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89-419: X-periMENTAL is a children's game show that aired on BBC One from 8 January 2003 to 1 March 2004. It is first hosted by Ortis Deley in 2003 and then hosted by Simon Grant in 2004. 2 teams of 3 from different schools would battle in various science experiments and the objective was to get in 1st or 2nd on the leaderboard. Then the top two at the end of the series would compete to become champions. There

178-480: A block on Animax , known as "Nick Time") and Cartoon Network (Cartoon Network's age demographic is moving towards older viewers with shows such as Hello Kitty , Regular Show and Adventure Time ) One of the most well-known children's TV programmes comes from Iceland, LazyTown , was created by Magnus Scheving , European Gymnastics Champion and CEO of Lazytown Entertainment . The show has aired in over 180 countries, been dubbed into more than 32 languages and

267-560: A cable, satellite, streaming, or internet subscription to view them on first airing." In the United States, there are three major commercial cable networks dedicated to children's television. All three also operate secondary services with specialized scopes drawing upon their respective libraries, such as a focus on specific demographics, or a focus upon classic programming that fall within their scope and demographics; all three have also extensively franchised their brands outside

356-700: A company specialising in children's entertainment, in September 2002. The eighth series (2004) was first released directly to VHS and DVD as four episodes in the US and six in the UK, before airing on television on Nick Jr. in the UK and PBS in the US. It introduced a number of significant changes to the show. Many members of the original founding team involved in the original show since 1984 left production, including Allcroft, Mitton, and original composers Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell . The latter two had been embroiled in

445-470: 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

534-724: A few exceptions, perhaps the best-known being the Power Rangers franchise). Typically, programs are either 'for boys' or 'for girls'. The teen demographic targets viewers 12 to 18 years of age. Live-action series that target this demographic are more dramatic and developed, including teen dramas and teen sitcoms . In some cases, they may contain more mature content that is usually not permissible on shows targeting younger viewers, and can include some profanity or suggestive dialogue. Educational programming targeted at this demographic has historically been rare, other than on NASA TV 's education block. However, some programming aimed at

623-454: A number of children's channels under the Pop and Tiny Pop brands. British versions of Cartoon Network and its sister channels Boomerang and Cartoonito also operate in the country, some 25 years after the initial launch. Ireland has one dedicated children's TV service RTÉjr . Since 1998 RTÉ2 has provided children's programming from 07:00 to 17:30 each weekday, originally titled The Den ,

712-728: A protracted legal dispute with HiT before their departure. Asquith, who was part of the original production team since 1984, took over as director, while Simon Spencer replaced Fehrle as producer. The eighth series was the very last series to air on CITV . The eight series was aired separately in two parts, by the time the second half of the eight series aired, CITV had become its own channel, coincidentally around this time Channel 5 's preschool programming block, Milkshake! , had also acquired rights to air Thomas & Friends too, rebroadcasting series 8 in October that same year. CITV would continue to air repeats of series 6-8 before losing all

801-486: A response to accusations of sexism levelled against the series two years earlier. In reality, these were not "new" characters, but rather creations of Awdry from the original Railway Series books. Series four was almost entirely based on The Railway Series . The narrow-gauge engines were introduced, and were the focus of a number of episodes. Only one original story ("Rusty to the Rescue", written by Allcroft and Mitton)

890-563: 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

979-603: A second mortgage on her home, Allcroft raised sufficient funding from her local bank manager. By 1981, Allcroft had secured the finances to produce the show. She started to assemble the crew, including producer and director David Mitton , the founder of Clearwater Features Ltd.; crew member Steve Asquith; American-born producer Robert D. Cardona ; and composers and songwriters Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell . The series started production in 1984, produced by Clearwater Features Ltd. (Mitton and Cardona's company) and ITV 's Central Independent Television region. The series

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1068-470: A single storyteller before the characters gained their own voice actors in series 13 onwards. Starting from series 22 up until series 24, Thomas himself (voiced by John Hasler in the UK dub and Joseph May in the US dub) takes over as the narrator and breaks the fourth wall . The original live action models were filmed on giant 16 x 20 model railway layout sets, which were set up and dismantled one by one for each episode's scenes. The models were built to

