Making The Railway Children Return: Behind the scenes with the cast

It’s only a matter of weeks now until we go back to Oakworth in The Railway Children Return, the long-awaited sequel to the 1970 classic.

The new film sees Jenny Agutter reprise her role as Bobbie alongside a whole new cast of characters, as we follow a group of evacuees sent out of London during the Second World War.

Now, RadioTimes.com has an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the film, which features the whole cast talking about their experiences working on it and how it relates to the original.

You can watch the full behind-the-scenes clip here.

The featurette starts with director Morgan Matthews and Agutter talking about the long-lasting appeal of the original film, before producer Jemma Rodgers sets up what we can expect in this year’s follow-up.

The cast and crew establish that Bobbie has settled in Oakworth after visiting the Yorkshire village as a child, while Sheridan Smith says that “to be there when Jenny Agutter walked on set – it was really powerful”.

The team also explain that Agutter was heavily involved in the conversations about Bobbie’s life between the films, as we discover that she was a member of the suffragettes.

The cast also tease “lots of references to the original film”, including that John Bradley is playing the grandson of Bernard Cribbins’ character Albert. Rodger says that “the idea was to make it clear that we were in honour of the original”, although Matthews says that “people could come to the cinema having not seen the original and still enjoy this”.

The Railway Children Return was announced in May 2021, with a full trailer and official synopsis arriving in April of this year.

The Railway Children Return will release in UK cinemas on Friday 15th July 2022. Visit our Movies hub for more news and features and find something to watch tonight with our TV Guide.