“The Railway Children Return” (PG) ***

IN 1944, there was a second blitz when German rocket bombs began to fall on Britain. 

Fifty-two years after the original “Railway Children” film was made, Morgan Matthews directs a sort of a sequel, with some of the original actors repeating the characters they played then; or maybe different characters – I never saw the original.

In this sequel set in Oakworth village in Yorkshire, Jenny Agutter plays grandmotherly Bobbie whose daughter Annie (Sheridan Smith) is headmistress at the local school. Three evacuees from Manchester extend the family: Lily (Beau Gadsdon), Pattie (Eden Hamilton) and Ted (Zac Cudby) are taken under their wing.

The children come across a young black US soldier hiding in a railway carriage who tells the children that he is on a secret mission. Actually, he is AWOL. The children, promising not to reveal his secret mission and location, now agree to hide him in their house.

This sequel has occasional moments of gravity acknowledging racism and a throwaway line with a subtext about immigration and a thinly veiled nod to Brexit. 

Whether a scene where US military police would arrest and handcuff a British child is debatable. But this is genial, enjoyable stuff filmed in the same location as the original film, which has remained resolutely the same despite the 52 years between films. 

Tom Courtenay as a genial uncle figure is a reassuring presence and the children, two of whom make their film debut, are the right age for the roles and delightfully endearing.

I became aware of Jenny Agutter as a 19-year-old skinny-dipping in “Walkabout”. Now 70, her filmography lists 118 credits. 

At all cinemas