1157-469: A slight hope that there might be a way out", Awdry remained apprehensive, saying that "Once the Americans get hold of it the whole series would be vulgarised and ruined." Eventually, an agreement was reached and Awdry received an advanced payment of £500. A pilot episode was commissioned from Granada , which would feature 2D cutouts of the engines moving along a background in a style reminiscent of Ivor

1246-469: A special coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the franchise, and Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure ; Series 19 began airing that same year. 2016 saw some changes; longtime composers Robert and Peter Hartshorne (father and son team) left the series and Chris Renshaw and Oliver Davis took over. 2016 also saw Thomas & Friends: The Great Race ; Series 20 began airing the same year. Series 20

1335-414: Is generally more overtly educational. In a number of cases, such shows are produced in consultation with educators and child psychologists in an effort to teach age-appropriate lessons (the series Sesame Street pioneered this approach when it debuted in 1969). A format that has increased in popularity since the 1990s is the " pseudo-interactive " program, in which the action of the show stops and breaks

1424-725: Is nearly as old as television itself. In the United Kingdom, the BBC 's For the Children was first broadcast in 1946, and in English-speaking circles, is generally credited with being the first TV programme specifically for children. Some authors posit television for children tended to originate from similar programs on radio. For example, the BBC's Children's Hour was launched as a radio broadcast in 1922, with BBC School Radio commencing live broadcasts in 1924. In

1513-635: Is the most expensive children's show of all time. In 1995, Cartoon Network became the first children's channel to be launched in India. Subsequently, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon arrived. Hungama TV (2004) was the first children's channel that had local content. Pogo and BabyTV came later in 2006. By 2018, 23 channels have aired in India. Nickelodeon was the first children's channel in Romania, launched in December 1998. Afterwards, Minimax became

1602-513: The Cartoon Network , Disney Channel , Disney Junior , Disney XD , and Nickelodeon brands. WildBrain operates Family Channel , as well as the spin-off services WildBrainTV and Family Jr. it has been majority owned and operated by British Columbia's public broadcaster Knowledge Network . In French, Corus operates Télétoon and La chaîne Disney , WildBrain operates Télémagino (a French version of Family Jr.), TVA Group operates

1691-529: The E-mu Proteus sound module. In 2004, Robert Hartshorne took O'Donnell and Campbell's place as composer, while Ed Welch became the show's songwriter from Series 8 to The Great Discovery . Welch left after The Great Discovery . Hartshorne took his place as songwriter from Series 12 and onwards. From Day of the Diesels /2011-2016, Robert's son Peter Hartshorne helped him with the music. In 2016,

1780-614: The FCC mandates. (The rule for digital subchannels was repealed in July 2019; in practice, most still carry educational programs anyway.) In 2017, there was a programming block that aired on syndication called KidsClick ; it was notable as a concerted effort to program children's shows on television without regard to their educational content, one of the first such efforts since the E/I rule took effect. The transition to digital television has allowed for

1869-656: The Railway Series book Stepney the Bluebell Engine . As part of her research before filming, Allcroft read some books in The Railway Series and was highly entertained and impressed with the stories which Awdry had written, later remarking that "there was something in the stories that I felt I could develop that would connect with children. I saw a strong emotional content that would carry with little children's experiences with life." Allcroft worked to convince Awdry that she could, with funding, convert

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1958-618: The Really Useful Group in 1977, a name derived from the phrase "Really Useful Engine". He would go on to work on a musical loosely inspired by The Railway Series , called Starlight Express , which premiered in 1984, and became one of his most well-known works. In 1979, British television producer Britt Allcroft was producing a documentary on the Bluebell Railway , a heritage railway in Sussex which featured in

2047-405: The fourth wall to give a young viewer the opportunity to answer a question or dilemma put forth on the show, with the action continuing as if the viewer answered correctly. Shows that target the demographic of persons 6 to 11 years old focus primarily on entertainment and can range from comedic cartoons to action series. Most children's television series targeting this age range are animated (with

2136-641: The 1990s, more children's television series such as Barney & Friends , Blue's Clues , SpongeBob SquarePants , Bear in the Big Blue House , and The Big Comfy Couch were created. A voluminous range of children's television programming now exists in the 2020s. Notable successes outside the US include shows like Play School , Noggin the Nog , Clangers , Bagpuss , Teletubbies , Thunderbirds , Danger Mouse , Count Duckula , Mr. Men and Thomas & Friends originating from

