A timeless childhood adventure, Arthur Ransome’s Swallows And Amazons is back on the big screen for a second time this summer. The new adaptation has a trailer to share, right there below. Stand by for more sailing away than a regatta at Enya’s place.
Set in the Lake District, the story finds the Walker children (John, Susan, Tatty and Rog) bored and daydreaming of adventure during a slow summer holiday. Happily, they soon find it when they’re allowed to sail out to an island in the middle of a vast lake and caper around, Son Of Rambow-style, honing their intrepid survival skills. Then a pair of Russkie spies pitch up and things get serious. Will they all end up in a gulag? Probably not. Will there be life lessons learnt? Hell yes.
This one has a cast filled with some of our favourite British thesps, including Andrew Scott, Jessica Hynes and Kelly Macdonald. Harry Enfield is on boatman duties.
The benchmark for chocolate-boxy family adventures, of course, is 1970 classic The Railway Children. Find out if Swallows And Amazons can match it when it splashes down in UK cinemas on August 19.