Thomas & Friends

***Thomas & Friends*** is a British animated television series which was first broadcast on CITV on 9 October 1984. It is based on _The Railway Series_ books by Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher. The main character is Thomas, a tank engine that is painted blue. The show takes place on the made-up island of Sodor. There are some route systems there. One of them is a standard-gauge heritage railway run by Sir Topham Hatt known as the North Western Railway. Thomas is the leader of the steam team.

## Characters

The show is mainly about the locomotives, other machines, humans and other animals who populate the fictional Island of Sodor in the United Kingdom. Since 2004, the show has had eight main characters are Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Toby, and Emily.

## History

The first attempt to adapt Awdry's stories for television came 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_. 00 gauge Hornby Dublo models appeared on sets that reflected 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 it had to be replaced on the rails by one of the operators. The models moved jerkily, and all effects and music had to be superimposed.

News of the broadcast hit the front pages of _The Daily Telegraph_ and the _Daily Mail_. Awdry branded the episode "unprofessional", and the point-switching debacle an "elementary mistake". As a result, the second episode scheduled for 28 June 1953 was put on hold, and then later cancelled. The BBC offered Awdry and the _Railway Series_ publishers greater creative control over the production, but the publishers declined, preferring to focus on publishing new books for the series.

Nearly twenty years later, the BBC featured Awdry's stories in the television story-telling show _Jackanory_. Fourteen years before _Thomas and Friends_ was aired, Ted Ray (sitting in a stationmaster's office) read five _Railway Series_ books in episodes that aired between 20 September to 2 October 1970.

