GB
2022
2hrs 14mins
Dir: Matt Carter
Starring: Alexander Lincoln and Christopher Sherwood
Rugby players from a cash-strapped, divided gay rugby club, unwittingly sleepwalk into an adulterous affair
This gay sporting drama is a monumental slog, but it does feature a plethora of modern day railway scenes. Among various establishing shots of South London in the early part of the film is a view of the Northern line entrance to Elephant & Castle tube station, plus a shot of a Southeastern Class 375 crossing Clapham High Street. The adulterous protagonists later meet on the platform at Kennington tube station, boarding the arriving 1995 stock train, and riding it to rugby practice. There is a cut to a shot of the platforms at Wandsworth Common from the footbridge with Southern Class 377s passing on the up slow and down fast lines. The pair then alight from a Southern Class 455 on platform 2, and leave by the Station Yard exit as another class 455 leaves in the background. The ‘South London Stags’ travel to Wales to play the Cardiff Draconians. Meeting at Kennington again, the gay pair argue in a passageway leading to platform 1. At Paddington station, they enter down the ramp from Praed Street, followed by a shot of a Heathrow Connect Class 360/2 on platform 12. As Mark and Warren (played by Alexander Lincoln and Aklexander King) meet the rest of the team on platforms 8 and 9, a GWR IET is on platform 8, and what appears to be an FGW-liveried HST out of focus in the background on either platform 9 or 10. The interior of IET standard class represents the journeys to and from Cardiff but, on the return journey, there is an odd insert shot (presumably from a northbound train approaching East Croydon) that has been reversed, showing Croydon College, St George’s House and the Croydon Clocktower!! Finally, GWR Class 387 No.387131 arrives into platform 10 at Paddington. At a low ebb, Mark rides the Northern line again; Colliers Wood station signs can be seen passing behind him. He stands on platform 2 at Wandsworth Common and imagines(?) seeing Warren on platform 1, eventually disappearing through the windows of a passing Class 377 as another passes on the up fast in the background. There is a final shot of him on the Northern line, which again shows signs for one of the Clapham stations passing behind him – possibly Clapham North? The end of the film centres on a match between the Stags and a team from Rochester, played at Ilford Wanderers RFC ground in Hainault. Out of focus and deep in the background of a shot of Stags coach Barry (Tom Murphy) watching on at the end of the match, a Central line train can be seen pulling into Hainault station. With thanks to Patrick Lavelli for the in-depth analysis as to this film’s railway content.