British period drama The Railway Children is now streaming for free on BBC iPlayer. The classic film, which was released in 1970, is based on the 1906 novel of the same name by Edith Nesbit.
Set in 1905, The Railway Children follows siblings Bobbie, Peter, and Phyllis Waterbury, whose life is upended when their father is wrongly accused of espionage and imprisoned.
The children and their mother are forced to move from London to a cottage named Three Chimneys in Yorkshire near the railway station, where they find a new kind of adventure while trying to discover what happened to their father.
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The Railway Children stars a then-18-year-old, Jenny Agutter in one of her first film roles. The Call the Midwife star plays the eldest Waterbury child, Bobbie. The cast also includes Sally Thomsett, Gary Warren, Dinah Sheridan, and Bernard Cribbins.
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a perfect 100% Fresh rating with critics praising it as a "classic".
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Looking back on the film in 2010, The Times wrote: "Kids reared on the accelerated thrills of modern children's cinema might find the pacing a little lethargic but if you can persuade them to give it a chance, this sweet-natured family classic should work its magic."
Radio Times called it "simply the finest children's film ever made in this country", while The Guardian described it as "a wonderful piece of family entertainment in the sense that nobody could possibly take offence at anything they see on the screen and many will obviously find it a blow struck for sanity in a wicked incomprehensible world".
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In 2022, a sequel titled The Railway Children Return was released with Agutter reprising her role as Bobbie, 52 years after the first film.
Set during the Second World War, it follows Bobbie, now a grandmother, as she takes in three children who have been evacuated to the countryside.
Alongside Agutter, the sequel also stars Sheridan Smith, Tom Courtenay and John Bradley.
The Railway Children is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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Stephanie is a freelance news writer, who previously covered WWE and AEW for Digital Spy.
After graduating with a degree in history from Queen Mary University, London, she studied journalism at Birkbeck University.
Outside of her work at Digital Spy, she writes about pop culture, with a special focus towards Irish media and how it intersects with politics.
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