Classic family film The Railway Children entranced audiences when it was released in 1970.
It centred around the adventures of the Waterbury siblings Roberta, Phyllis and Peter after they move to West Yorkshire. Over half a century later, it has been made into a sequel.
Jenny Agutter reprises her role as Roberta in The Railway Children Return - set during the Second World War - which will be released in cinemas next Friday (July 15).
She stars with Sheridan Smith and Sir Tom Courtenay in the upcoming sequel - but what happened to her original on-screen siblings and the rest of the film's cast?
Here we chart the ups and downs of the cast since appearing in the first drama, based on the 1906 book by Edith Nesbit, and speak to one of its former stars.
Jenny Agutter (Roberta)
Jenny Agutter, now 69, first played Roberta - the eldest of the Waterbury clan - in the 1968 TV version of The Railway Children. She reprised the role for the 1970 film adaption.
A year after the release of the film, 16-year-old Jenny starred in Walkabout, about an Aboriginal boy who comes to the rescue of a white girl and her brother lost in the Australian outback.
The film marked her move into more adult roles. Over the next decade, she moved to Hollywood and appeared in The Eagle Has Landed, The Man in the Iron Mask, Equus, which won her a Best Supporting Actress BAFTA, and An American Werewolf in London.
In 1990 she married Swedish hotel manager Johan Tham and they had a son. "I had given up hope of being married and just thought marriage and motherhood isn't my path," she has said. "I love what I do but my family is an absolute blessing."
Jenny, 69, appeared in several British TV dramas as well as a 2000 TV adaptation of The Railway Children. The actress returned to Hollywood to star in The Avengers and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
She is now more known for playing Sister Julienne in the popular BBC drama Call the Midwife.
Gary Warren (Peter)
Gary was 16 when he appeared as Peter Waterbury in The Railway Children.
Although he landed a handful of TV and film roles – including in Catweazle, The Shadow of the Tower and Whack-O! – Gary did not enjoy anywhere near the same showbiz career success as his on-screen sisters.
Gary’s last credited role was in 1973, when he was still a teenager.
As an adult he moved away from acting to live a quiet life in Oxfordshire. But Gary, who turns 68 this week, is still a regular at Railway Children reunion events and is proud of the film's legacy.
Sally Thomsett (Phyllis)
Sally Thomsett fooled audiences and the film crew when she signed on to play 11-year-old Phyllis at the age of 20.
Her portrayal of the younger sister, when she was four years older than "big sis" Jen, won her a BAFTA for best newcomer.
Soon afterwards Sally married her first husband Nigel Newman after five years together but she later admitted she realised she made a mistake just six weeks after the wedding.
Her professional life continued to blossom. After a role in 1971 movie Straw Dogs with Dustin Hoffman and Sue George, she played dippy Jo in TV comedy Man About the House with Paula Wilcox and Richard O'Sullivan, who she dated in real life.
After the series ended, she went travelling and married Danish film producer Claus Hede Nielsen.
A few years later, estranged from her husband, she met Paul Agnew and, to her surprise, got pregnant at the age of 46 with daughter Charlotte.
Sally focused on raising her daughter. In 2019, she revealed: "I thought when she's old enough, I'll go back to work. But the timing didn't turn out well. That was the time of reality TV starting, and they'd stopped making nice comedies."
Chris Witty (Jim)
Actor Chris Witty had a modest but significant role in The Railway Children that prompted co-star Jenny to call him "the fourth Railway Child".
Chris played Jim, an injured lad rescued from peril in a train tunnel by the siblings. And in his final scene, suggestive of a blossoming romance with Roberta, he bids her a fond farewell and promises: "I'll write."
In the new film we discover he wed Roberta - who's known as Bobbie - they had a daughter Annie and he died in the First World War.
Chris, 72, insists his contribution to the movie is a highlight of his life: "It's right up there. Although I wasn't a lead, Jenny says I was the fourth Railway Child – like the fifth Beatle."
The movie's enduring appeal has surprised Chris, who added: "When we were making the film, I thought 'Hmmm, there's no sex in this, there's no violence, it's a sweet story about children... I wonder how much that's going to appeal to people'. It turned into one of the best British films of all time."
It turned out to be Chris' final film. "My passion had always been motorsport. Before The Railway Children I was a sports writer, so I gave up acting and went back into that. I travelled the world following all forms of motor racing.
"I was too tall [at 6ft 4ins] to drive racing cars and this was the next best thing – interviewing the likes of James Hunt, Graham Hill and Niki Lauda."
Chris went on to work for Richard Branson, playing a key role in billionaire's attempt at the fastest-ever Atlantic crossing by powerboat.
Chris, who was previously married to actress Allyson Ree, wed wife Megan in 1992 and they have a son, Alex. He went on to do freelance marketing and lives with his family in a five-bedroom house in Wiltshire.
He said: "I'm happy very with the path I chose. A lot of people think I'm rolling in it from The Railway Children, but my contract was a buy-out so I've never received royalties from it."
Bernard Cribbins (Albert)
The 93-year-old actor has a voice as famous as his face.
Bernard, who played porter Albert Perks in The Railway Children, narrated The Wombles and voiced Water Rat in a BBC radio adaption of The Wind in The Willows.
He appeared in a total of 114 episodes as a Jackanory storyteller – more than any other celebrity – and in 2009 was awarded a BAFTA for his children's TV work.
Sadly Bernard and his wife Gill could not have children. He said in 2014: "Although I don’t have any of my own, I feel very lucky I've got lots of other children who sit and listen to my stories."
After 66 years of marriage, Gill passed away last year.
Bernard's career is still going strong, and for Doctor Who's 60th anniversary he is reprising his role as Will Mott from David Tennant's 2010 stint.
Back in 1966 he also played Tom Campbell, a companion to Peter Cushing's version of the Doctor, in spin-off film Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150AD.
Dinah Sheridan (Mrs Waterbury)
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Dinah had a successful silver screen career before appearing as the mother of the Railway Children.
She had starred in movies including the Hills of Donegal, the Story of Shirley Yorke and Genevieve.
Dinah was presented with the famous red book on This Is Your Life in 1979, with actors Sir John Gielgud and Dirk Bogarde among those paying tribute to her.
Dinah made only one more film after the Railway Children – the Mirror Crack'd – and went on to star in the hit sitcom Don’t Wait Up that ran until 1990.
Her last role was in 1999 as Kathleen Gilmore in an episode of crime drama Jonathan Creek.
Dinah's personal life was also dramatic – she married four times, divorced twice and was a widow twice. She had three children with one dying in infancy. Dinah died aged 92 in 2012.
Sally James (Maid)
Before Tiswas cemented her place in the TV Hall of Presenting Fame, Sally James spent years as an actress. After starring as one of Sidney Poitier's pupils in To Sir With Love, she was a maid in The Railway Children.
Afterwards, she juggled appearances in shows including Dixon of Dock Green and The Two Ronnies with presenting work. Too Young to Rock was Sally's last movie before Tiswas.
Viewers couldn’t get enough of the show's chaos and mayhem, with segments including the Phantom Flan Flinger. They fell in love with Sally's fun loving, relaxed style.
While presenting Tiswas, she met TV producer Mike Smith and they married in 1978. She left Tiswas five years later. Although she still presented, Sally became better known as a pantomime regular.
Now 72, she has three grown-up children and runs unismart.co.uk, a school uniform business.
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