The World Is Not Enough | River Thames Boat Chase | ALL locations

As a heads up, this is a long form article and I will be using screen shots from the Thames Boat Chase from the film The World Is Not Enough. I do not own the rights to those images and will only be using them here for context.

I have also leaned on the expertise of Martijn Mulder from On the Tracks of 007, and the book James Bond London, by Gary Giblin.

All other imagery has been taken by me. I will add to this article over time, with further details as I intend to use this post as research for another Map of London Bond Locations. The original is still available to buy here.

START –

The Thames Boat Chase begins at the SIS/Mi6 Building down near Vauxhall. I have covered that in a previous post click here or on the image below.

According to the book The World is Not Enough a Companion by Iain Johnstone,

A model exterior of the Secret Service building was built on the backlot at Pinewood and miniature-effects supervisor John Richardson blew a mighty hole in it. Vic Armstrong had a slipway constructed to the lee of the real MI6 headquarters and it was from this that Bond’s jet boat was fired, accelerating from 0 to 60 knots in about one second flat.

Heading East

So you have your bearings the first bridge you’ll see is Bond (played by Pierce Brosnan) sailing away East from the Vauxhall Bridge towards Westminster. (Photo below).

First stop

For perspective you can see the boat chase in this aerial shot (photo below) as they approach Lambeth Bridge. The bridge beyond that is Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament is on the left hand side.

The Glass Tower

As Bond narrows in he hits the afterburners and the car flips out of control. As he regains control you see a glass two story building, with a tower behind. You can also see it on the left hand side on the photo above.

This is the Millbank Tower 

It was completed in 1963 and was once London’s tallest building. 

Parliament

We see Bond and Cigar girl (played by Maria Grazia Cucinotta) carry the chase East on the Thames on towards Westminster, which allows for a nice overhead view (photo below) of The Houses of Parliament.

The sequence was filmed between March 29 and May 7 1999.  The London Eye was also being constructed in that year, but not hoisted in place until Sept. Otherwise I’m sure a monument of that iconic nature would have found its way into the film somehow.

According to the book The World is Not Enough a Companion by Iain Johnstone,

When the chase reached the House of Commons, one of the Parliamentary Committees sitting that morning issued a complaint about the gunfire. In fact it turned out that it was pile-drivers on the government commissioned Millennium Ferris wheel (the London Eye) that were making the noise.

Confusion

A rather strange thing then occurs as the two boats, (Bond in the Q boat, Cigar Girl in the Sunseeker Superhawk 34 according to James Bond Lifestyle) pass under Westminster Bridge. Bond moves onto the inside, (the Big Ben side) and Cigar Girl swerves and attempts to careen Bond into the jetty on the north bank as soon as they pass under the bridge.

However, the action has jumped magically, missing out passing under Hungerford Bridge altogether.

If you look in the background beyond the bridge, there is a moored boat (the TS Queen Mary) and another jetty. Of course none of these would be outside The Houses of Parliament. Compare the pictures above and below.

Confusion Part 2

I believe that the names of the piers have changed somewhat over the years. The Waterloo Pier referred to in many texts, is not the Waterloo Pier on the south side of the river, now the Waterloo London Eye Pier.

It is in fact on the North Side of the river, formerly the Waterloo Police Pier, since renamed the Tower Lifeboat Station and has been the base for the RNLI’s Thames lifeboat service since 2006.

Below is a rather crude screen grab from Google Maps. Paired with a photo from Gary Giblin’s book James Bond London. You can see in the Google shot Cleopatras Needle (bottom left) Savoy Pier (just to the right) where the Queen Mary was moored, and the RNLI Tower Lifeboat Station just to the right of Waterloo Bridge.

This point, would have had the glass structure that crashed through.

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THAT Pier

See below Gary Giblin’s photo (used for context and fair use) the Savoy Pier sign and the Queen Mary docked.

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About the TS Queen Mary

That moored boat (the TS Queen Mary) according to this article;

… became a floating pub and restaurant, opening her at Waterloo Bridge in 1988. Whilst Queen Mary was a Thames favourite for two decades, her berth was a coveted prime site. She closed for business in January 2009 and eventually was sold to a private buyer.

What side of the river was the Queen Mary moored?

According to this article,

Moored alongside the Embankment on the north bank of the Thames immediately upstream from Waterloo Bridge with her bows pointing upstream.

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So why the jump?

According to the James Bond London book by Gary Giblin, there was a scene in this Thames Boat Chase that was cut from the film. It would have linked the passing through Westminster Bridge and the pier crash into the Jetty.

After being cut off by Cigar Girl at Hungerford Bridge. Bond was to have maneuvered the Q Boat past Cleopatra’s Needle and then through the narrow gap between the Queen Mary and Victoria Embankment, emerging unscathed on the other side of Waterloo Bridge. Though staged and filmed, it was cut thus the action skips immediately from Hungerford Bridge to Waterloo Bridge.

Blooper

After Cigar Girl crashes through the glass structure (which was built for the purpose of the film) keep an eye out for the camera crane on the left side capturing the magic. (Photo above).

The Thames Boat Chase continues

Java Wharf

Bond overtakes Cigar Girl in an attempt to cut her off. But Cigar Girl manages to give Bond the slip, heading down Java Wharf. You can get your bearings here as Tower Bridge is now in the background (see photo above).

Bond does a U-Turn and gives chase down the narrow inlet. You can see the sign saying Java Wharf on the building on the right.

