Bond’s Home Alone moment

Total Film could feel the extreme heat of the conflagration despite standing more than 500 metres away. In March 2012, we were the only press on-set of Skyfall, as 007’s childhood Scottish home went up in flames, stunt helicopters swooping in the inky sky above, faces of the crew pinking from the scorch – and an iconic film moment was made.

Turns out we couldn’t write about that day spent on Hankley Common, near Godalming in Surrey (not actually the wilds of Glencoe), poking about the full-scale, intricately detailed Bond

family mansion – it was a major spoiler moment in an instalment that made Britain’s most famous spy essential again after the disappointment of 2008’s Quantum Of Solace.

Here, for the first time in the franchise’s 50-year history, we saw something of Bond’s backstory. We were invited, along with Judi Dench’s M, to see the cold, brooding place, complete with hidden recesses, that made 007. And witness him take that personal history and destroy it.

Though interiors were built on Pinewood sound stages, this epic set on MOD training ground – that had previously played host to Gladiator

– featured flanking stag gateposts and drive, house, barn, chapel and graveyard (complete with Bond clan names and dates). It was designed by art director Dean Clegg and constructed over six months, based on the look and feel of Duntrune Castle in Argyll.

Production designer Dennis Gassner wanted this house to represent the personal demons at battle inside Bond. “It was a harsh place against the elements. What does Bond do to fight back? He goes home, back to his deepest instincts. It’s a privilege for us to see it.” And a privilege to watch it go up like a torch – warning audiences that nothing is sacred and foreshadowing the ultimate demise of a character we thought indestructible. A literal scorched earth policy that proved Bond could still be a game changer. JC