Harrison Ford's Star Wars script sells for £10,000 at auction

A Star Wars film script left by Harrison Ford in a west London flat has been sold at auction for £10,795.

It was left at a flat on Elgin Crescent, Notting Hill, that Ford rented in 1976.

Ford had been filming Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, which was made in Elstree Studios, Hertfordshire, and needed somewhere to stay close by.

The script went under the hammer at Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, on Saturday afternoon.

It sold for more than its pre-sale low estimate of £8,000.

The owners of the Notting Hill flat said Ford developed a relationship with them after he responded to their advert in the Sunday Times for a tenant.

Ford bought plants for their garden and attended their son's first birthday party, the family said.

They said Ford was "an excellent tenant, very tidy" - but explained they now wanted to sell the script along with several other items.

The auctioned script, written by George Lucas, is the fourth draft of the first Star Wars film - which was originally titled The Adventures Of Luke Starkiller.

It introduces Ford as the cynical hero Han Solo on page 56.

The script is incomplete and unbound, with differing-coloured pages indicating revisions - and includes scenes and characters cut from the final edit.

A second lot was made up of other items Ford left behind in the flat, such as a letter from his agent, Patricia McQueeney, in which she discussed his contracts and future film prospects.

The letter, which also scolded the Hollywood actor for not contacting his wife, fetched £177.80.

One of the film's shooting schedules was also put on sale, which included a handwritten note that appears to refer to a meeting between Ford and the film producer Robert Watts.

This sold for £4,826.

Jonathan Torode of Excalibur Auctions said: "The sale saw competitive bidding from around the globe for these never-before-seen pieces of Star Wars history.

"The personal provenance makes them totally unique. We hope they will be as treasured by their new owners as much as they were by the previous ones."

Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected]