The live broadcast did not fare well.  The BBC chose to adapt ‘The Sad Story of Henry’ to the screen, and in addition to the model engines, the Director, Douglas Mair, had to cope with superimposed rain, music, effects and live narrative provided by Julia Lang of ‘Listen With Mother’ fame.  The Reverend Awdry, himself an experienced railway modeller, condemned the jerking motion of the models, the ‘freely adapted script’ required to meet contingencies of a ten-minute broadcast, and the ‘elementary mistake’ of not switching the points, which led to a nasty derailment.  Eric Marriott, who was viewing the broadcast with his family, was surprised to see a large hand pick up the engine and replace it on the rails again!

In 1973, a life-long fan of the books approached Kaye and Ward about producing a musical television series based on the Railway Series.  The acclaimed theatrical talent, Andrew Lloyd Webber, had retained such affection for the books that he had even named one of his companies ‘The Really Useful Company’, after one of the railway’s better known phrases.  However, there was apprehension from the publishers and the author, as the outlined plans would have given Lloyd Webber's company the rights to the books, characters and anything that was yet to be written or published.  The argument for this was that this level of control was ‘necessary to secure money from American investors needed to pay for the animation and film making’. 

The project continually stalled, with the Reverend Awdry stating his own personal belief that ‘Once the Americans get hold of it the whole series would be vulgarised and ruined!’  But in spite of the signing of contracts and a £10,000 investment trying to advance the project, Andrew Lloyd Webber had abandoned the project by 1977.  By 1976, he had found mainstream success with Evita, and found that the stage was his natural home.  However, he went on to create a railway-based musical, geared more to the American market, based on the story of Cinderella.  Starlight Express opened in 1984 to critical acclaim and remains one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s most celebrated productions.

In 1979, the Reverend Awdry was to be interviewed on the Bluebell Railway for a feature on steam railways.  The producer, Britt Allcroft, had chosen to read some of the Railway Series books for research purposes prior to meeting him, and became engrossed in the characters, stories and situations.  She was convinced that they would translate well to the screen, and suggested the idea to the Reverend after dinner one evening.  Still sceptical following the previous dealings with the BBC and Andrew Lloyd Webber, he warned Britt that previous attempts had not been successful.  However, this did not deter her interest and she began to pursue the idea, negotiating the television rights for £50,000, and then beginning the difficult journey to source finance for production.

Many parties she approached were keen to provide the money, but wanted to have creative control of the product.  In the end, Britt was able to gain the funding she needed from her local bank, and by 1981, was financially able to put the series into production.  Many different types of animation were considered from cell-animation to stop-motion.  However, an animator put forward a recommendation to seek out assistance from the Director of a yoghurt pot commercial, based in South London.  The Director had been David Mitton, co-founder of the Clearwater Film Company with fellow Gerry Anderson student, Ken Turner.  At the time, Clearwater specialised in stop-motion advertisements, but the project piqued David’s interest, and he suggested the use of ‘live action model animation’, not dissimilar to that used by Gerry Anderson’s puppet films in the 1960s.

Around the same time, through a mutual friend, Britt was contacted by two musicians keen to provide the music for her series.  Mike O’Donnell and Junior Campbell produced several sample themes for Britt to consider, with the main one intended for the opening theme ending up as Toby’s theme tune in the series.  But her biggest coup was her choice of Storyteller.  Having heard his voice in a Michael Parkinson interview, Britt was convinced that Ringo Starr was the natural person to bring the televised adventures to life.  Although not keen to participate initially, Ringo eventually warmed to the idea and agreed to provide his vocals.  On meeting the Author himself, he admitted to not having read the books in his childhood, but was impressed by what he was seeing.  Awdry commented, “You were deprived!”  That meeting in particular went rather well, with Ringo being mesmerised by Awdry's branch line layout in his house.  His wife Barbara Bach,  however, was in a state of immense boredom by the time they left!

Together, the Britt Allcroft Company and Clearwater produced a successful pilot, using the story Thomas Down The Mine, and eventually, production began on a full series of twenty-six episodes.  On the morning of the series’ debut in September of 1984, the Reverend Awdry was invited on to breakfast television, TV AM, along with Ringo Starr, to discuss the series and the books behind them.  The pair spoke very highly of their involvement with the production, and even showcased the new spin-off publication, Thomas’s Christmas Party.  Using content from the first eight books of the Railway Series, Britt set a core character base with Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy and Toby, receiving critical acclaim and bringing the characters and stories to a wider audience, as they premiered on ITV.

