Hit Entertainment and Mattel Upload Rejected April 1983 Thomas Pilot To Celebrate Thomas & Friends' 80th Anniversary

 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the number one blue engine Thomas & Friends, one of the leading forces in the Hit Entertainment catalog from toy company Mattel. And to celebrate, the two iconic studios and Canadian partners Nelvana have given fans the worldwide public release of the original test pilot to the classic golden era of the show using live-action models from 1984-2009.

The pilot episode produced in April 1983 at Clearwater Films produced by the late creators Britt Allcroft and David Mittion who first made the show for CITV, Channel 5's Mil;kshake!, PBS Kids, Nickelodeon and streaming service Netflix back in October 1984, is a prototype version of the first season's penultimate episode "Down The Mine" (Season 1, Episode 25) based on one of the stories from the first 26 books in the Railway Series written by Reverend Wilbert Awdry between 1945-2011.

The recently discovered pilot unveils the early voice recordings of the original narrator, The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr who was being interviewed on BBC and ITV's Michael Parkinson talk show at the time as well as a newly reorchestrated soundtrack from the original composers Michael O'Donnell and Junior Campbell who worked on the classic era of the TV show in the first 20 years.

The pilot episode uploaded on Thomas &.Friends' official YouTube account ends with a newly reorchestrated version of the classic theme song from the first seven seasons, ending with a bittersweet dedication to the original TV show creator Britt Allcroft who passed away on December 25, 2024.

Eight decades on with 28 seasons and 731 episodes and movies later, Thomas still continues to be really useful engines to millions of kids and parents across the world. And it was the iconic books told to a young 1943 boy who was sick with measles that began it all.

Happy 80th Anniversary Thomas the Tank Engine! Here's to eighty more!