As a child, no film had a greater power over me than The Secret Garden. I grew up watching my beloved VHS copy of the film on repeat. Get ready for a shock, because the 1993 adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 children’s novel turns – gasp – 30 years old today.

The film tells the story of Mary Lennox (Kate Maberly), a “quite contrary” – yes, like the children’s rhyme – British orphan who’s sent to live with her austere, recently widowed uncle Archibald Craven (John Lynch) at his remote manor house, perched on the edge of the gloomy Yorkshire moors. On the vast property, she finds a hidden walled garden and, eventually, the key that will open it. She also comes across Colin (Heydon Prowse), her sickly, sour cousin, who lives hidden away in the manor house.

With the help of local boy Dickon (Andrew Knott), Mary, Archibald and Colin tend to the overgrown, unkempt garden, bringing it slowly back to life. As the garden revives, so too do the people living within the house – the neglected children and Archibald begin to shed their grief and fear so they can finally look towards a new, hopeful future. Cue happy tears and Linda Ronstadt singing the hauntingly ethereal Winter Light as the credits roll.

30 years later, 1993’s The Secret Garden remains a mesmerising millennial classic