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The cutouts and backgrounds were based on illustrations from The Railway Series. 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 the Engine, with involvement from animator Brian Cosgrove.

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However, the publishers and 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 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 vulgarized and ruined.' Eventually, an agreement was reached and Awdry received an advanced payment of £500. In 1973, Andrew Lloyd Webber (who had 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. Fourteen years before Thomas and Friends 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. Nearly twenty years later, the BBC featured Awdry's stories in the television story-telling show Jackanory. 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. 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.

1.2 Early years and the series' success.

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 Septemon 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. They work for the Fat Controller, who always wants his engines to be 'really useful engines'. 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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