Thomas & Friends (series 1)


Thomas the Tank Engine is a children's television series about the engines and other characters working on the railways of the Island of Sodor, and is based on The Railway Series books written by the Rev. W. Awdry.
This article lists and details episodes from the first series, which was originally broadcast in 1984. This series was initially narrated by Ringo Starr for the U.K. audiences, who re-narrated 25 episodes for U.S. audiences on the American television show Shining Time Station in 1989. The entire series was later re-narrated by George Carlin for the U.S. audiences.
All episodes from this series can be found on the DVD release Thomas: The Early Years, released by Anchor Bay Entertainment and HIT Entertainment in 2004.
It was produced by Clearwater Features Ltd. for Britt Allcroft Ltd.

Production

All of the stories in Series 1 were originally written by the Rev. W. Awdry, including a one-off story commissioned by the staff, Thomas' Christmas Party. The seven engines introduced in this series became the core of the cast in later episodes, with crew member Steve Asquith terming them the "Magnificent Seven". Many settings from the first series would stay with the show for years, even through its 2009 transition to CGI, such as Knapford Station, Wellsworth, Gordon's Hill, Henry's Tunnel, and Tidmouth Sheds.
The pilot for the series, which was never aired on television, was an adaptation of "Down the Mine", which was remade entirely when the rest of the episodes were shot.

Episodes

Characters introduced