007´s starring role in Mallorca before Bond

At that time, the Palma Pictures production company was barely seven years old. It came to an agreement with Channel 4 for a film that would be over three hours long. Much of the filming was in Mallorca, the CEO of Palma Pictures, Mike Day, remembering it as "a great production". He recalls filming in Selva, where "the whole village town turned out". "It was beautiful."

Nofre Moya, who was assistant director, says that it was "something powerful". Sword of Honour brought together "hundreds of extras, up to 300 in a single day". There were hard days, such as when they filmed in Cala S'Almunia "with hundreds of actors, explosions and troop movements". For Moya, "it was a luxury to see how the British worked". "They were very methodical, and it was great to see how they prepared everything."

This was a production based on Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy and loosely paralleled Waugh's experiences during the Second World War. In Mallorca, it was the production of that year, 2000, with locations chosen to represent Egypt, Italy and Yugoslavia.

Valldemossa became an Italian town, the quarry in Porreres was a camp in Egypt; camels were used for authenticity. Cala S'Almunia and Cala Torta were chosen for landings and for escapes from enemy fire; Selva was a village full of partisans. Even the Castell de Sant Carles in Palma was a location. In the film it was a military barracks. Filming would normally be difficult there because it is a Spanish military place. However, and as Nofre Moya explains: "When we told them what the story was about, they loved it. Everything was easy."