2225-492: The 1:32 scale, known in model railway circles in " Gauge 1 ". From Series 1 to 3, the locomotives used chassis made by Märklin , along with scratch built plastic bodies. Along with the moving eyes, eyelid mechanisms and resin faces, these bodies included smoke generators. For the first five series, the rolling stocks were made using Tenmille kits and most of them were later replaced with duplicates made from resin casts . Later models were constructed entirely from scratch. Some of

2314-404: The BBC runs CBBC as well as the preschool-oriented CBeebies , while ITV runs CITV as well as the preschool-oriented LittleBe , as a programming block on ITVBe . Both channels were spun off from children's television strands on their respective flagship channels ( BBC One , BBC Two , and ITV ). The BBC and ITV have largely phased out children's programming from their main channels to focus on

2403-489: The Engine , with involvement from animator Brian Cosgrove . The cutouts and backgrounds were based on illustrations from The Railway Series . The pilot episode was completed by early 1976, but Granada ultimately decided not to produce a full series, as they feared that at the time Awdry's stories were not popular enough outside the UK to justify the time and money needed to make the series. Andrew Lloyd Webber later established

2492-516: The Magic Railroad , it was not a direct sequel. It proved successful; this resulted in more direct-to-video specials being produced. Series 9 (2005) and 10 (2006) saw the expansion of the supporting cast with new and old characters. From Series 9 onwards, the narrator would call out the episodes' names, and from Series 11 onwards the theme song was begun with the sound of a train whistle . Series 10 aired with twenty-eight episodes rather than

2581-541: The Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher , the series was developed for television by Britt Allcroft . The series follows the adventures of Thomas , an anthropomorphised blue steam locomotive on the fictional North Western Railway on the Island of Sodor with his friends Edward, Henry, Gordon, James , Percy, Toby and others who are engines of The Fat Controller . In the United States, it

2670-569: The Tank Engine ). The latter book was unusual, as it was written specifically by Christopher Awdry to be adapted by the show. At that time, it was a contractual obligation that the series could only adapt stories that appeared in print. The series also used a story from a Thomas Annual, "Thomas and Trevor", and a specially written stand-alone story, Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree . One episode, " The Missing Coach ",

2759-407: The UK, Paw Patrol from Canada, Le Manege Enchantè from France, The Singing Ringing Tree from Germany, and Marine Boy and Pokémon from Japan. Canadian studio Nelvana is a particularly prolific producer of children's programming. Much of Nelvana's product is broadcast worldwide, especially in the US, where the similarities in dialect do not require any dubbing or localization. In

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2848-629: The US and fifty-two in the UK, and continued to introduce action-packed storylines, as well as new characters. These series saw the introduction of a writing staff. The sixth series (2002) saw an attempt to create a spin-off based on the successful Bob the Builder series. Two episodes introduced a group of construction machine characters known as "The Pack". The spin-off did not materialise for some time. Eventually, in 2006, thirteen episodes were released straight to DVD in two collections: On Site with Thomas and Thomas' Trusty Friends . The sixth series

2937-445: The United States, early children's television was often co-opted as a platform to market products and it rarely contained any educational elements (for instance, The Magic Clown , a popular early children's program, was primarily an advertisement for Bonomo's Turkish taffy .) In the early years of television, advertising to children posed a dilemma as most children have no disposable income of their own. As such, children's television

3026-458: The United States. Under current mandates, all broadcast television stations in the United States must show a minimum of three hours per week of educational children's programming , regardless of format. Until 2019, this rule also applied to digital subchannels ; as a result, digital multicast networks whose formats should not fit children's programming, such as Live Well Network and TheCoolTV , were required to carry educational programs to fit

3115-467: The Universe , the 1980s saw a dramatic rise in television programs featuring characters of whom toy characters were being sold to retail consumers in bricks and mortar stores, underscoring the value potential of manufacturing merchandise for fans of children's programs. This practice remains firmly embedded in the broadcast sector's business case broadly in the 2020s. Commercial-free children television