The success of the first series prompted a second, and this time, David Mitton and Britt Allcroft set to diversify the story base a little more, choosing some of Awdry’s strongest works and developing the strength of the series as a whole.  It also provided a window of opportunity for Christopher Awdry to contribute material, as there was some slight concern from Britt that there was a clear lack of Thomas stories to feature.  Thus, the Railway Series book, More About Thomas The Tank Engine, and the Annual story, Thomas and Trevor, were written to meet the needs of the producers, who were subject to a contract clause by Kaye and Ward, which stipulated that all material featured on television must be released in print form first.

Following the second series, David Mitton and Robert D. Cardona wished to produce their own original work, a co-venture between Clearwater Features and TVS called TUGS, which would premiere in 1989.  TUGS drew comparison with Thomas as it utilised the same live action model animation techniques and made use of the same composers, Mike O’Donnell and Junior Campbell. Set during the 1920s in ‘the biggest Harbour in the world’ – Bigg City Port, it focussed upon the day-to-day adventures of two rival Tugboat fleets, competing for contracts within the port and beyond throughout darker and more dramatic storylines than that seen in Thomas.  TUGS ran for one full series of 13 episodes, and whilst a second was planned, the bankruptcy of TVS meant that this could not go ahead.  TUGS was the last major production that Clearwater Features were involved with prior to their liquidation in the early 1990s.

Britt Allcroft began work on launching Thomas in the United States.  Striking a deal with broadcaster, PBS, she co-created a vehicle for Thomas called Shining Time Station with Rick Siggelkow.  The series would be a half-hour programme revolving around one or two episodes of Thomas, and exploring the lessons and morals within the stories.  To maintain continuity with the British series, Ringo Starr was asked to play Mr Conductor, an eighteen-inch tall man who told the stories to the children who visited the station.  The series soon began winning numerous accolades, including two Emmy nominations for ‘Outstanding Performance in a Children’s Series’ (Ringo Starr), and ‘Outstanding Direction’ for the series Director, Matthew Diamond, who won his award. 

The reaction of the Reverend Awdry and his family was not favourable to these changes.  They had been sent copies of the scripts for approval, but were quite upset that the producers had gone on to shoot the stories anyway – including the ones that the family had objected to.  This led to tirades in the press on the part of Awdry, and a general cooling of relations between the family and the TV Series producers.  David Mitton stated that while he “always loved the Awdry stories,” his main priority was “telling a story” and that he “would always strive to be as close to the original story as he could possibly be, while taking the filmed translation of the story into account.”  Britt also defended the decisions made, not as cold-hearted ones, but as necessary moves to ensure the success of the characters.

Series 3 also saw the introduction of two new storytellers as Ringo Starr decided to leave Thomas behind to pursue his musical interests again with his All Starr Band.  To further the success in the United States, Britt Allcroft and Rick Sigglekow brought in American comedian, George Carlin, to replace Ringo as Mr Conductor on Shining Time Station.  As well as being storyteller for the new Series 3, George also retold stories from Series 1 and 2, many of which Ringo had not adapted for the United States.  In the UK, another Liverpudlian actor was sought to emulate Ringo’s tones.  Michael Angelis, who had starred previously in The Liver Birds and Boys From The Black Stuff, took over duties for the UK and Australian releases and provided an enthusiastic and lively narrative throughout his storytelling.  Both stand in very high regard with nostalgic fans today.

After 1992, the TV Series was no longer broadcast on terrestrial UK television, and following Shining Time Station’s third series in 1993, the preference was to produce ‘specials’ of that series instead.  Thus, when Series 4 came to be released in 1995, it became the first one to be released ‘straight-to-video’ as a ‘made to specification’ series.  The series was shown in the UK on Satellite channel Cartoon Network, whilst in the USA, Shining Time Station made use of eight stories.

