60 Miles by Road or Rail

Key Points

Client: Carbon Theatre (funded by Arts Council England)

Project: 60 Miles by Road or Rail

Type: Heritage Documentary

Location: Northampton, UK

Time Frame: 12-week production schedule

Deliverables: 30-minute documentary telling the story of Northampton’s New Town legacy through the voices of its community

The Challenge

When Carbon Theatre raised money to shoot a documentary about cultural tensions in Northampton, they didn’t come to us for our expert knowledge of the town. In fact, quite the opposite.

They approached us because of our style. Our ability to get under the skin of a story and tell it in a way that feels both fresh and deeply human. But this wasn’t a brand piece or a corporate campaign. This was a community heritage documentary about a town with a complex legacy, layered identities, and a fiercely proud population. And we were complete outsiders.

We had to earn people’s trust. Quickly. We couldn’t pretend to know what it was like to grow up in the estates or witness the post-war expansion. But we could listen, and make sure every voice we heard felt heard.

It meant walking a fine line: being curious without being naive, open without being invasive. And doing all of that while turning around a full production in just 12 weeks.

The Plan

Our approach was simple: show up, stay curious, and keep listening.

We threw ourselves into the town. We showed up at community groups, chatted to people in libraries, pubs, parks, and cafés. We didn’t hide the fact we were new to all this. In fact, it helped. By asking the basic questions, we became a kind of audience surrogate. The ones who didn’t know the answers and needed the locals to teach us.

Bit by bit, the trust came.

One moment that stuck with us: we were recording vox pops on the street when a man we’d just met invited us into his home to show us around. We’d been talking about council housing and how it shaped people’s lives. That invitation, spontaneous, generous, completely unprompted, felt like a quiet turning point. We were no longer just filmmakers passing through. We were part of the story.

The Craft

We didn’t want this to feel like a traditional Arts Council documentary. No dry academic talking heads. No slideshow-style history lesson. It had to feel alive — and it had to feel like it belonged to the era.

From the beginning, we aimed to make something that felt like it could have come straight out of the 1960s. Not just in the subject matter, but in the aesthetic and tone. When we discovered the original promotional jingle written for the New Town expansion project, it was a godsend. It gave us an authentic thread to weave through the film — something playful, surprising, and grounded in the actual voice of the time.

We used every bit of our filmmaking experience to bring that tone to life. From the way we framed everyday environments to the way we layered in archive material, natural sound, movement, and contrast. We wanted viewers to feel the texture of the place and the personality of the people. Yes, it was a history piece. But it was also a living portrait. Something that invited emotion as much as understanding.

Our job wasn’t just to document. It was to elevate. To take the richness of Northampton’s story and make it impossible to ignore.

The Results

By the end of production, we had built a documentary that gave voice to a town often misunderstood. It wove together the stories of local residents with the historical context of the New Town experiment, revealing what worked, what didn’t, and what it all meant to the people who lived it.

The film premiered at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery as part of the 60 Miles by Road or Rail finale and has since become part of the town’s cultural memory.

More than anything, it showed that you don’t need to be from somewhere to care deeply about telling its story well.

“Eight Engines are just fantastic to work with! I can’t quite believe how involved they became in the project. I have lived in Northampton my entire life and by the end I felt like they understood it more than me. They are really supportive of what you are trying to achieve and think creatively about how best to capture that on film. Would 100% recommend!”
— Courtenay Johnson, Executive Producer, Carbon Theatre

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