From riding with the cycling club to masterminding the Great Train Robbery
The idea for Philip Parkin's 3-minute short documentary was borne following his meeting Bruce Reynolds – mastermind of one of the 20th century’s most spectacular crimes, the 1963 Great Train Robbery.
Bruce Reynolds grew up with a passion for cycling that has never left him. In his mid-teens, before he took up the criminal lifestyle that would lead to him becoming one the 20th Century's most wanted men, Reynolds joined the De Laune cycling club in south London, going on fifty mile Sunday runs – and spending all the money he earned as a newspaper messenger boy on his Bates cycle.
The Great Train Robbery was the pinnacle of his criminal career. But all the time his love of cycling never faded and, sentenced to 25 years imprisonment in 1968 – after five years on the run – one of the things that kept him going in maximum security was the dream of riding through France with his son, Nick, who had grown up while he was in prison.
Phil Parkin is northern-based and has won 2 regional awards for a short film – his 2005 30-minute historical documentary The Forgotten Flood. Having previously worked at CBS in USA, he has four years experience in TV and documentary film, most recently with the RTS Award-winning VeryMuchSo productions. Riding Bikes and Robbing Trains is his first major commission since turning freelance and teaming up with local author JP Bean.
Bruce Reynolds grew up with a passion for cycling that has never left him. In his mid-teens, before he took up the criminal lifestyle that would lead to him becoming one the 20th Century's most wanted men, Reynolds joined the De Laune cycling club in south London, going on fifty mile Sunday runs – and spending all the money he earned as a newspaper messenger boy on his Bates cycle.
The Great Train Robbery was the pinnacle of his criminal career. But all the time his love of cycling never faded and, sentenced to 25 years imprisonment in 1968 – after five years on the run – one of the things that kept him going in maximum security was the dream of riding through France with his son, Nick, who had grown up while he was in prison.
Phil Parkin is northern-based and has won 2 regional awards for a short film – his 2005 30-minute historical documentary The Forgotten Flood. Having previously worked at CBS in USA, he has four years experience in TV and documentary film, most recently with the RTS Award-winning VeryMuchSo productions. Riding Bikes and Robbing Trains is his first major commission since turning freelance and teaming up with local author JP Bean.
"Being selected to make a 3 Minute Wonder is a great achievement and something I'm very proud of. Hopefully it's the beginning of a successful career in film-making," comments Phil. "The best thing for me about film-making is collaborating with talented and interesting people. Seeing an idea transfer from paper to screen becomes even more exciting when you’re working with people like JP Bean, Bruce Reynolds Channel 4 and Raw Television."
Watch Philip's film online now >
Watch Philip's film online now >