Whitehall, SW1

London finally sheds its reputation for being a difficult city in which to film. In The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations presents: London, in 2003, I wrote: "Flanked by Government ministries, Whitehall is hardly likely to be closed down to host massive crowd scenes...” Well, now I have to eat my words as Westminster's main thoroughfare, leading from Trafalgar Square to the Houses of Parliament, becomes the backdrop for the spectacular climactic scenes of V For Vendetta – complete with massive crowd scene. Four hundred masked revolutionaries, two hundred soldiers, tanks... it doesn't get much bigger. And this is, of course, one of the most security-conscious areas of the city.

The crowd wears masks celebrating Guy Fawkes, once described as the only man to enter Parliament with honest intentions.

Trivia: only a small part of the film was actually shot in London. Most of the film was made in the Babelsberg Studios, near Potsdam, Berlin

V For Vendetta (2005, dir: James McTeigue)