Lights, camera, London

London is experiencing a film-making boom as producers come in record numbers to shoot their movies here.

In the past 12 months productions including V For Vendetta, starring Natalie Portman, Basic Instinct 2 with Sharon Stone and The Da Vinci Code with Tom Hanks have used the capital as backdrop.

Across the city, the number of "shooting days" rose by 18 per cent last year. There were the equivalent of 12,655 days of film and TV production, or 35 shoots on every day of the year.

The Square Mile, London's second most popular destination for film-makers after Westminster, acted as backdrop for 1,040 shooting days, or just under three a day.

Even London's outer boroughs are seeing an explosion in activity: Haringey reported a 130 per cent rise in filming days last year. Wandsworth had 55 per cent more.

Part of the surge is due to fears of changes in tax breaks which encouraged producers to "wrap" their movies before the old scheme ended on 1 April. The rush saw Renée Zellweger, Robert De Niro, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Sienna Miller all filming here last month.

In the event, the Budget last month heralded a new regime to encourage film-makers to choose London rather than cheaper locations such as eastern Europe.

Jane Soans, a location manager scouting for The Flood, in which the Thames barrier collapses, said: "London is an exceptional city for filmmaking.

"We have the familiar landmarks , we speak the same language as the US and the tax breaks are an immense help."

Movies are big business for London with screen industries generating £13.6 billion a year and providing 71,500 permanent jobs in the capital.