THE RAILWAY CHILDREN RETURN

FEW who watch the classic British film The Railway Children will fail to be moved by the enchanting scene at Oakworth Station in which hero Bobbie utters the classic line “Daddy, my daddy” as the steam loco pulls away, the smoke clears, and her much missed and long absent father comes into view standing alone on the platform.

It would be a brave move to try to recreate the nostalgia and sentimentality that director Lionel Jefferies brought to that 1970 screen adaptation of Edith Nesbit’s much-loved novel, but this year will see the release of The Railway Children Return, a brand-new story and direct sequel to the original set in war-torn 1940s Britain.

The new film, which is the vision of producer Jemma Rodgers, sees Jenny Agutter reprising her role as Roberta ‘Bobbie’ Waterbury, who is now in her fifties and a mother to Annie (played by