Wilbert Awdry
In 1985, he resigned from network television to join an independent production company, which he had founded in 1980 with his, then wife, Britt Allcroft, also a working and accomplished television producer. In the course of a freelance assignment, Allcroft met The Reverend Wilbert Awdry and together she and Wright acquired a licence for television rights for Awdry's "The Railway Series" books featuring Thomas the Tank Engine. David Mitton of Clearwater Features directed scripts which Britt Allcroft had developed from Awdry's stories. Mitton's live model animations which he made with Terence Permane, Steve Asquith and a talented crew, became beloved among children for decades to come. The production team was completed with the now iconic music by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell and first narrator Ringo Starr. Under the cottage industry style company, Angus, Britt and two assistants ran the production and licensing business from rooms in the family home with their business lawyer Nigel Palmer. The business hired two more members of staff before the company moved to its first premises.