Is it as good as the original? Not by a long chalk.
Is it trading on the love of the original, and of Jenny Agutter? Undoubtedly.
Is it completely woke and rewrites history, spinning a 21st C perspective? No (but yes, as it's made in the 21st C!) On the history side, the Snowdrops (US Army military police) did storm into a Lancashire pub as black GIs were fraternising with the locals. The locals stood up the GIs, the MPs discharged a weapon and a black soldier was killed. (Search Battle of BamberBridge) As for a Black US General, we'll Brigadier General Benjamin O Davis Sr was the first black man to hold that rank. In WW2 he held a troubleshooting role to assist the expanded role of African Americans, in segregated units. In 1944 he was stationed in Europe, so not a stretch of imagination to place him on a train in the north of England.
Essentially, this would've made a good 6 part, 30 minute series for CBBC, with no mention of The Railway Children.
Is it trading on the love of the original, and of Jenny Agutter? Undoubtedly.
Is it completely woke and rewrites history, spinning a 21st C perspective? No (but yes, as it's made in the 21st C!) On the history side, the Snowdrops (US Army military police) did storm into a Lancashire pub as black GIs were fraternising with the locals. The locals stood up the GIs, the MPs discharged a weapon and a black soldier was killed. (Search Battle of BamberBridge) As for a Black US General, we'll Brigadier General Benjamin O Davis Sr was the first black man to hold that rank. In WW2 he held a troubleshooting role to assist the expanded role of African Americans, in segregated units. In 1944 he was stationed in Europe, so not a stretch of imagination to place him on a train in the north of England.
Essentially, this would've made a good 6 part, 30 minute series for CBBC, with no mention of The Railway Children.