The Nottingham Thing
The Making of...
The Nottingham Thing is a tale of four men and one city. It continues
the story started in The Cycling Thing and Forest of Doom: The
Cycling Thing II. It is also a true story and the history behind
it is a story in itself...
History
In 1997, a group of students, Chris, Nichola, Claire, Amanda, Craig, Neil
and Paul, and a guy called Dave, decided to join a sponsored cycle ride
around Cork and Kerry in the Republic of Ireland. The week long trip
turned into an adventure, battling against the elements, their own bodies
and even amongst themselves. One of the students, Paul, wrote up
the story as The Cycling Thing. The following year, Chris
organised a trip to the Forest of Dean for some on and off road cycling.
This time it was attended by Paul, Chris and Dave as well as Sophie and
Kevin who had appeared as minor characters during the training section
of The Cycling Thing. The trip ended with pain and suffering
as nearly everyone ended up injured. Paul, who had been to the local
accident unit for x-rays on a sprained wrist, eventually wrote up the story
as Forest of Doom: The Cycling Thing II. The story was so
traumatic that the final part wasn't posted until 1999, a year after the
events.
Plans for The Cycling Thing 3
Due to the traumatic events of 1998 and other commitments, there was no
second sequel to The Cycling Thing in 1999. In fact, writer
Paul did not even see the others until September, when Mexicans In Southsea
was created during birthday celebrations for Chris.
It wasn't long before a third cycling adventure was suggested for the
Millennium. Early plans included trips to France or a return to Ireland
with a stay in a country cottage. Budgetary constraints meant that
the eventual plans were for a trip to Nottingham staying in bed and breakfast
accomodation, much like the Isle of Wight trip from the original Cycling
Thing. As the plans began to take shape, upgrades were planned
to the bikes. Paul's was slightly damaged in 1998 when he injured
himself, so he planned to fit a new seat post and saddle. However,
a limited schedule led to script rewrites which eventually cut all scenes
of cycling from the story in order to concentrate on the humour and drama,
as well as the drinking and partying.
Making The Nottingham Thing
Without any cycling, all that was required was a few days of heavy drinking,
bowling, film watching, car fixing and a trip to Alton Towers. A
lack of camera film for much of the trip means that some of the photos
are actually from a previous trip to Alton Towers in 1998 and the bowling
scene from War of the Mexicans.
The Future - Cycling Thing 2001
You never know, anything's possible.