The fire that broke out late on Wednesday night at Warner Bros’ studio in Leavesden was on the set of Veep creator Armando Iannucci’s new sci-fi comedy series Avenue 5, it’s been confirmed.
18 fire engines and more than 75 fire fighters helped tackle the blaze well into the morning yesterday, taking 15 hours to extinguish, with water being drawn from a nearby canal to douse the flames.
Though there was no one using the sound stage at the time, the set has been damaged, the writer and director confirmed.
“It was a beautiful set but everyone’s safety is the main priority. The season is near completion and everyone is determined to carry on,” Iannucci said in a statement.
Armando Iannucci (Credit: Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)
Two more episodes of the show remain to be filmed, according to its producers HBO.
A statement added that ‘production continues as the producers and writers assess the best plan to complete filming of the final two episodes’.
Warner Bros said: “Our principal concern is always people’s safety and we would like to thank Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Services for all their hard work in containing the situation. All productions were able to continue working and the Studio Tour was unaffected.”
Read more: Fire breaks out at Harry Potter studio
As well as being the studio where all eight Harry Potter movies were made, movies like Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Spider-Man: Far From Home were also filmed there.
Actor Hugh Laurie, winner of Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film for ‘The Night Manager’. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Not a great deal is known about Iannucci’s show as yet, other than it’s based in the space tourism industry, with Avenue 5 being the name of the space ship at the heart of it.
It stars Hugh Laurie as Ryan Clark, the ship’s captain, alongside Rebecca Front, Suzy Nakamura, Veep star Zach Woods and Josh Gad.
Former EastEnders star Himesh Patel also stars as a stand-up comedian who takes on a residency on the ship.
There’s no air date in place as yet.
