007 Filmstudio in brand

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The large James Bond stage at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire has been destroyed by fire.
At least eight fire engines tackled the blaze. It is not known if filming was taking place there at the time.

Eyewitness Jen McVean, who owns a firm at the studios at Iver Heath, said the stage was "completely on fire".

Ms McVean said she saw smoke from her garden and went to the site of the studios and found out her special effects firm was not affected by fire.

However, she said as far as she could see the Bond stage, where the new film Casino Royale is still in production, was destroyed.

"Nothing is salvageable and there are many, many fire engines there," she added.

Ms McVean saw the black smoke billowing above the studios from her garden which is around a mile from the site.

Caved in

A spokeswoman for the Buckinghamshire Fire Brigade said they were alerted at 11.18am on Sunday.

"We were called to a fire at the 007 stage at Pinewood Studios," he said.

The vast stage had been transformed into a replica of the Italian city.

The film, which reportedly has a budget of £39m ($72m), is partly based in Venice. And the large 007 stage had been transformed into a replica of the Italian city.

The roof of the large building covering the stage caved in due to fire damage and firefighters were using specialist equipment so they could damp it down.