Harrison Ford 'breaks ankle' during Star Wars 7 filming

71-year-old airlifted to hospital after a hydraulic door fell on him

Harrison Ford suffered a suspected broken ankle in the accident (Getty Images)

Harrison Ford has been airlifted to hospital after a hydraulic door fell on him while he was filming the new Star Wars movie at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.

The 71-year-old suffered a suspected broken ankle in the accident, which happened on the M Stage at the studios, close to his character Han Solo's spaceship the Millennium Falcon. He was helicoptered to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, which has a trauma unit specialising in fractures.

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: “We were called to Pinewood studios at 5.05pm after reports of a 71-year-old man being injured by a door.”

It is unclear how long it will take Mr Ford to recover, but a spokesman for the movie, Star Wars: Episode VII, insisted that the accident would not delay the release of the film.

The spokesman said: “Harrison Ford sustained an ankle injury during filming today on the set of Star Wars: Episode VII. He was taken to a local hospital and is receiving care. Shooting will continue as planned while he recuperates.”

The Health And Safety Executive was tonight making preliminary enquiries into the accident, and it is believed that the Pinewood set will also be re-checked for safety issues.

It is not the first time that injuries have disrupted Ford's filming plans. He suffered a back injury while shooting the 1984 movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and required an operation. The director Steven Spielberg continued filming, getting Vic Armstrong, a British-born stuntman who looked so like Mr Ford that members of the crew constantly confused the two, to be a stand-in for some scenes.

Star Wars Episode VII will be the first Star Wars title released by Disney, after creator George Lucas sold the rights to the franchise in 2012. Due to reach cinemas in December 2015, it is understood that the film will be set 30 years after the events in the 1983 film Return of the Jedi, the third Star Wars film to be released.

Episode VII will also see the return of the three principal characters from the original trilogy, reuniting Ford with Mark Hamill, playing Luke Skywalker, and Carrie Fisher, playing Princess Leia.