An idea that came up in discussion with a friend / cynical-former-eng-lit-student last night: an update of The Railway Children with a darker twist that is more in keeping with Government’s desire to keep us all in fear modern sensibilities.
Three children escape an abusive family life at a caravan site – their father widely assumed to have absconded from his duties as laid-out by the CSA – by indulging in undirected creative play near a railway line. They are taken into temporary foster care by the local Social Services department for being at risk of grooming as demonstrated by their persistent attempts to interact with unknown adults who pass by in railway carriages. Their mother is assigned to attend parental awareness training.Absconding and returning to the railway some months later, and witnessing a landslip due to subsidence caused by a unmaintained mineshaft closed during the Thatcher regime, the eldest girl is tragically electrocuted by the live rail whilst trying to halt a train that will never come, because the line was closed weeks previously, due to lack of government bailout for mismanaged private enterprise.
Wendy Richard stars, as the mother; whoever is the current Front/Loaded/GQ bird-of-the-month will play Bobby, since Anna Friel has long outgrown the role.
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