What made Series 4 unique was that it focussed very stringently upon the introduction of a huge number of new characters.  The introduction of the little Skarloey Railway engines saw much of the emphasis pushed onto developing and showcasing these characters, which meant a return to using Awdry Railway Series material for (almost) an entire series, including several stories by Christopher Awdry as well.  However, Britt Allcroft and David Mitton continued to adapt the stories to suit the audiences in all territories, and even wrote an original piece to introduce Stepney the Bluebell Engine - the Producers wanting The Island Of Sodor to be a universal place, and not pigeon-holed as a British island, which had been firmly established by the Rev. Awdry.

On March 21 1997, the Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry OBE died following years of prolonged illness and being bedridden.  It would be around this point that the television series would begin to dominate Thomas.  The Britt Allcroft Company bought up the full rights to Thomas from the publishers, Heinemann Books, who were selling off their children’s publishing arm, and following the acquisition, Britt Allcroft and David Mitton set about creating their first full series of original Thomas The Tank Engine and Friends stories, to be used as a showcase for the upcoming movie, due for release in 2000.  In 1997, George Carlin played the role of Mr Conductor for the final time, choosing to move on and pursue a movie career instead.  His final stint was as part of ‘Mr Conductor’s Thomas Tales’, a spin-off from Shining Time Station.

Thomas and the Magic Railroad thus became a fusion of both a ‘Thomas’ movie and a ‘Shining Time Station’ one.  Combining the live action model animation and live action actors, the movie followed the adventures of Thomas and his friends as they tried to help Mr Conductor, a young girl called Lily and Mr Conductor’s younger cousin, C Junior, get back to Shining Time Station when a Gold Dust crisis occurs, severing the connection between the two worlds.  However, with the fearsome Diesel 10 on the loose at the same time, looking for a lost steam engine called ‘Lady’ it would be no easy task to put everything right. 

It was during the movie's post-production that HiT Entertainment first set eyes on acquiring the Thomas franchise. In the opening rounds of negotiations in early February 2000, HiT initially offered close to £220 million, a figure which was later increased substantially to £356. News of HiT's interest in Thomas actually benefited Britt's company, whereupon the price per share leapt from £7.50 to £8.92. By mid-February, Britt and the board were in a position to kindly turn down HiT's offer, stating that Thomas remaining as a high-quality and independent portfolio asset was in her company shareholders' best interests.  Also being considered at the time was the possibility of relocating the TV Series to Toronto. The deciding factors against this move in the end were the results of a cost analysis and Britt’s recognition and protection of Thomas as a British cultural icon. 

Writing for the sixth series was placed in the hands of individual script writers, with some storylines being outlined by David Mitton to provide a guiding hand.  Among the new writing staff were the legendry Brian Trueman who wrote and lent voice talent for Cosgrove Hall's Wind In The Willows among other productions for the same company, and his son, Jonathan, who he had collaborated with for the writing of stop-motion series, The Treacle People, produced by Fire Mountain Productions.  Thomas was one of Brian’s final writing contributions prior to retiring.

Jonathan also played a part in developing the first two scripts for what was intended as a Thomas ‘spin-off’ series, Jack and the Sodor Construction Crew, developed by Phil Ferhle.  These stories were to be based around construction projects on the Island of Sodor, with a group of road-based construction machines taking centre stage.  Jack and his friends were introduced in two special episodes during Series 6, with directing duties falling to series veteran, Steve Asquith.  The models for ‘Jack’ were significantly larger than the ones on the ‘Thomas’ set, and thus, a scaled-up version of Thomas was built to ease the transition.  However, around September of 2002, Gullane succumbed to a takeover bid from HIT Entertainment, who had been pursuing the Britt Allcroft Company from 1998.  The ‘Jack’ series became one of the first casualties of the takeover, and while it was still shot in its entirety of 13 five minute episodes, it was not released until three years later in 2006!

With Series 6 pre-production easing nicely into production during the spring of 2002, HiT once again focused their attention on buying out Gullane, this time taking advantage of the company’s recent depressed stock market performance. The strategy HiT’s negotiators used was to try to convince Gullane’s board of investors that joining HiT would produce mutual benefits for expanding into the European and North American broadcasting and merchandising markets. After some back and forth parlays, the terms and conditions of the merger were complete. By July 8, 2002, it was officially announced that HiT now owned the Thomas brand, having secured Gullane and its assets for £139 million effective September, 2002. 

