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Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends

Thomas & Friends
Thomas-the-tank-engine-logo.jpg
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
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)
Distributor Various distributors
Release
Original network
Picture format
Audio format
Original release 9 October 1984 (1984-10-09) (UK)/29 January 1989 (1989-01-29) (US) – present
Chronology
Related shows Whisker Haven Tales with the Palace Pets
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 in 1984. 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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