As a result, the second episode scheduled for 28 June 1953 was put on hold, and then later cancelled. Awdry branded the episode 'unprofessional', and the point-switching debacle an 'elementary mistake'. News of the broadcast hit the front pages of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail. The models moved jerkily, and all effects and music had to be superimposed. The live broadcast did not fare well: 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 first episode (based on 'The Sad Story of Henry') was broadcast live on the evening of Sunday 14 June 1953 from Lime Grove Studios. 00 gauge Hornby Dublo models appeared on sets that reflected the style of the original illustrations.

The first attempt to adapt Awdry's stories for television came in 1953, when 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. The rights to the series are currently owned by HIT Entertainment (a subsidiary of Mattel), which acquired Gullane Entertainment in July 2002.Ī new 2D-animated series, Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go, premiered on 13 September 2021 on Cartoon Network. In the United States, it was first broadcast along with the spin-off series Shining Time Station on PBS' PTV Park block in 1989. The series follows the adventures of Thomas, an anthropomorphised blue steam locomotive on the fictional North Western Railway on the Island of Sodor, and several other anthropomorphised locomotives on the North Western Railway, including Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, and Toby. Awdry and his son Christopher, the series was developed for television by Britt Allcroft. Based on The Railway Series books by Rev. Thomas & Friends (originally known as Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends and later Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!) is a British children's television series that aired across 24 series from 1984 to 2021.

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