British movie attracts first ever complaint after claim classic film encourages viewers to play on train lines

For more than 40 years, families have gathered to watch movie classic The Railway Children, with adults trying to hide their tears at the heart-warming tale.

Now ratings body the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has received its first complaint about the U-rated movie.

But the moment which got the viewer steamed up was not when Jenny Agutter gasps ‘Daddy, my Daddy!’, prompting uncontrolled sobbing – it was the fear that the movie could encourage youngsters to play on railway lines.

But the BBFC, which has classified movies for a century, says the film illustrates the dangers clearly and is set in a very different time.

The 1970 film, which stars Miss Agutter, Bernard Cribbins and Dinah Sheridan, has been a festive favourite for many years and is widely regarded as one of British cinema’s treasures.

Based on the E Nesbit novel, it was filmed on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway – masquerading as the Great Northern and Southern Railway – and chronicles the adventures of three children forced to move from London to Yorkshire when their father is imprisoned after being falsely accused of selling state secrets.

The complaint about the footage is revealed in the BBFC’s annual report, which notes: ‘The correspondent was concerned that children may be encouraged to play on railway tracks as a result of seeing the film.

‘While aware of the real dangers of such behaviour, the BBFC judged that it was very unlikely that The Railway Children would promote such dangerous activity.

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