3204-498: The addition of a voice cast to support the established narrator. The DVD feature Hero of the Rails was the first Thomas & Friends production to showcase these changes, and Series 13 was the first television series in the new format. The CGI animation for the series was provided by Nitrogen Studios of Vancouver . In September 2010, Apax was preparing to sell off HiT Entertainment and its franchises, including Thomas – regarded as

3293-431: The animation for the series from series 12 to 16) also had some of the original models on display. The live-action models used since 1984 could not lip sync . HIT's subsidiary HOT Animation introduced the use of CGI in the show about 20 years later, first to add smoke and other effects. In 2009, HIT introduced a fully CGI series. In Series 12, CGI by Nitrogen Studios was used to animate the characters' faces and to make

3382-453: The author refused to give Lloyd Webber's company "control of almost everything", which Lloyd Webber's lawyers argued was necessary in order to "secure the investment money from America which would be needed to pay for the animation and the film-making." The status of the project seemed uncertain, and while Stanley Pickard (Kaye & Ward's managing director at the time) told Awdry that he was "maintaining personal contact with Andrew and still had

3471-456: The camera and simulate small talk with the viewing audience at home, demonstrating basic skills for the camera. This practice lives on in contemporary children's broadcasting as a genre in of itself, with Australia's ongoing program Play School one example. At one time, a program called Winky Dink and You took a more interactive approach, prompting its viewers to affix a clear vinyl sheet to their television and draw pictures to match what

3560-572: The cultural similarities between Canada and the US, along with film credits and subsidies available from the Canadian government, a large number of animated children's series have been made in Canada with the intention of exporting them to the United States. Such programs carry a prominent Government of Canada wordmark in their closing credits. The BBC and ITV plc both operate children's oriented television networks on digital terrestrial television:

3649-498: The debut of whole subchannels that air children's programming 24/7; examples include BabyFirst , PBS Kids , Smile , and Universal Kids . The country's only directly nationally operated TV service for public consumption, NASA TV , also includes educational programs in its schedule for use in schools. English-language children's specialty channels in Canada are primarily owned by Corus Entertainment and WildBrain . Corus operates YTV and Treehouse , as well as localized versions of

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3738-633: The dedicated services; in 2012, as part of the "Delivering Quality First" initiative, the BBC announced that it would end the broadcast of CBBC programmes on BBC One following the completion of the transition to digital terrestrial television, citing low viewership in comparison to broadcasts of the programmes on the CBBC channel. Channel 5 also broadcasts a preschool-oriented block known as Milkshake! , while its owner, Paramount Networks International , also runs versions of Nickelodeon and its sister networks Nicktoons and Nick Jr. Narrative Capital operate

3827-534: The demographic has had some tangential educational value in regard to social issues, such as the now-defunct TNBC block of sitcoms, which often tackled issues such as underage drinking or drug use. According to at least one journalist, for years, Broadcast Standards and Practices departments of networks, Parental Guidelines , and campaigns by social conservatives limited "efforts to make kids animation more inclusive." One former executive of Disney, David Levine, said that "a lot of conservative opinion" drove what

3916-464: The early 1930s, radio adventure serials such as Little Orphan Annie began to emerge in the United States and became a staple of children's afternoon radio listening. Early children's shows included Kukla, Fran and Ollie (1947), Howdy Doody , and Captain Kangaroo . Another show, Ding Dong School , aired from 1952 to 1965. Its creator and host, Frances Horwich , would sit in front of

4005-495: 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:

4094-580: The first Romanian children's channel to air locally produced content, launched on Children's Day in 2001. Since then, channels like BabyTV and Disney Channel have arrived. Children's channels that exist in Turkey are Cartoon Network , TRT Çocuk , MinikaÇOCUK , Minika GO and Zarok TV . Thomas %26 Friends Thomas & Friends is a British children's television series that aired for 24 series and 584 episodes from 9 October 1984 to 20 January 2021. Based on The Railway Series books by

4183-401: The head writer, starting with Series 12. HiT announced multiple changes to the show beginning in 2009. One new aspect was the introduction of live-action host segments to Thomas ' home video releases. The host took the form of a character who worked on The Fat Controller 's railway, who would instruct viewers in craft projects. For the final two DVDs featuring Series 12 in 2009, the host

