridge (N). This bridge was used for another clever stunt – the Cigar Girl notices that the bridge is closing and speeds underneath, so as Bond reaches it he is too late to get under. He spots a lever marked “dive” in his boat and pulls it, the boat disappearing under the bridge and popping back to the surface on the other side. In typical Bond fashion he takes time to straighten his tie while underwater.
For continuity geeks, the route of the boat chase is an odd one - it starts at Vauxhall Cross, the HQ of the real MI5, and within a minute reaches Tower Bridge (in reality this would take at least 5 minutes even for a jet boat). Then they turn south into Java Wharf, which is a dead end off the Thames in Southwark just east of Tower Bridge.
Luckily, by the magic of film, this gets them here to Millwall Inner dock on the Isle of Dogs – in reality another dead end. There is then a gas bottle explosion which is actually in the Blackwall Basin just east of Canary Wharf.
His route blocked by the explosion, Bond appears to be back in the River Thames west of Canary Wharf pier - his on-board computer is offering him two alternative routes using either the North or South docks to speed through the Isle of Dogs. In fact, Bond's route takes him through Wapping (a mile west), Billingsgate Market and through the Royals. He pops up onto land and drives through the market using his boat’s jet engines for power. Then he appears to pop out of a restaurant window at Trinity Buoy Wharf and back into the Thames in time to catch the Cigar Girl and force her boat aground at the Dome.
As you reach Glengall Bridge, your slightly more conventional route ends here. Turn left at the bridge to get to Crossharbour DLR station. (END)
To download Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs Film Map (pdf format), click here and for more information about the many places of interest on the Isle of Dogs, please request any of the Canary Wharf guides or a 'Walks in the Isle of Dogs' brochure' at 'Contact Us'.
