AFRAID OF THE DARK

FRA / GB
1991
1hr 31mins
Dir: Mark Peploe
Starring: David Thewlis and Clare Holman

A little boy, obsessed with blindness and violence, slowly gets trapped in his own delusions

This puzzling and quite alarming drama, features an equally puzzling railway sequence that was filmed on the Nene Valley Railway. Ben Keyworth enters Wansford Tunnel where some coaching stock is stored including a BR Mk.1 in blue & grey. A train then enters the tunnel hauled by a Class 40 diesel, all of which is interspersed with scenes filmed at West Brompton station on the District Line! It is not clear where Ben ‘leaves’ the tunnel for as he climbs over a wall, a bridge with a colour light signal are behind him. This is definitely not the Nene Valley as in a similar scene at night later in the film, an NSE electric unit passes behind the wall.

In a scene reminiscent of The Railway Children, Ben Keyworth enters Wansford Tunnel
The Railway Children proved to be a real influence for as the train enters the tunnel, the young actor has to hide in a refuge as it passes. The loco is a Class 40
A deserted West Brompton station on the District Line. It would not be until 1999 that Network Rail platforms were opened on the right
Where was this? The colour light signal and bridge are not a part of the Nene Valley Railway.