4272-986: The highest number of LGBTQ characters they ever recorded up to that point. In 2017, some said that LGBTQ+ characters in animated television were somewhat rare, despite the fact that GLAAD praised the number of characters in broadcast and primetime television. From 2017 to 2019, Insider noted that there was a "more than 200% spike in queer and gender-minority characters in children's animated TV shows." In 2018 and 2019, GLAAD stated that Amazon , Hulu , and Netflix, had increased LGBTQ representation in "daytime kids and family television." In their January 2021 report, GLAAD praised LGBTQ representation in episodes of DuckTales , The Owl House and Adventure Time: Distant Lands . Despite this, some industry practitioners state that more than 90% of LGBTQ characters in kid's animated shows within Insider 's database of characters in children's animated television shows "require either

4361-413: The introduction of new characters, such as Cranky , The Horrid Lorries and Old Slow Coach. It also focused on more dramatic and darker action-oriented plotlines, along with more severe accidents, than the earlier series. After series 5, Angus Wright stepped down as executive producer. It was the final series broadcast on Cartoon Network, as Nickelodeon UK would eventually acquire the broadcast rights to

4450-530: The models from the sister television series Tugs were reused in later episodes of the series. From Series 5 to 12, some larger-scale models were used for the narrow gauge characters, to more easily fit the complex mechanisms into them while retaining a sufficient level of detail. In Series 6, the characters known as "the Pack" (construction machines) were also constructed on a large scale, and larger models of Thomas and Percy were made to interact with them. In

4539-513: The networks turned to affiliated cable cartoon channels or outside programmers for their blocks. On September 27, 2014, the last traditional Saturday network morning cartoon block, Vortexx , ended and was replaced the following week by the syndicated One Magnificent Morning on The CW . Children's television series can target a wide variety of key demographics based on age and gender. Few television networks target infants and toddlers under two years of age. Preschool-oriented programming

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4628-460: The new stories would be unrealistic. Cardona left as producer, while Allcroft joined Mitton as co-producer. Allcroft's husband, Angus Wright , took over as executive producer. Series 4 was first released direct to video between 1994 and 1995, before its broadcast debut on Cartoon Network . The producers planned to introduce some new female characters, including motor car Caroline , Nancy , and The Refreshment Lady . Some commentators took this as

4717-451: The ninth series, another large-scale Thomas model was built to be at the same scale as the narrow gauge engines and to provide greater possibilities for interaction. It was joined by a large version of James in the tenth series. Among the CGI switch in 2009, some of these models were put on display in a special exhibit at Drayton Manor Theme Park 's Thomas Land . Nitrogen Studios (who provided

4806-495: The people and animals move. The 13th Series was the first to be fully animated in CGI. Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell composed the show's original main title theme, incidental music and 36 songs; these were used for series 1–7, comprising 182 episodes and music videos between 1984 and 2003. The instruments for series 1–2 were synthesised with the Roland Jupiter-6 and instruments for series 3–7 were synthesised with

4895-551: The popularity of the show, the film was criticised by British reviewers who were unfamiliar with Shining Time Station . The movie was well received by young children on both sides of the Atlantic, but made only $ 19.7 million at the box office, against a cost of $ 19 million to produce. The film was broadcast on BBC1 on 1 January 2004 and again on 29 December 2008. The sixth and seventh series (2002-2003) were first released directly to VHS and DVD as forty-six episodes in

4984-700: The preschool-oriented Yoopa , and Bell Media runs the teen-oriented Vrak . Via its majority-owned subsidiary Telelatino , Corus also operates two children and family-oriented networks in Spanish and Italian, TeleNiños and Telebimbi respectively. On broadcast television and satellite to cable undertakings, children's television content is relegated to the country's public and designated provincial educational broadcasters, including CBC Television and Ici Radio-Canada Télé , as well as City Saskatchewan , CTV Two Alberta (formerly Access), Knowledge Network , Télé-Québec , TFO , and TVOntario ( TVOKids ). Aided by