### Voices

|Actor|Region|Role(s)||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="2"|**John Hasler**|UK|Thomas (_The Adventure Begins onwards_)|
|UK/US|Rheneas (series 20 onwards)|||
|**Joseph May**|US|Thomas (_The Adventure Begins onwards_)||
|rowspan="2"|**Christopher Ragland**|US|Percy (_series 19 onwards_) and Trevor (_series 20 onwards_)|
|UK/US|Troublesome Trucks (_The Adventure Begins onwards_), a Passenger|||
|Tim Bain|UK/US|Aiden, Madeleine's Father, some Passengers and some Workmen (UK/US)||
|rowspan="2"|**David Bedella**|US|Victor and The Mayor of Sodor|
|UK/US|Victor (_Blue Mountain Mystery onwards_) and The Cuban Man|||
|Sanjeev Bhaskar|UK/US|Shankar||
|Sheena Bhattessa|UK/US|Noor Jehan and Charubala||
|**Hugh Bonneville**|UK/US|Merlin||
|**Darren Boyd**|UK/US|Theo||
|**Jonathan Broadbent**|UK/US|Bill & Ben, and A Slip Coach||
|**Jamie Campbell Bower**|UK/US|Skiff||
|Chipo Chung|UK/US|Hong-Mei and Dr. Kim||
|Flamina Cinque|UK/US|Ester and Dam Bella||
|**Nathan Clarke**|UK/US|Alfie||
|**Olivia Colman**|UK/US|Marion||
|**Sophie Colquhoun**|UK/US|Frankie||
|Laura Cucurullo|UK/US|Cassia, a Batucata Musician and Marcia||
|**Tina Desai**|UK/US|Ashima and The Indian Fashion Designer||
|**Jonathan Forbes**|UK/US|Connor||
|Anna Francolini|UK/US|Gina, some Italian Children, and some Italian Passengers||
|rowspan="2"|**Teresa Gallagher**|UK|Emily, Rosie, Mavis, Lady Hatt, Stephen Hatt (_Diesel's Special Delivery_), Bridget Hatt, The Duchess of Boxford, Bridget Hatt's Friends, The Teacher, The Laundry Lady, The School Children, The Girl in Red Dress, The Blond-hair Boy and Some Passengers|
|UK/US|Belle, Mavis (_series 17 onwards_), Annie & Clarabel, Lady Hatt (_series 17 onwards_), Judy and The Lady with the Big Hat|||
|**Bob Golding**|UK/US|Stephen, Sidney, Baz and Some Dock Workers||
|**Mike Grady**|UK/US|Sir Robert Norramby||
|**Rasmus Hardiker**|UK/US|Philip||
|rowspan="2"|**William Hope**|US|Edward, Toby, Whiff, Bash, Rocky, Stephen Hatt, Farmer McColl, The Duke of Boxford, The Maithwaite Stationmaster (_Double Trouble_ and _Wonky Whistle only_), Farmer Trotter, The Dock Manager, and The Wellsworth Station Worker|
|UK/US|Bert (_series 16 onwards_) and A Railway Inspector|||
|**Jim Howick**|UK/US|Hurricane||
|Siu-see Hung|UK/US|An An and the Chinese Women||
|**Togo Igawa**|UK/US|Hiro||
|Shane Jacobson|UK/US|Shane||
|**Rufus Jones**|UK/US|Flying Scotsman||
|rowspan="2"|**Jules de Jongh**|US|Emily, Rosie, Mavis (_Hero of the Rails - Blue Mountain Mystery_), Lady Hatt, Bridget Hatt, The Duchess of Boxford, Bridget Hatt's Friends, The Teacher, The Laundry Lady, The Blond-haired Boy and The School Children|
|UK/US|Alicia Botti|||
|Harriet Kershaw|UK/US|Jenny Packard and Darcy||
|rowspan="3"|**Steven Kynman**|UK|Porter, Jack, and The Dock Manager (_Tale of the Brave only_)|
|US|Butch (_Series 17 onwards_) and a Child|||
|UK/US|Duck, Peter Sam, Dart (_Series 17 onwards_), Paxton, A Slip Coach, and A Railway Inspector|||
|Francisco Labbe|UK/US|Gustavo and a Batucata Musician||
|**Michael Legge**|UK/US|Luke||
|**Dan Li**|UK/US|Yong Bao and Chinese Railway Inspector||
|Windson Liong|UK/US|Yin-Long and the Chinese Men||
|Montserrat Lombard|UK/US|Mia and some Italian Passengers||
|Monica Lopera|UK/US|Gabriela||
|Antoino Magro|UK/US|Stefano, the Italian Stationmaster, and some Italian Workmen||
|**Clive Mantle**|UK/US|Gator||
|**David Menkin**|US|Porter and Jack||
|Genevieve McCarthy|UK/US|Aubrey||
|Matt McCooey|UK/US|Kenji||
|Ian McCue|UK/US|Tiger Hunter #1 and The Crown Thief 1||
|**Colin McFarlane**|UK/US|Bulgy and Beresford||
|Rachael Louise Miller|UK/US|Rebecca||
|**Joe Mills**|UK/US|Donald (Series 18–Series 19), Douglas, Oliver, Toad, Skiff and The Welsh Bird Watcher||
|**Lucy Montgomery**|UK/US|Lexi, Hannah and Carly||
|Vincenzo Nicoli|UK/US|Lorenzo, Beppe, An Italian Workman, and some Italian Passengers||
|**Rebecca O'Mara**|UK/US|Caitlin and A Slip Coach||
|**Maggie Ollerenshaw**|UK/US|Henrietta||
|Nikhil Parner|UK/US|Rajiv, the Indian Friendly Stationmaster, the Indian Grumpy Stationmaster, and the Indian Troublesome Trucks||
|Rosamund Pike|UK/US|Duchess||
|**Nigel Pilkington**|UK|Trevor||
|Gabriel Porras|UK/US|Emerson and Fernando||
|**Miranda Raison**|UK/US|Millie and The Knapford Station Speaker (Missing Gator)||
|rowspan="3"|**Rob Rackstraw**|UK/US|Donald (series 20 onwards), Bradford, Monty and Flynn (series 19 onwards, excluding Toad and the Whale)|
|UK|Toby (series 19 onwards)|||
|US|James (The Adventure Begins onwards) and Stanley (series 20 onwards)|||
|**Eddie Redmayne**|UK/US|Ryan||
|**John Schwab**|UK/US|Vinnie||
|**Peter Andre**|UK/US|Ace||
|**Yvonne Grundy**|UK/US|Nia||
|rowspan="3"|**Kerry Shale**|US|Henry, Gordon, James (Hero of the Rails - series 18), Dash, Scruff, Harold, Kevin, Sir Topham Hatt (Hero of the Rails - series 18), Mr. Percival, Sir Lowham Hatt, The Maithwaite Stationmaster (_Time For a Story and A Blooming Mess only_), A Railway Inspector, The Railway Coal Inspector, The Zoo Keeper, and Workmen|
|UK|The Zoo Keeper (_Not Now, Charlie! only_)|||
|UK/US|Diesel (UK, series 13 onwards, US, series 19), 'Arry, Bert (_series 14 - 15_), Max, Beau, and Some groaning passengers (_Calm Down Caitlin_)|||
|**Tom Stourton**|UK/US|Duncan, Rex and Terence||
|Federico Trujillo|UK/US|Raul, a Batucada Musician, a Brazilian Workman and Marcio||
|rowspan="2"|**Tim Whitnall**|UK|The Deputy Minister|
|UK/US|Timothy, Mike, Oliver (Excavator), Jerome, Duke and Reg|||
|rowspan="2"|**Keith Wickham**|UK|Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Whiff, Dash, Harold, The Mayor of Sodor, The Thin Controller, Sir Lowham Hatt, Mr. Bubbles, The Railway Coal Inspector, The Man at the Fire, The Wellsworth Station Worker, The Wellsworth Stationmaster, Some Workmen, Some Passengers, Gator's Driver, A Steamworks Worker, A Groundsman, and A Postman|
|UK/US|Harvey, Skarloey, Sir Handel, Bert (Arlesdale Railway), The Fat Controller (UK, series 13, US, The Adventure Begins onwards), Salty, Den, Norman, Stafford, Bertie (_series 17 onwards_), Captain, Dowager Hatt, A Railway Inspector, The Great Composer, The Maron Station Speaker, The Fat Controller's Assistant, Thomas' Guard, The Grumpy Passenger, and Father Christmas|||
|**Robert Wilfort**|UK/US|Samson||
|rowspan="2"|**Matt Wilkinson**|UK|Spencer, Stanley, Charlie, Bash, Scruff, Victor (_Hero of the Rails - Series 16_), Rocky, Cranky, Butch (_series 16 onwards_), Kevin, Stephen Hatt, Farmer McColl, The Duke of Boxford, The Photographer, The Maithwaite Stationmaster, Farmer Trotter, The Knapford Stationmaster, The Bird Watcher, The Dock Manager, A Railway Inspector, Some Dock Workers, The Island Inspector, The Sodor Search & Rescue Centre Manager, The Blue Mountain Quarry Workman, and The Zoo Keeper|
|UK/US|Diesel 10, Rusty, Winston, and Merrick|||
|**Glenn Wrage**|US|Spencer, Charlie (_series 13 - 15_), Ferdinand, Cranky, Butch (_series 15 - 16_), The Sodor Search & Rescue Centre Manager, Gator's Driver, and A Steamworks Worker||

