The Primrose Railway Children, on BYUtv

In 1905, you could avoid gossip and scandal by moving to the outskirts of town. It is basically impossible today, but the best option Sarah Robinson can think of to shield her family from venomous tongues is a trip to a backward wireless dead-spot, like the Scottish Highlands. She needs to level with her kids, but the motivation for their sudden relocation is a difficult subject to broach in Julian Kemp’s The Primrose Railway Children, based on Jacqueline Wilson’s contemporary re-conception (or whatever term you might prefer) of Edith Nesbit’s classic children’s novel, The Railway Children, which premieres this Sunday on BYUtv.

Precocious young Phoebe Robinson always felt closer to her intermittently-employed animator father Rob than her annoyingly responsible and disciplining mother Sarah. As a result, she takes his sudden absence particularly hard. Initially, her mother tells her and her siblings—kind of popular but still highly self-conscious older sister Becks and bookish, slightly-on-the-spectrum brother Perry—their father is in Japan for a pitch meeting, but that story will not hold for long.

Indeed, their sudden “holiday” to the Highlands still seems suspiciously ill-timed. Even in this small town, Mo, the owner of their rental cottage, acts weirdly solicitous. Of course, Becks rebels against the new smart phone prohibition, so she enlists Phoebe help to find their dad’s number in their mother’s phone and scrounge up some change to call on a pay phone. Meanwhile, Perry is fascinated by the local “heritage railroad,” a retro rail tourist attraction that is more about serving tea than transit from point A to point B. Nevertheless, the steam engine so fascinates him, Barbara the engineer takes him under her wing—until Phoebe pulls her siblings into serious trouble.

At least in one respect, Wilson’s sprucing up Nesbit’s concept makes a fair amount of sense. In the 1905 novel, the missing father had been unjustly convicted of espionage. For the modern retelling, Rob Robinson only has himself to blame for his absence, which leads to a very frank discussion regarding how adults need to accept personal responsibility for their actions. Arguably, the messages for younger people might be more on-point in Primrose than previous Railway Children.

As Phoebe, Ava Joyce McCarthy is quite a convincing pill, which she needs to be to serve the interests of the narrative. Ida Brooke exhibits impressive screen charisma as Becks, while Tylan Bailey is believably shy and awkward, in a sensitive kind of way, as Perry. Kevin McKidd so totally nails the cool-dad vibes, his fall from grace is acutely poignant. Blythe Duff also adds a good deal of upbeat mature charm, as Mo.

The ensemble is quite winning, but the story is rather thin, despite its complicated pedigree. Still, it teaches kids to consider the consequences of their decisions, while Phoebe and Rob’s shared enthusiasm for animation and comics makes them especially relatable for geeky audiences. Recommended for younger children (maybe 4^th to 6^th graders), The Primrose Railway Children premieres this Sunday (12/8) on BYUtv.