Hollywood actor Harrison Ford pictured in Borders filming latest Indiana Jones movie as he fights off midges

Hollywood came to the Borders this week as 78-year-old acting legend Harrison Ford reprised his Indiana Jones character at Leaderfoot Viaduct last night.

However, the Star Wars star looked a bit uncomfortable at times, taking on the just-as-legendary Borders midges, slipping off his trademark fedora to mop them off his head … perhaps he should have used the bullwhip he always keeps handy.

The ancient viaduct was sealed off for the filming, but around 60 film buffs and photographers with long lenses, standing on the A68 road bridge, were able to catch some of the action, and Neil Renton was one of them… he took these great shots.

Also there was fellow actor Toby Jones star of telly’s Detectorists and Sherlock.

Harrison Ford, as Indiana Jones, looks as though he's fighting Borders midges in his new film, shooting at Leaderfoot Viaduct last night. Picture: Neil Renton.

It’s not known if co-stars Mads Mikkelsen and Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge – both of whom also starred in Star Wars spin-offs – were at the scene, too.

The auction mart at Newtown St Boswells was taken over by the film’s fairly large production unit.

The Borders is becoming a highly-sought location for high-profile films, after the Avengers turned St Abbs into New Asgard for the Endgame movie, and the recent Robert the Bruce movie transforming parts of Berwick.

Harrison Ford and Toby Jones filming Indiana Jones 5 at Leaderfoot. Picture: Neil Renton.

There’s not much known about this latest instalment of the treasure-hunting, Nazi-killing college professor, which is known simply as Indiana Jones 5… but it allows us to speculate as to what he’s looking for in at Leaderfoot.

In the first movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, he was seeking the biblical Ark of the Covenant. Then it was over to India to find the Sankara Stones for a wee village.

The third one was back to religious artefacts, hunting for the Holy Grail with his “dad”, played by Sean Connery, before seeking out alien crystal skulls, and John Hurt, in the fourth.

Given that Leaderfoot Viaduct is a stone’s throw away from the site of the Trimontium fort, could he be looking for something there? Perhaps another religious relic nicked by the Romans and brought here for safekeeping?

The actors walk past one of the viaduct's massive columns. Picture: Neil Renton.

However, given that the filming team looked as if it was preparing for some explosions, it won’t be easy for him… but then, it never is.

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