This is tidal, so the inlet could be completely dry depending on what time of day you visit. It’s worth noting that in real life, Cigar Girl would not have gotten far as it’s a dead end.

According to English Living, Java Wharf used to produced the gunpowder, that is thought to have contributed to the sinking of The Mary Rose.

Since the 1980s the warehouses, such as Java Wharf, that line the river Neckinger have been converted for residential use yet retained their original features characteristic of their former use, such as bare-faced brickwork, winches and large signwriting, which have produced a collection of unique and characterful homes.

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Movie Magic

But as if by movie magic, the chase cuts to Cigar Girl exiting Clippers Quay into Millwall Outer Docks. What makes this even more bemusing is that Clippers Quay beyond the arch bridge (see photo below) also leads to a dead end.

So in fact, the boats have gone into one dead end, and come out another. The archway bridge between the two white blocks of flats is no longer there anymore.

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The Corkscrew

Still the next sequence does make sense at least from a geographical perspective. We are now in the Millwall Outer Docks and Cigar Girl is shooting at Bond in the Q Boat.

Bond then skewers the boat in a corkscrew fashion (echoes of the TMWTGG) and we can see the glass building in the background.

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This glass building is currently Telstra London Hosting Centre, a Telecommunications service provider. The facility offers 115,000 sq ft of net technical capacity across 8 floors in a retrofitted office building.

According to the book The World is Not Enough a Companion by Iain Johnstone,

Tests on Hawley Reservoir found that it was impossible to somersault the boat off a ramp as could be done with a car. However, Simon Crane and his crew discovered that by adding Vickers air mortars to the fuselage they could rotate the jet boat on a crane and so choreographed a barrel roll that removed the Sunseeker’s machine gun and much else besides.

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From there we are jumping around again as Cigar Girl continues her barrage on Bond, firing depth-charges, destroying a schooner in the crossfire.

I believe this to be at Royal Victoria Docks however I have yet to visit that place. Will update in due course.

Glengall Bridge

Next we jump to the Glengall Bridge. One of the more iconic moments of the sequence as the drawbridge closes, Cigar Girl and the Sunseeker narrowly squeak through.

Bond however is forced to take dramatic action and plunges beneath the barriers, beneath the water line (adjusting his tie as he does so) and emerging the other side.

According to the book The World is Not Enough a Companion by Iain Johnstone,

Simon Crane, who once doubled for Timothy Dalton in TLD and LTK, was the stunt coordinator on this, and discovered that if you put the jet boat into reverse at 60mph, you plummeted underwater, and so he enclosed the engine to make the craft submerge and later emerge.

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Bond resurfaces

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Trafalgar Way Bridge

Once more we jump to the scene where Cigar Girl crash through a crowded landing stage and a police vessel blocking her path, causing a nearby yachting fuel station to explode. The best way to find this location is to head to Billingsgate Market, you can see it on the far right of the photo below.

Cigar Girl crashes through the boat and goes under Trafalgar Way Bridge. It looks very different now, but the bridge is still there.

With Bond now thwarted due to the obstruction caused by the wreckage, he is forced to take a de route. The display on sat nav instructs him to cut across some of the docklands and head towards The O2.

Billingates Market

Bond doubles back with Billingates Market on his right. We next see him veer down, taking out a couple of traffic officers. In reality this is a pedestrian walkway called Ornamental canal and you’d never be able to drive a car down there.

Tobacco Docks

As Bond zooms off, spraying the officers in his wake, he heads up to Tobacco Docks, leaping over the salmon steps. This actually makes sense and if you follow Bond’s trail you will see these steps shortly round the corner.

Salmon Steps

After the steps Bond crashes through a canoe club shed and across the road. This shed was built for the purpose of the film so don’t go looking for it, it isn’t there. But you can certainly see where the sequence was shot at the end of the canal as it intersects with Wapping Lane.

Historic Docklands

As Bond zips across Wapping Lane, we see a magical bit of editing. A red bus is just in shot as he smashes through the Canal Club Shed.

When we see the red bus pass in the next frame he is now transported through what appears to be a fishmarket. In reality this is the Historic Docklands in Chatham, a couple of hours away.

Back to the Thames

The Q boat circles round the Historic Dock Yard between the Anchor Wharf Storehouses towards the Chain Cable Shed. There is little to no information in the Dock Yard about the filming of this sequence.

Instead, there are plentiful references to the TV show, Call The Midwife, which is also filmed here. Bond crashes through a restaurant that was also built for production.

When he comes through the other end, he is now at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London. He flies over a table of figs and is back on the Thames with both the O2 and Cigar Girl in sight.

Trinity Buoy Wharf

NOTE: In a video I published to YouTube, I spoke to a gentleman at Trinity Buoy Wharf who told me they did build a restaurant and he was there on the day of filming, as he appeared as a waiter.

When I look back at the sequence there is a POV shot as Bond crashes through the marquee that has The 02 in background.

Up at the O2

Bond finally has the upper hand and fires two torpedos towards the oncoming Sunseeker. Cigar Girl is forced to make an emergency dock on the north side of the O2 and hijacks a Hot Air Balloon.

The finale of the Thames Boat Chase is the climatic jump Bond makes from the Q Boat to a mooring rope of the Hot Air Balloon.

Further Info

In an article on the 007 site:

“In the past we had not really used London as a location,” said Producer Michael G. Wilson. “When I saw the logistics involved in arranging the chase up and down the Thames, I understood why.

TIP:

When you mention the name of the company O2 it should be O2 (with a capital O) and not o (lowecase) 2. O is also a letter, and not a zero.