5073-496: The rights to the programme in 2007. A new theme song and new incidental music was composed by Ed Welch and Robert Hartshorne, respectively. The episode runtime was increased to seven minutes. The series was produced using digital video cameras, creating a somewhat different look for the show. Other changes included the additions of animated educational sequences and transitions between stories. Urie also left, while Stevenson remained in her role as executive producer. Sam Barlow became

5162-609: The script editor from Series 9 to 11. Series 12 (2008) saw the introduction of CGI effects (provided by HiT Entertainment's subsidiary Hot Animation ), with the intent of producing the show entirely in CGI the following year. The traditional models and sets were still used, but with computer-animated faces superimposed on the models to allow for changing facial expressions. Humans and animals were fully computer-animated to allow for walking movement. Only twenty episodes were produced and broadcast (the U.S. broadcast featured six additional episodes from Engines and Escapades ). Miller became

5251-471: The second and third series, the production team were focused on producing two other television series: Tugs , which ran for one series in 1989 for Television South (TVS); and the American television series Shining Time Station , which repackaged Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends for the American television market from 1989 to 1996. Clearwater closed on 31 December 1990, just before production of

5340-613: The series in the United States, respectively. Originally, narrating was used as the only voice in the series until 2008. Britt Allcroft thought it essential to convey the episode as a story that would be read from a book at home. Individual voice-over actors were given to both the UK and US dubs of the series, following the switch to full CGI animation in 2009. The narrators include Ringo Starr , Michael Angelis , George Carlin , Alec Baldwin , Michael Brandon , Pierce Brosnan , Mark Moraghan , John Hasler , and Joseph May . Up until series 12, narration and dialogue were performed by

5429-425: The series. The deal stipulated that 104 11-minute episodes and 2 60-minute specials would be produced, and that the animation would transition from 3D full CGI animation (used since its transition to full CGI in 2009) to 2D animation, with new refreshed redesigns for Thomas and his friends. On 5 February 2021, it was announced that Cartoon Network and Netflix had jointly picked up the broadcast and streaming rights to

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5518-762: The service was renamed TRTÉ and RTÉjr in 2010. Irish-language service TG4 provide two strands of children's programming Cúla 4 Na nÓg and Cúla 4 during the day. Commercial broadcaster TV3 broadcast a children's strand called Gimme 3 from 1998 to 1999. And then broadcast a new strand called 3Kids . Children's channels that exist in Australia are ABC Family , ABC Kids , and its spin-off CBeebies , Nickelodeon and its spin-off Nick Jr. , and Cartoon Network and its spin-off Boomerang . Children's channels that exist in Japan are NHK Educational TV , Kids Station , Disney Channel , Disney XD , Nickelodeon (also under

5607-463: The show for it to air on their newly created Nick Jr. channel in 1999. CN continued to air older series until their broadcast rights fully expired in 2001. The franchise's first film, Thomas and the Magic Railroad , was released in July 2000 in the UK, US, and Canada. It featured new characters created by Allcroft, along with characters from the show that had introduced Thomas to the U.S., Shining Time Station . Despite high production values and

5696-457: The show's head writer starting in Series 17), and original stories by Allcroft and Mitton. One of the primary reasons for diverging from the original books was that many of the stories not yet used featured large numbers of new characters, which would be expensive to produce. Another reason was that the producers wanted more stories about Thomas , the nominal main character. Awdry complained that

5785-630: The single most valuable asset – in order to help clear HiT's debts, and in February 2012, sold the company, along with the Thomas properties, to "US toy giant", Mattel . During production of Series 16 (2012), Miller stepped down as head writer, and Andrew Brenner (who had written some Thomas stories in the third series) assumed the role, after serving as script editor for "Blue Mountain Mystery". Additionally, Barlow stepped down as story executive after

5874-584: The sixteenth series, and the production of the CGI animation was moved from Nitrogen Studios (of Vancouver) to Arc Productions (of Toronto ). King of the Railway and Series 17, both released during 2013, served as the first special and series, respectively, developed by the new animation and production teams, respectively. 2014 saw Tale of the Brave and Series 18, the second special and series animated by Arc, respectively. 2015 saw The Adventure Begins ,

