‘The Railway Children,’ All-Time U.K. Children’s Classic, Gets Sequel From Studiocanal

BAFTA-winning director Morgan Matthews (“X+Y”) will begin principal photography on May 10 on a sequel to the all-time British kids’ classic “The Railway Children.”

The Railway Children Return” will shoot in locations around the U.K. from the original 1970 film, including Oakworth Station, Haworth and The Bronte Parsonage. The iconic Keighley & Worth Valley Railway from the original film will also feature.

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BAFTA and Emmy-winning actor Jenny Agutter will resume her role from the original “Railway Children.” BAFTA-winning Sheridan Smith; Academy Award nominee and BAFTA winner Tom Courtenay; and a new generation of Railway Children will star alongside.

Based on a celebrated novel by E. Nesbit, the original film follows three children, who, after the enforced absence of their father, move with their mother to Yorkshire where they attempt to discover the reason for his disappearance.

“The Railway Children Return” follows a group of children who are evacuated to a Yorkshire village during WWII, where they encounter a young soldier who, like them, is far from home.

The sequel is written by BAFTA nominee Danny Brocklehurst (“Brassic”), and produced by BAFTA-winning Jemma Rodgers (“Double Take”) for Studiocanal. The studio has set a release date of April 1, 2022.

“The Railway Children,” which was nominated for two BAFTAs, is a key title in Studiocanal’s Vintage Classics collection, which features some of the classics of British cinema. The restored Blu-ray and DVD release of the film includes a retrospective documentary and interviews with key cast Jenny Agutter, Bernard Cribbins and Sally Thomsett.

Nesbit’s novel, published in 1906, has been adapted for the screen several times, but the 1970 version by Lionel Jeffries remains the most enduringly popular.

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