|Actor|Region|Role(s)||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|**Martin Sherman**|US|Thomas (_Hero of the Rails - series 18_), Percy (_Hero of the Rails - series 18_), Diesel (_King of the Railway - series 18_), and some children (_Toby and Bash_)||
|rowspan="3"|**Ben Small**|UK|Thomas (_Hero of the Rails - series 18_), Toby (_Hero of the Rails - series 18_), and Ferdinand (_Misty Island Rescue - series 16_)|
|US|Stanley (_series 15 - 18_) and Charlie (_series 16 - 18_)|||
|UK/US|Rheneas (_Blue Mountain Mystery - series 18_), Flynn (_series 17, only_), Troublesome Trucks (_series 16 - 18_) and Owen (_Blue Mountain Mystery - series 18_)|||
|**Michael Brandon|US|Diesel (_series 13 - Blue Mountain Mystery_), Mr. Bubbles (_series 13 - 15_), and The Knapford Stationmaster (_series 13 only_)||
|rowspan="2"|**Rupert Degas**|UK|Butch (_series 15 only_)|
|UK/US|Diesel 10 (_Misty Island Rescue; original cut only_), Dart (_series 15 - 16_), Flynn (_series 15 - 16_), and Bertie (_series 15 - 16_)|||

#### United Kingdom

- **Ringo Starr** (series 1-2, 1984-1986)
- **Michael Angelis** (series 3-16, 1991-2012)
- **John Hasler** (series 22-24, in-character as Thomas, 2018-2021)

#### United States

- **George Carlin** (series 1–4, 1984-1995)
- **Alec Baldwin** (series 5–6, 1998-2002)
- **Michael Brandon** (series 7-16, 2003-2012)
- **Joseph May** (series 22-24, in-character as Thomas, 2018-2021)

#### Both

- **Pierce Brosnan** (series 8-18, 2004-2015)
- **Mark Moraghan''' (series 17-21, 2013-2017)

## Infobox (television)

- **image**: 토마스와친구들영어로고.png
- **caption**: Logo used since 2008
- **alt name**: Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends
_Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!_
- **creator**: Britt Allcroft
- **developer**: Britt Allcroft
- **voices**: List of Thomas & Friends voice actors, List of voice actors
- **country**: United Kingdom
- **language**: English
- **num series**: 24
- **num episodes**: 584
- **list episodes**: List of Thomas & Friends episodes