How a city's sewers starred in The Italian Job

A stretch of sewage pipe underneath Coventry cemented its place in British film history, thanks to a legendary car chase, a French stuntman and a much-loved motoring icon, the Mini.

In the late 1960s, while producing what would become the classic crime caper, The Italian Job, the filmmakers were stumped.

They could not find a suitable location in Turin, Italy, to film part of the famous escape through the streets of the city and its sewers.

Then, as Oscar-winning producer Michael Deeley recalled, luck intervened: "It was completely by chance we discovered a stretch of pipe in Stoke Aldermoor."

That find led to the classic scene and, decades later, the exact location, now buried underground, is being tracked down and the story retold by the BBC's Secret Coventry series.

In the heist movie, after stealing a shipment of gold destined for a Turin car factory, the robbers make their escape with the gold in three Minis.

They drive down steps, leap across gaps between buildings and go through the sewers.

But for the latter part, they needed a wide enough section of sewer pipe which, as Mr Deeley said, they found in Coventry.

The 240m (262yd) long pipe was being installed at the time and snaked under part of Stoke Aldermoor, between The Barley Lea and Allard Way.

Photographs from the time show the Minis being lowered down to the pipes which were already being buried underground.

Neville Goode was the operator of the crane and still remembers the day clearly - though at the time, he had no idea his work was part of film history.

"It was just putting the cars down the tunnel, no idea why. Nobody told us why it was being done," he said.

Only later, after seeing the film, did the reality sink in: "We thought, 'Hang on, I remember working on that film'."

Kevin Conway, a Mini enthusiast, was the driving force behind the installation of a commemorative plaque at the scene in 2019.

"They arranged for some local cameramen to be able to lower the Minis into the ground and it turned out to be one of the greatest British films ever made," he said.

Star Michael Caine was not needed for the Coventry filming, but the daredevil behind the wheel in the tunnel was French stunt star Remy Julienne, who orchestrated much of the film's action.

They attempted to achieve a full 360-degree roll of the car inside the sewer, but Mr Conway said it ended up that Julienne "crashed a few times".

"[Neville] had to take a smashed Mini out of the tunnel, on its side, drag it out and lift it out," he added.

But the retired crane operator did come to the stuntman's aid through a pair of gloves lent to the Frenchman.

Mr Goode said: "Julienne came out and said there was too much water, it was making the steering wheel slippy so I said, 'I've got a pair of gloves in my cab if you'd like to borrow them, maybe they would help?'

"So he took those and he kept them."

The area above the sewer pipe and the plaque at the spot, installed six years ago, has become a surprising landmark among fans of the film, Mr Conway said.

"The amount of people that I meet…it's popping up on Facebook: 'Here's me standing beside it'," he added.

"Ten feet underneath where that plaque is, was where Remy Julienne sat in the front seat of a Mini and gunned his engine."

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