Magic hour

MARY POPPINS RETURNS Emily Blunt looks the part, but will this belated sequel fly?

She’s not singing, she’s not dancing and there’s no sign of her parrot-topped umbrella (it’s probably in her bottomless bag), but Emily Blunt still cuts a dashing figure as everyone’s favourite supernanny. Mary Poppins Returns is not a remake of the beloved 1964 film, stresses director Rob Marshall, who’s no stranger to movie musicals having helmed Into The Woods, Nine and Chicago. “P.L. Travers wrote eight books altogether. It was the Harry Potter of its time.”

“They worked from the first book,” continues the director, “and we are working from the other books, not touching the iconic brilliance of Mary Poppins. I’m a huge fan of the original but this is an extension.”

Returns is set in 1930s Depression-era London. The Banks children, Michael and Jane, have grown up into Ben Whishaw and Emily Mortimer, and Michael now has three sprogs of his own. But tragedy has beset the family and Mary Poppins is needed once more, arriving with her cousin Topsy (Meryl Streep) to sprinkle a little joy.

A glance at the extended cast list is enough to spread the happiness, with Colin Firth playing William Weatherall Wilkins, president of the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, Angela Lansbury on hand as Balloon Lady, and Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda playing Lamplighter Jack. Could that last one be

Returns’ answer to Dick Van Dyke’s chim chim chimney sweep Bert? Perhaps, though Van Dyke is reprising his role and, at 91, remains spry enough to bust a few moves.

The question on everyone’s lips, of course, is whether Julie Andrews will also pop up. “She is a very dear friend,” says Marshall. “I know she is very happy that we’re doing it… and if she could be involved, it would be very special.” You might say it would be practically perfect in every way. ETA | 2018 MARY POPPINS RETURNS OPENS next year.