The Railway Children Sequel Announced 50 Years after Original

Children’s classic The Railway Children will get a sequel, more than 50 years after the release of the original film.

Jenny Agutter is reprising her role as Bobbie Waterbury, and the iconic Keighley & Worth Valley Railway from the original film will also appear.

Filming of The Railway Children Return will start on Monday, and is due to hit cinemas on 1 April 2022. The shoot will be led by Bafta-winning director Morgan Matthews.

The original film is based on the novel by E Nesbit. It follows three children who are shipped off to live in the country beside a railway line following their father’s arrest for mysterious spying charges.

Agutter, now 68, is no stranger to The Railway Children. She played the eldest child in a 1968 TV adaptation, and in the film two years later. In 2000 she also appeared as the mother in an ITV remake. In recent years, she is better known for playing Sister Julienne in the BBC drama Call the Midwife.

The 1970 film became a massive hit, earning three Bafta nominations, and holds a “100% fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The sequel will also star Tom Courtenay and Sheridan Smith. The script is written by Danny Brocklehurst, whose credits include TV shows such as Brassic, Clocking Off and Shameless. The story follows a group of children who are evacuated to a Yorkshire village during World War Two. Here they encounter a young soldier who, like them, is far from home.

Sequels a long time coming

The Railway Children Return may arrive over half a century after the original, but that’s not the longest gap for a movie sequel.

That honour goes to Bambi II, which arrived 63 years after the original animated classic. In fact the top four films with the longest waits for a sequel belong to Walt Disney. This includes Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 with a 59 year gap, the 2018 film Mary Poppins Returns which came 54 years after the original, and Return to Neverland which was released 49 years after the original 1953 animated classic Peter Pan.

But it’s not just Disney, other long awaited sequels include The Return To Oz which was released 46 years after The Wizard Of Oz, and Blade Runner 2049 which took 35 years to come.

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