Watch The Railway Children For Free

One of my all time favorites.

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Blistering performances.

The Railway Children is one of those works which seems to demand periodic reworking, and this turn-of-the-millennium version comes 30 years after Lionel Jeffries' classic version.This is good, make no mistake, and comes with a solid recommendation - you will enjoy it. The source material is strong, and there are no missteps in how it is handled. And, of course, it is interesting to see Jenny Agutter playing Mother, having played eldest child Roberta in the preceding version.And there's the rub. Because you will enjoy this version much more if you have never seen the 1970 version. Where this version is good, Jeffries' version is great. Where the casting is excellent in this version, it doesn't quite reach the pinnacle of casting in the previous film.This comes over, I fear, as damning with faint praise, and I suppose it is.

"The Railway Children" is one of my most favourite books and this film does not disappoint in the slightest. The only complaint is that the children's pinafores always look starched and bright white, as of course they would if you were mucking about in fields and railway stations all day!!! Edith Nesbit was an Edwardian writer (who had a very interesting life) who wrote about children who really behaved like children and had interesting adventures, usually free from adult supervision. They were put into dramatic situations - in "The Railway Children" their father is wrongfully imprisoned, their possessions are auctioned off, they help a Russian who has escaped from Siberia locate his wife and children and help a young lad who has had an accident in the train tunnel.It tells of three children - Bobbie, Phyllis and Peter ( the 3 young performers, I thought were pretty perfect in their roles) - who, when their father is falsely imprisoned for treason, go with their mother to live in the country. After getting off on the wrong foot (Peter steals coal from the yard after his mother tells them that they are too poor to afford coal for fires) they make friends with the Station Master and Perks and proceed to have lots of adventures. Perk's birthday, one of my favourite parts of the book is included and it doesn't disappoint. Gregor Fisher, who plays Perks is marvelous. Apart from Jenny Agutter and Michael Kitchen none of the actors were familiar to me . David Bamber who played quirky Doctor Forrest, I had seen the other week in a Midsomer Murder episode but that was it.One adventure that wasn't in the film was the barge fire. In the film there was an incident on a bridge where rough bargemen had called the children "posh" and thrown rocks at them!!! In the book the bargeman and his wife went to the pub, their barge caught on fire and the children saved the baby and helped put out the fire. The book also had political views as well (Edith Nesbit was one of the founders of the Fabian Society). There was also in the book and film, the scene where the mother tells Bobbie to send special prayers for all prisoners and captives. Sir Richard Attenborough was a perfect "nice old gentleman" and I really think this film shows how lovely the world once was.Highly, Highly Recommended.

This (perhaps superfluous) version of the Edith Nesbit novel was made for TV and, in an interesting piece of casting, had Jenny Agutter as the mother – she had been eldest daughter Bobbie thirty years earlier. Some changes to the fabric of the story were inevitable: more screen time is given to the events which cause the children's father to be arrested; the paper chase is no longer linked to the family of the old gentleman; and some of the characters are more sharply drawn than before.As Bobbie, Jemima Rooper, is very good, but the other children Phyllis and Peter are just OK (played by Clare Thomas and Jack Blumenau). Agutter is perfect as their careworn mother, while Michael Kitchen makes an impact as their wronged father. Gregor Fisher plays Perks the railway-man with a good combination of jollity and righteous indignation; and Richard Attenborough is an inspired choice for the old gentleman (who is not as mysterious as he had been in the 1970s version; we guess he's a high-up in the civil service or the government in this one).The great strength of the TV version is the attention to detail - we can feel the smoky fog from the 30s steam train as it rushes through the countryside.An enjoyable TV film, but a complement to the classic one, not a replacement.

Brilliant adaptation, but I'd have to argue that Gregor Fisher was one of the highlights. I'm not saying that just coz I'm Scottish, but if he's typecast it's because he brings a highly endearing quality to the kind of characters he plays. He did a damn sight better than Bernard Cribbins' miserable performance in the original, certainly. A great show all round.