Thomas & Friends

Thomas & Friends
Thomas the Tank Engine
Also known as	''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends (original title)
Genre	Television series
Created by	Britt Allcroft
Based on	The Railway Series by Rev. W. Awdry Christopher Awdry
Written by	Britt Allcroft (1984–2001) David Mitton (1984–2002) Various (2002–present) Sharon Miller (2008–12; head writer) Andrew Brenner (2013–present; head writer)
Directed by	David Mitton (1984–2003) Steve Asquith (2002, 2004–08) Greg Tiernan (2009–12) David Baas (2013–14) David Stoten (2014–present) Rob Silvestri (feature length specials 2013–14) Don Spencer (2014–15) Dianna Basso (2015–present)
Voices of	See List of Thomas & Friends voice actors
Narrated by	Ringo Starr UK/US: (1984–90) Michael Angelis UK: (1991–2012) George Carlin US: (1991–96) Alec Baldwin US: (1998–2003) Michael Brandon US: (2003–12) Pierce Brosnan UK/US: (2008; The Great Discovery) Mark Moraghan UK/US: (2013–present)
Composer(s)	Mike O'Donnell Junior Campbell (1984–2003) Robert Hartshorne (2004–16) Ed Welch (2004–08) Peter Hartshorne (2011–16) Chris Renshaw (2016–present) Oliver Davis (2016–present)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	20
No. of episodes	479 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Britt Allcroft (1984–86, 2002) Angus Wright (1991–98) Peter Urie (2002–03) Jocelyn Stevenson (2003–06) Christopher Skala (2007–11) Marion Edwards (2009–15) Lenora Hume (2009–10) Karen Barnes (2011–13) Kallan Kagan (2013–present) Jeff Young (2013–15) Steven Hecht (2013–15) Michael Carrington (2013–14) Christopher Keenan (2014–present) Edward Catchpole (2015) Marianne Culbert (2016–present)
Producer(s)	David Mitton (1984–98) Robert D. Cardona (1984–86) Britt Allcroft (1991–98) Phil Fehrle (2002–03) Simon Spencer (2004–08) Nicole Stinn (2008–12) Ian McCue (2011–present) Halim Jabbour (2013) Robert Anderson (2013; 2015–present) Brian Lynch (2013–15) Jennifer Hill (2014–15) Lynda Craigmyle (2016–present) Jane Sobol (2016–present)
Location(s)	Clearwater Studios Battersea (1984) Shepperton Studios (1984–2008) Nitrogen Studios (2008–12) Arc Productions (under the original name)(2013–16) Jam Filled Toronto (Arc Production's new name) (2016–present)
Editor(s)	Michael Dixon (1984) Rebecca de Burgh Mound (1986) John Wright (1991–2002) Kate Buckland (2004–08) Kevin Pavlovic (2009–12) Adam Garner (2013–present) Gavin Ebedes (2014–present)
Running time	4.5 min. (1984–2003); 9 min. (17 min.; one episode) (2004–present)
Production company(s)	Clearwater Features (1984–86) The Britt Allcroft Company (1991–2000) Gullane Entertainment (2001–03) HiT Entertainment (2003–present; Mattel) Hot Animation (2004-2008) Nitrogen Studios Canada, Inc. (2008–12) Arc Productions (under the original name) (2013–16) Jam Filled Toronto (Arc Productions's new name) (2016-present)
Distributor	Apax Partners (2005-12) Mattel (2012-Present) Lionsgate (2013-Present) DHX Media (2016-Present) Various distributors
Release
Original network	ITV (UK; 1984-2004) Channel 5 (UK; 2004–present) Cartoon Network (UK; 1994–98) Nick Jr., Nick Jr. Too (UK; 2000–16) FOUR (NZ; 2011 –16) TVNZ 2 (NZ; 2016 –present) Cartoonito (UK; 2017-present) PTV (US; 1989–96 [only as a segment on Shining Time Station]) PBS KIDS (US; 2004–present) Nick Jr. (US; 2000-present) Fox Family (US; 1999–2000) PBS KIDS Sprout (US; 2005–13) Sprout (US; 2013–15)
Picture format	4:3 480i (NTSC) 576i (PAL) (SDTV) (filmed) (Series 1-5) 16:9 480i (NTSC) 576i (PAL) (SDTV) (filmed) (Series 6–10) 16:9 1080i (HDTV) (filmed) (Series 11) 16:9 1080p (HDTV) (CGI) (Series 12 – present)
Audio format	Stereo (1984–97) Dolby Surround (1998–2002) Dolby Digital 5.1 (2003–present)
Original release	9 October 1984 (1984-10-09) (UK)/29 January 1989 (1989-01-29) (US) – present
External links
Website

Thomas & Friends (titled Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends prior to 2003) is a British children's television series. It had its first broadcast on the ITV network in Great Britain from 1984 to 1992. It is based on The Railway Series of books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher Awdry.

These books follow the adventures of a group of anthropomorphised locomotives and road vehicles who live on the fictional Island of Sodor. The books were based on stories Wilbert told to entertain his son, Christopher, during his recovery from measles. Many of the stories from the first four series are based on events from Awdry's personal experience.

Before the airing of the first episode of Thomas & Friends in 1984, previous attempts had been made to adapt Awdry's stories for television, but not all attempts were successful. The first was in 1953, when the editor of the Railway Series books, Eric Marriott, was approached by the BBC, who wished to use live-action model trains to re-create two stories from Awdry's first book, The Three Railway Engines.

The engines were portrayed by 00 gauge Hornby Dublo models and driven on authentic sets in the style of the original illustrations. The first episode, based on "The Sad Story of Henry", was broadcast live on the evening of Sunday 14 June 1953 from Lime Grove Studios. The live broadcast did not fare well. A failure to switch the points caused the model of Henry to derail and viewers of the live broadcast witnessed a human hand, said to be the one of a crew member, picking him up and placing him back on the rails. Models moved jerkily, and all effects and music had to be superimposed.

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