CINDERS AND ASHES - Thomas & Friends TV Series Creator Dead At 82

 We are so saddened to report that Britt Allcroft, the legendary creator who brought the Island of Sodor to television screens worldwide as creator of the Thomas & Friends TV series has passed away. The award-winning BAFTA®-wiinning TV producer was responsible for creating the TV. adventures based on the Railway Series books by Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher which the original Thomas book series ran from 1945-2011.

Awdry, aged 32 in 1943 first had the idea for the franchise telling the stories to his then 3-year-old son Christopher Awdry who was suffering from measles and recovering from the terrible illness during the end of the second World War II.

The series first aired on CITV in the UK on October 9, 1984 with a TV version of the fifth story "Thomas & Gordon" from the second book "Thomas the Tank Engine" released in 1946, in which the foreword was used before the theme song to start each episode in the 2000s. Since the original generation of the television show under Allcroft and director David Mitton's control for its first 20 years, the show has now ran for over 41 years with 28 seasons, nearly 700 episodes, 20 theatrical feature films, a selection of videogames, theme parks, "Day Out with Thomas" live events and soundtrack albums, and Allcroft's recent project, the documentary An Unlikely Fandom: The Impact of Thomas.

But everyone's favorite cheeky blue engine didn't get the USA treatment until 1989 when Allcroft sold the original four seasons of RWS adaptations to America under the PBS Kids series Shining Time Station that ran from 1989-1995 and starred former Thomas narrators, The Beatles' alumini drummer Ringo Starr and the late George Carlin, the first host of NBC's Saturday Night Live playing on the roles of Mr. Conductor. Shining Time Station would later hit the silver screens of Hollywood with the summer release of the 2000 box office flop Thomas and the Magic Railroad, in which Allcroft voiced the engine Lady who hasn't been seen on the show since the 60th anniversary movie "Calling All Engines!" in September 2005.

But Allcroft wasn't structured to just trains, planes and automobiles. In 1994, she created her third and final series The Magic Adventures of Mumfie which followed the adventures of a kind talking friendly elephant and her whimsical world of animal friends. The series ran from 1994-1998 and received a direct-to-video feature film from UK physical media distributor VCI in 1996.

Despite the original TV show's creator no longer with us, the adventures of America and Great Britain's #1 engine, his steam team of Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Toby, Emily, Mia and Rebecca, his arch nemesis Devious Diesel, Bertie, Harold, Annie & Clarabelle, Duck, Donald & Douglas the Scottish twins, the mischevious troublesome trucks and their rightful controller Sir Topham Hatt(or the rudely named "The Fat Controller" if you live outside of the USA/Canada) are still going strong in television and merchandise and have continued to put smiles on millions of kids for over 80 years.

2025 marks the 80th Ruby Red anniversary of the tank engine's first adventures on Sodor, with a new theatrical feature film in the works and the upcoming 28th season of the TV show, currently steaming ahead into its fourth season of the current All Engines Go! era when the series was first shipped to WBD's Cartoon Network and Canadian animation icons Nelvana Limited in 2021 currently on the way. Like last year's AEG episodes. Season 28 of Thomas & Friends will consist of 13 episodes with 26 15-minute stories. The first half will drop in March 2025 and the second half will be delievered by September.

From everyone who works on the railways of Hit Entertainment PLC, Mattel, Jam Filled Entertainment Toronto, Britt Allcroft Company, Gullane Entertainment, Random House, PBS Kids, Nickelodeon, CITV, Channel 5's Milkshake, ABC Kids Australia, Cartoon Network, Netflix, 20th Century Fox Studios, Lionsgate Entertainment, Universal Studios, Anchor Bay Entertainment, Starz Media, Butlins and Hard Rock Cafe, we would like to send a huge and massive THANK YOU to Britt Allcroft, David Milton and all the stinky steamies and devious diesels on the Sodor Steam Team past and present who have continued to make Thomas one of the best television series and children's book character franchises icons of our generation. Without this woman, this ever-evolving world of talking trains wouldn't even exist to this day.

Thank you for everything Britt and rest in peace. You were far more than a Really Useful Engine.

RIP in the Sodor Scrapyards
Britt Allcroft
1943-2025