Innocent Hope Shines in Prairie Reboot Review

Little House On The Prairie (Netflix): Four stars 

As the United States celebrates 250 years of independence, what could be more appropriate than a revival for one of the classic tales of pioneers and settlers on the new frontier?

In truth, the innocence and hope of Little House On The Prairie sit rather awkwardly alongside the usual fare of serial killers, weirdo documentaries and wall-to-wall Harlan Coben thrillers.

It seems more incongruous still against a modern American backdrop of simmering civil unrest, where fresh revelations about the Epstein files are kept off the front pages by the constant threat of World War III.

But a rattling good story is appropriate in any era. Based on a series of autobiographical novels, Little House was first adapted for TV more than half a century ago. 

BBC1 began screening it on Friday evenings in 1975, airing it before Ken Dodd's World Of Laughter.

That version starred Bonanza's Michael Landon as Charles 'Pa' Ingalls who, with his wife Caroline and their two daughters, load everything they own into a wagon and head for the great wide open of the plains.

Luke Bracey and Crosby Fitzgerald play the parents this time, in an adaptation that stays closer to the books. The quiet heroine of the story is Caroline. She's the one who keeps the real dangers at bay, whether that's scraping together enough pennies to buy food or scaring off the wolves with her rifle.

But the real star of the eight-part series is Alice Halsey as the six-year-old tomboy Laura (who will one day write the books). 

From the moment the adventure begins, we're experiencing everything through her eyes, as she wriggles through the grass with her catapult, trying to snag a rabbit for the pot.

Little Alice, who is actually 11, is remarkable as the brave, confident, endlessly curious, adored favourite child of her Pa. 

Never for an instant does she seem wooden or stilted — she inhabits the role so naturally that it's easy to believe we really are in 1871, when Native American tribes still held sway over vast tracts of the continent, and whole towns existed beyond the reach of the postal service, never mind the railways.

But she also portrays Laura's flashes of childish envy and spite, her rivalry with her big sister, Mary (Skywalker Hughes), and her fear that Ma, who is pregnant, will give Pa what he wants most . . . a baby boy.

Her excellence makes it easier to overlook some of the cliches and coincidences of the narrative, as well as the animatronic wolves and a few 'outdoor' scenes that were patently shot in a studio.

Any imaginative child today will share Laura's excitement and understand her hero-worship of a Pa who was, it's pretty obvious, useless with money, madly irresponsible and so full of optimism that he was in danger of floating away.

This is old-fashioned family entertainment. And that's rare enough these days.