5963-566: The sixth series had previously debuted on Nick Jr UK first. The fact that older sets were used and that the episodes were shot on 35mm film stock (as opposed to the digital video format used at the time of the episodes' release) suggest it was filmed some time before Series 8. In Series 7 (2003) the programme title was officially shortened to Thomas & Friends , this name having been used on merchandise and video covers for three years previously. Phil Fehrle replaced Allcroft and Mitton as producer, although Mitton remained as series director. Wright

6052-438: The stories into a successful television show. Her efforts were successful, and she purchased the television rights from the publishers of The Railway Series at a cost of what was then £50,000. Allcroft still had to work to raise the money to finance production and (despite showing a keen interest) wanted a level of creative control which she did not want to forego. In the end, after several years of searching and having to place

6141-504: The story executive, while Abi Grant and Paul Larson served as script editors. This series saw the adoption of a centralised cast, including Thomas , Edward, Henry, Gordon, James , Percy, Toby and Emily. HiT Entertainment was itself acquired by Apax Partners , a private equity company, in March 2005. A straight-to-video film, Calling All Engines!, was released in 2005, shortly before series 9. While featuring characters from Thomas and

6230-590: The third series, with The Britt Allcroft Company becoming the sole producer. Series 3 had its first 16 episodes released on VHS in November 1991 before its broadcast debut in 1992 on CITV . It was made at a cost of £1.3 million (approximately $ 9.3.million in U.S. dollars at the time). The series was a combination of episodes derived from The Railway Series , stories in the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends magazine (written by Andrew Brenner, who would later become

6319-411: The twenty-six of previous years. The eleventh series (2007) was filmed in high definition format. Twenty episodes aired in the original broadcast, while six were first released direct to DVD as Engines and Escapades and later aired on TV. Jocelyn Stevenson stepped down as executive producer after Series 10, with Christopher Skala taking her place as executive producer for Series 11. Sharon Miller became

6408-405: 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. In 1973, Andrew Lloyd Webber , having read The Railway Series as a child, approached publisher Kaye & Ward with a proposal for a musical television series, with songs from himself and lyricist Peter Reeves. However, the publishers and

6497-491: Was and still is a hot topic amongst fans, and features a new theme tune. The series is split into two halves; the first half sees Thomas travelling around the world and visiting India, Australia, and China, while the second half takes place back on the Island of Sodor. The series was released on Netflix, Amazon and Hulu in late 2018. Thomas & Friends was renewed for a 23rd series which debuted in 2019. The 24th series

6586-565: Was announced. This series saw many changes, such as Edward, Henry and Toby being removed from the Steam Team to make room for two new female steam engines named Nia (Africa) and Rebecca (UK), and the narrator being replaced with Thomas talking to the audience (however, Mark Moraghan, the previous narrator said that he would still work on the series). Series 22 is set after Big World! Big Adventures! , which came out on 20 July 2018. It introduces gender-balanced and multicultural characters which

6675-420: Was depicted on Cartoon Network , Disney Channel , and other alike channels. Some argued that cable television, which began to pick up in the 1990s, "opened the door for more representation" even though various levels of approvals remained. Through the 2000s', advocacy group GLAAD repeatedly highlighted the lack of LGBT representation in children's programming in particular. Two years later, they recorded

6764-541: Was first broadcast along with the spin-off series, Shining Time Station , on PBS ' PTV Park block on 29 January 1989. The rights to the series are currently owned by HIT Entertainment (a subsidiary of Mattel ), which acquired Gullane Entertainment in July 2002. HIT was folded into Mattel in 2016. A new 2D-animated series, Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go , premiered on 13 September 2021 on Cartoon Network 's preschool block Cartoonito . The first attempt to adapt Awdry's stories for television came in 1953, when

6853-430: Was first introduced with Sesame Street on PBS in November 1969. It was produced by what is now known as Sesame Workshop (formerly Children's Television Workshop, known as CTW). In the United States, Saturday mornings were generally scheduled with cartoons from the 1960s to 1980s. In 1992, teen comedies and a "Today" show weekend edition were first to displace the cartoon blocks on NBC. Starting in September 2002,

