Grating-based all-fibre bandstop filters were fabricated by introducing periodic deformations in the core of the fibre with a CO, laser by first ablating the surface of the fibre and then annealing it. These devices, which can be tailored to any wavelength, have a broad bandwidth (10nm), high peak wavelength rejection (>20dB), low insertion loss (<0.3dB), a very flat response outside the rejection band, and a short physical length (6mm).