24 7 TWENTYFOURSEVEN

GB
1997
1hr 36mins
Dir: Shane Meadows
Starring: Bob Hoskins and Bruce Jones

A man opens up a boxing club for bored local youths

This very underrated sports drama features an opening scene where Bob Hoskins is living rough in the burnt out remains of a BR brakevan! In an early flashback scene soon after, Bob Hoskins is living inside a derelict four-wheel BR van, which is coupled to a small Simplex 0-4-0DM shunter, believed to be works No.2028 built in 1920. In a later scene, he has repaired the van and is painting it! These scenes were all filmed at an overgrown and derelict Rushcliffe Halt on the Great Central Railway line to Ruddington. The site at Rushcliffe was still owned by BR at the time of filming but had been mothballed after the freight traffic to East Leake and Ruddington had ended in the 1980s. It has since been reopened for use as a heritage line, initially by the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre (who owned the stock seen in the film), and the refurbished halt was reopened in June 2000. The title of the film is shown as it appears in the opening credits but has been variously spelled 24:7 TwentyFourSeven, 24/7 TwentyFourSeven or just plain TwentyFourSeven.