6942-586: Was going on on-screen. This format did not persist, nor was it replicated, due to a number of factors unrelated to its popularity: children whose parents did not buy them the vinyl sheet would draw with crayons directly on the television screen itself, potentially causing expensive damage; there were also concerns that having children within arm's length of a television screen of the era could expose them to harmful radiation. Later and more recognisably modern shows for young children include Sesame Street , The Electric Company and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood . In

7031-402: Was in the process of being filmed, but was cancelled mid-way through filming as Allcroft decided it was too confusing for young viewers. The production team went on to use "Better Late Than Never" instead. The story "Gordon Goes Foreign" from the Railway Series book The Eight Famous Engines was also planned to be adapted but was scrapped due to budgetary limitations. In between production of

7120-448: Was named Mr. Arkwright, played by Robert Slate. In 2010, beginning with the DVD "Splish Splash Splosh", the host, played by Ben Forster, was named Mr. Perkins. Upon Forster's death in 2017, he was replaced by Mark Moraghan, who played "Mr Evans" in the web series. Other major changes included a move to production in CGI (done for budgetary reasons), rather than the use of physical models, and

7209-603: Was not a particularly high priority for the networks. This practice continued in a toned-down manner through the 1980s in the United States after the Federal Communications Commission prohibited tie-in advertising on broadcast television. These regulations did not apply to cable, which remains out of the reach of the FCC's content regulations. Due in part to the success of He-Man and the Masters of

7298-582: Was occasionally employed for instances in which a human or animal character would move. Hand-drawn animation was used in Series 3 to create bees . The first series (1984) used stories from the first eight books, along with one specially written by the Rev. W. Awdry , Thomas's Christmas Party . The second series (1986) used stories from Book No.9 ( Edward the Blue Engine ) to Book No.30 ( More About Thomas

7387-606: Was originally shot and produced with live action models at the Clearwater in-house studio in Battersea, a suburb of London, for Series 1. Production was later relocated to Shepperton Studios , Surrey, southwest of London, for subsequent series. The use of moving models was seen at the time of the series' conception as an effective method of animating the stories. Locomotives and other vehicles were operated by radio controls, while humans and animals were static figures. Stop motion

7476-489: Was released in September 2020. The series was also the final series animated by Jam Filled Toronto , as well as the final series of the entire original television show. A second live-action animated Thomas & Friends film is in development at Mattel Films with Marc Forster serving as director. On 12 October 2020, it was announced by Mattel that the series would be rebooted with Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go and that Nelvana would co-produce and animate

7565-399: Was replaced by Allcroft and Peter Urie as executive producers for Series 6. In 2003, Allcroft stepped down as executive producer, making Urie the sole executive producer for Gullane Entertainment , and Jocelyn Stevenson the executive producer for HiT Entertainment . The Britt Allcroft Company (which changed its name to Gullane Entertainment in 2000) was purchased by HiT Entertainment ,

7654-497: Was the last series of the show to air on PBS Kids; when Series 21 began airing in 2017, the American broadcast of the show was moved to the Nick Jr. Channel , ending a period of almost 28 years of Thomas & Friends on American public television. 2017 also saw the release of Journey Beyond Sodor . The show was pulled away from Nick Jr. at the end of 2019. A twenty-second series of Thomas and Friends consisting of 26 episodes

7743-513: Was the studio audience who had to guess to right outcomes of the experiments with an A, B or C option. The audience designs are also put to the test for real life situations. Children%27s television series The purpose of these shows, aside from profit, is mainly to entertain or educate children, with each series targeting a certain age of child: some are aimed at infants and toddlers, some are aimed at those aged 6 to 11 years old, and others are aimed at all children. Children's television

7832-439: Was the very first series to premiere on Nick Jr UK , and Nick Jr UK became the very first channel in the UK to air series six first. The sixth series was also rebroadcast a few months later on CITV ; it was the first series of the programme broadcast on CITV , since series 3 had aired on it over 10 years ago. The seventh series was the first series since the third series to make its debut on UK television on CITV first, considering

7921-428: Was used, the rest were all adapted from the Railway Series books, but this took certain elements of its plot and dialogue from Stepney the "Bluebell" Engine . The fifth series (1998) was first released directly to video before its TV airings on Cartoon Network . It was a radical shift, as all episodes were written by Allcroft and Mitton with no further stories being adapted from the Railway Series . This series saw

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