Britt Allcroft
| Hilary Britt Allcroft | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Hilary Mary Allcroft 14 December 1943 Worthing, England, U.K. |
| Residence | Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | English, French |
| Citizenship | British |
| Occupation | Television producer, writer, director, voice actress |
| Years active | 1968–present |
| Known for | Thomas & Friends (1984–present) |
| Notable work | Thomas & Friends (1984–1998) |
| Spouse(s) | Angus Wright (m. 1973-1997; divorced) |
| Children | 2 |
Britt Allcroft (born Hilary Mary Allcroft, 14 December 1943) is an English film, television and live theater producer, writer and director. She is the creator of the children's television series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends (later re-titled Thomas & Friends), Shining Time Station (with Rick Siggelkow) and Magic Adventures of Mumfie. She wrote, co-produced and directed the film Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000).
She was born Hilary Mary Allcroft in Worthing, England. At the age of 16, she changed her first name to Britt as her career in British radio and television gained momentum. She went on to create a succession of programmes for the BBC and ITV during the 1970s and 1980s, including Moon Clue Game, Dance Crazy and Keepsakes. Mothers By Daughters, produced for Channel Four, was broadcast by PBS in the United States. She also worked in theatre, staging shows at the London Palladium and Drury Lane Theatres.
In 1979, while making a documentary about British steam trains, Allcroft met the Reverend Wilbert Awdry, author of The Railway Series of children's books. She said, "It really didn't take me long to become intrigued by the characters, the relationships between them and the nostalgia they invoked." She told him that she wanted to bring these stories to life and made an arrangement to secure certain rights through the then publishers Kaye & Ward.
In 1980, she co-founded Britt Allcroft Railway Productions (internationally known as The Britt Allcroft Company) with her husband, television producer Angus Wright. It took Allcroft four years to raise the funding for, and create, a first series of films in collaboration with director David Mitton. The first episode of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, shot on 35 mm film with narration by Ringo Starr in both US and UK and music by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell, was aired for the first time on British television on 4 September 1984.
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