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There is a scene in Skyfall in which Bond enters the London Underground via a tall grated panel which is actually a door.

Before he opens it:

Before he opens it

As he exits:

As he exits

This reminded me of the Nintendo 64 game, 007 Goldeneye. Specifically, the multiplayer portion. There is a level -- I believe it is the one called "Complex" -- in which players can walk through some parts of the walls, leading to secret hiding rooms (I specifically remember one of these had the Moonraker Laser gun) or tunnels to other parts of the map. If my memory serves correctly, these walls you can walk through had a "grating" texture.

Complex

In the picture above, I seem to remember that the grating shown is not one you can walk through, but that there are other identical-looking grates in other parts of the level that could be walked through.

  • Does the London Underground actually have maintenance doors that look like tall grates?
  • Was this scene in the movie an intentional nod to the Goldeneye video game?
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    "Does the London Underground actually have maintenance that look like tall grates" - Yes it does,
    – Paulie_D
    Commented Mar 23, 2017 at 22:26
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    But a grate...is a grate. Not much more one can say about that.
    – Paulie_D
    Commented Mar 23, 2017 at 22:33
  • @Paulie_D i meant maintenance doors, but yeah, your point is taken. i've just never seen doors that look quite like that and i thought perhaps they made it special for the movie.
    – Woodrow Barlow
    Commented Mar 24, 2017 at 13:34

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Does the London Underground actually have maintenance doors that look like tall grates?

Yes, it does.

There's a reson for those kind of louvred doors. Air pressure is factor in subways/metros because of the air being pushed by the trains and normal doors would block airflow. So...louvres to let the air pass through.

There are some normal doors but these are usually reserved for more secure areas rather than casual access.

It doubtful they are as easy to access as Bond makes it seem...from my memory these are usually locked.

Was this scene in the movie an intentional nod to the Goldeneye video game?

Probably not.

The Bond franchise has a history of using the London Underground system as locations. As I recall there was a whole sequence using the Underground so it's much more likely they used what was to hand.

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  • I will not argue that the franchise has long used the tube as a location but having avoided the Pierce Brosnan films like the plague I cannot recall a sequence down there. Even Sam Mendes acknowledges, in the director commentary, that the use of this location in Skyfall is now associated more as the preserve of Bourne as opposed to Bond.
    – Stephen Francis
    Commented Mar 25, 2017 at 7:08

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