Thomas and Friends

Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends (otherwise referred to as Thomas & Friends, Thomas the Tank Engine or Thomas for short) is a British children's television series. It was first broadcast on CITV in September 1984. It is based on The Railway Series books by the Rev. W. Awdry and his son, Christopher. The main character is Thomas the Tank Engine, a tank engine that is painted blue. The show takes place on the made-up island of Sodor. There are three heritage railways there. One of them is a standard-gauge railway run by Sir Topham Hatt known as the North Western Railway. The other two are different sizes. Thomas runs on the North Western Railway.
Characters
The show is mainly about the machines and people who populate the fictional Island of Sodor. Since 2004, the show has had eight main characters:
Thomas the Tank Engine
Edward the Blue Engine
Henry the Green Engine
Gordon the Big Engine
James the Red Engine
Percy the Small Engine
Toby the Tram Engine
Emily the Stirling Engine
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.
Cast
Voices
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Former voices
|-
! 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)
|}
Narrators
George Carlin (US Series 1-4) (1984-1994)
Alec Baldwin (US Series 5-6) (1998-2002)
Michael Brandon''' (US Series 7) (2003)
References
Other websites
1980s British television series
1980s animated television series
1980s British television series debuts
1984 television series debuts
1990s British television series
1990s television series debuts
2000s British television series
2000s television series debuts
2010s British television series
2010s television series debuts
Cartoon Network series
Channel 5 (UK) television programmes
Internet memes
Television series about friendship
Thomas and Friends
English-language television programs