Britt Allcroft, the British producer, director and writer who turned the happy, rambunctious train antics into the TV series, “Thomas & Friends,” which became a broad franchise and longtime favorite of children and adults, died on December 25. in Los Angeles. He was 81 years old.
His death was confirmed by his daughter Holly Wright.
Mrs. Allcroft was the driving force behind bringing Thomas the Tank Engine, an animated train that originated in a children’s book series in the 1940s by Rev. Wilbert Awdry, to television. The series spawned a film, merchandise and theme parks, resulting in a billion dollar business.
His first adaptation was a low-budget live production that premiered in 1984 on the British channel ITV as “Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends,” later shortened to “Thomas & Friends.” Audiences were quickly drawn to the show’s life lessons interspersed with catchy music, green spaces and an entertaining set of human-like trains. It was a huge success that aired for over three decades in the United Kingdom, the United States and elsewhere.
“Children these days live in a busy world, but I don’t think children are really changing,” Ms Allcroft said in a 1995 BBC documentary. “They need gentleness, comfort in their lives. They need entertainment, and they need stories that, while entertaining, help them interpret the world.”
Ms Allcroft first came across the series while researching a railway documentary. Previous attempts to adapt the books to TV had been unsuccessful, but he sought the rights, envisioning a series with a narrator closer to the original books.
His belief led him to finance himself in many ways, even mortgaging his house, he said in a 1995 interview with Australia’s “60 Minutes”.
As for the narrator, Ms. Allcroft has been searching for the right voice when she hears it on television: “I walked into the room and Ringo Starr was being interviewed on a talk show,” she said.
The former Beatles member was the first in a long line of stars to narrate the franchise, including Michael Angelis, George Carlin, Alec Baldwin and Pierce Brosnan.
“This was a woman pioneering the TV industry in the early ’80s, and it was mostly dominated by men,” said Brannon Carty, director of “An Unlikely Fandom,” a 2023 documentary about the series’ enduring appeal. “He had all these things against him that would make a normal person lose hope,” he said. “Despite all that, he won.”
The series found its way to American children in 1989, when Ms. Allcroft brought it to PBS in the form of a spinoff series, “Shining Time Station,” which included clips from the British version of the show.
“She was a great businesswoman,” said Rick Siggelkow, a television producer who works with Ms. Allcroft. “He had a vision, and he had this that children understood well. He just moves on.”
Some managers initially doubted that the show would be successful, said Mr. Siggelkow, but Ms. Allcroft believes children will be drawn to a slow-paced tale with the intimacy of a bedtime story.
“There was a gentleness to Thomas that was very different from everything else in the air,” he said in an interview.
“Shining Time Station” became a hit with American children, winning PBS some 1.2 million viewers – competing with Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood,” according to the 1991 New York Times. The series spread internationally, fueling global trade demand for merchandise, from toys and train sets to posters and puzzles.
“Thomas & Friends” is now one of the world’s largest toy and preschool television franchises, and analysts estimate annual worldwide sales to exceed $1 billion in 2016. Mattel bought Hit Entertainment, the British owner of Thomas, in 2012 as part of a $680 million deal.
After some criticism that the show’s characters lack diversity, the latest iteration of Thomas’ world, both on screen and in real estate, has added trains from Brazil, China, India and Mexico.
The franchise made it to the big screen with the 2000 film “Thomas and the Magic Railroad.” A separate, animated version of the series, “Thomas and Friends: All Engines Go,” aired on Cartoon Network in 2021. A second film is in the works, according to Mattel.
Britt Allcroft was born on nDec. 14, 1943, in West Sussex, England, before moving to London.
At the age of 16, he became interested in theater and post-production work. Ms. Allcroft joined the BBC when she was 19, presenting programs including “Blue Peter,” and later moved to the production team.
In the early 1970s, he moved to Southern Television and later founded his own company, Britt Allcroft Productions, through which he created television and stage shows while working for local television stations.
At the end of the decade, he was hired to make a short documentary on British trains and remembered books from his youth.
She was married to Angus Wright, a television producer who worked closely with her in developing “Thomas & Friends” for the screen. They divorced in 1997.
Besides his daughter, survivors include a son and grandchildren.
The longevity of this program, which lasts from generation to generation, has made it a favorite among adults as well. In recent years, online communities have grown to celebrate the game and create their own versions of popular episodes.
When Ms. Allcroft attended a screening of the 2023 documentary, “people were cheering for her and crying for her,” Mr. Carty, director. “It was like the Super Bowl in there when he came out.”
Finally, Mrs. Allcroft said in the film, he wants his world to be an escape.
“I wanted to make it so that any young child watching would feel that this is where they can go,” she said. “That they were not alone, and that they were comforted and inspired.”
Emmett Lindner responsible reporting.
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