Series 7 had already been planned out and agreed upon, and while HIT were able to implement some of their own ideas, it was very much the last full Gullane series.  In the US, Series 7 was released simultaneously on DVD alongside Series 8, with a new storyteller replacing Alec Baldwin.  Michael Brandon had been starring in Jerry Springer: The Musical in London when he was spotted by HIT Entertainment bosses, and approached to undertake the role.  Thus, he was charged with the task of telling two series worth of stories at once for general release.  In the interim however, Michael Angelis provided narrative for the US version for four Series 7 episodes, and the two Jack and the Pack episodes released in the US on the New Friends For Thomas DVD release.

Series 8 saw TV Series writers, Paul Larson and Abi Grant develop a new format for the television series, alongside HIT Entertainment’s Executive Producer, Jocelyn Stevenson.  The running length of the episodes was extended to seven minutes, and the 35mm film had been replaced in favour of recording on digital through BETA Cam SP technology.  Following the departure of David Mitton, Steve Asquith had taken his place as the Director, with Simon Spencer, who had worked on Jim Henson’s Construction Site (where Steve was a consultant), taking over as the Producer.  Musical themes were provided by Robert Hartshorne, who joined the series half-way through filming, with songs written by Ed Welch, who wrote the new theme tune – Engine Roll Call.

Prior to the release of Series 9, there was a special straight-to-DVD special release, Calling All Engines.  The special was made for the 60^th anniversary year, with Thomas and his steam engine friends encountering difficulties whilst working with the more unruly Diesel characters on the new Sodor Airport.  While not acknowledging the events of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, the special also saw the brief return of Diesel 10 and Lady, as well as cameo appearances from Daisy and Derek – who had not featured in the series since the 1990s.  The special was significant in the way that it dealt with the destruction of the original Tidmouth Sheds, which were later replaced with a seven-road shed with a place for Emily to sleep, thus cementing her as one of the team.

Thomas and Friends found themselves under new ownership once more during the spring of 2005, when private equity investment group Apax added HiT Entertainment to their portfolio. The buyout prompted Britt to publish an open letter to Apax in Variety, reaffirming how special Thomas and his Friends are, and asking the new owners to “respect the ethics and values associated with Thomas”.

Series 9 aired in the Autumn of 2005, and carried on from where Calling All Engines left off.  HIT Entertainment appointed a new Script Editor, Sharon Miller, and allowed for the return of the narrow gauge engines, who had been notably absent throughout Series 8, as well as introducing the first new characters created specifically for the new format, these included Mighty Mac, a Double-Fairlie locomotive like those found on the Ffestiniog Railway in North Wales.  It also marked the first time that an American storyteller had remained with the series for a third series, and the first time that a Thomas series had debuted on television as opposed to DVD in both the UK and US for a great number of years!

In the autumn of 2006, the Jack and the Pack ‘spin-off’ series was finally released on DVD.  The cast of the stories expanded slightly upon those featured in the Series 6 episodes, and titles were changed slightly to accommodate more familiar characters, Thomas and Percy.  To bring the new episodes into line with the new Thomas format, the music was provided by Robert Hartshorne, however, these episodes were never broadcast on television alongside Series 10, which was assumed would be the case.

For Series 10, the number of episodes was increased from 26 to 28 to celebrate the milestone.  One of the biggest surprises of this series was the return of Sir Handel, the narrow gauge railway’s No.3, who had been absent from the series since his debut series in 1995.  It also saw the further development of the narrow gauge railway with the implementation of The Wharf, and introduction of a scaled-up James model to join Thomas in interacting with the narrow gauge engines (who had been scaled up since the 2002 series). 

Series 11 debuted in September of 2007, becoming the first Thomas series to be shot in High Definition, and saw further reintegration of characters again with Donald and Douglas reappearing with supporting roles during Gordon and the Engineer.  This was also the first instance of cut-backs as well, with no new interactive interstitials or music videos being showcased within the half-hour blocks.  As opposed to the usual run of 26 episodes, the series ran with 20 instead, with six being kept aside for a straight-to-DVD release.

The straight-to-DVD release saw six episodes focusing upon the narrow gauge engines, with the only new song of the series, The Narrow Gauge Engines, being released as part of the DVD.  There was further significance in the release with Freddie, a character introduced in Series 10, being the first character outside of the ‘core character-base’ to have a story to himself.  Similarly, new character, Madge, had two focus stories based on her adventures and interaction with the Narrow-Gauge Engines.

Series 11 was also meant to mark the end of Michael Angelis and Michael Brandon’s storytelling. Michael Brandon expressed his sadness at leaving the series to Sodor Island in an interview which can be found here, saying how much he enjoyed being part of Thomas's world for the four years he was associated with the series.  Long-term UK fans of the series were also sad to hear of Michael Angelis's departure, he being a staple of Thomas's world for over fifteen years.  However, what softened the blow was the announcement of their replacement, who would be storyteller for both future American and UK releases and broadcasts was none other than former 007 star himself, Pierce Brosnan, who would make his debut in late 2008, with the straight-to-DVD special release, The Great Discovery.

The Great Discovery was released to acclimation, with daring stunts for the Thomas model particularly, as well as Pierce’s soothing narrative throughout, which was felt by some to be a refreshing change, particularly in the UK.  Putting forward the importance of friendship, teamwork and accepting others without resorting to jealousy.  However, the situation had changed with Pierce throughout the year, and instead of being storyteller for three series and three specials as previously stated, his sole contribution to the Thomas series would be in The Great Discovery.

However, 2008 was to herald further changes to the set-up of Thomas and Friends as it was traditionally known.  In late 2007, there had been confirmation by a correspondent close to the set that there would be CGI implements employed, with HIT Entertainment planning a lot more in future.  This information was not disclosed to the wider community initially.  A further bombshell was dropped from the same source in May of 2008, when it was confirmed that this was the last Thomas series to be shot with the model animation format, and that the series from then on would be a CGI cartoon, with production outsourced to Nitrogen Studios in Canada.

This being highly sensitive information, the news of their redundancy still ringing in the ears of the studio crew, the SiF Staff and ViPs who were aware of the situation were adamant of keeping it under wraps – aware of the outcry that would be bound to occur... and did when The Sun newspaper issued an online article from a similar source close to the set, who had told all about the production move to Canada.  The news was later confirmed via official online sources such as Licensing Biz and an official Press Release from HIT Entertainment themselves about the future of their properties – with Bob the Builder also receiving the CGI treatment as a means of cost-effectiveness, similarly outsourced to the United States.

Not long after, celebrated comedian and much loved American Thomas storyteller, George Carlin died of heart-failure.  Both the passing of David and George was marked by beautiful and heart-warming tributes from Producer, TV Series creator and another of SiF’s good friends, Britt Allcroft, who worked alongside them both and shared her fond memories of them both, with Rick Siggelkow also providing his own thoughts and feelings toward the time he and his crew spent with George on the Shining Time Station set in the early 1990s.

The 2009 special, Hero of the Rails, showcased this sweeping change with stunning animation by Nitrogen and a gripping storyline by Sharon Miller.  A story of friendship, bravery and hope – as well as extending the opportunity for multi-cultural characters to be introduced to Sodor, such as Hiro, a large Japanese engine who was brought to the Island several years ago in the very early days, subsequently laid aside and forgotten about until found by Thomas; as well as Victor, a Hispanic narrow gauge engine from Cuba who now runs the Sodor Steamworks.  Hero of the Rails had initially been earmarked as another model animation special prior to the final decision on the changeover, and it had been the suggestion of Thomas stalwart, David Eves, to create a Sodor Steamworks. 

Series 13 of the TV Series was the first to use the full CGI animation.  Nitrogen Studios were working slowly but surely to achieve visual perfection, which meant a limited number of characters could be created for the storylines and a similarly limited number of locations, which meant that the Narrow Gauge engines were again absent from the series restructure for a second time.  The series aired first in the UK in January of 2010, receiving very strong audience figures, and putting forward some interesting new scenarios that could not be achieved with the models, such as showing James being repainted in a pink undercoat among other things.

Much to the surprise of fans in the UK, Series 15, which had been due to air following the 2011 Special feature, Day of the Diesels, began broadcasting on the 1st of March 2011.  This was the shortest period between new series that Thomas & Friends had ever seen, however, it was not as satisfying as viewers had hoped it would be, given the high hopes for the nature of the plot for the 2011 Special.