Britt Allcroft, a British television producer and writer who helped to develop “Thomas & Friends” based on “The Railway Series” books and its characters including Thomas the Tank Engine, died on Dec.

The TV producer was behind bringing the beloved children's series to life in the 1970s after securing the rights to adapt Reverend Wilbert Awdry’s Railway Series ...

The beloved blue locomotive was first imagined in the 1940s — he starred in stories Rev. Wilbert Awdry told his son. Allcroft adapted Awdry's The Railway Series into Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends.

"Bringing the Rev. W. Awdry's Railway Series books to television for the first time, Britt introduced the beloved characters of Thomas the Tank Engine and friends to a new global audience and ...

Thomas the Tank Engine became a household name thanks to the long-running children's TV series Thomas & Friends ... the rights to Wilbert Awdry's Railway Series books, which featured the beloved ...

Britt Allcroft, the creator of the “Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends” series ... the rights to adapt Reverand Wilbert Awdry’s “Railway Series” books in the 1980s. The show first launched ...

Britt Allcroft, a British television producer and writer who helped to develop “Thomas & Friends” based on “The Railway Series” books and its characters including Thomas the Tank Engine ...

Awdry's The Railway Series revolved around a cast of anthropomorphic trains, including Thomas and his friends Gordon, James and Percy, all chuffing along on the imaginary island of Sodor.

The series followed Thomas, a blue, anthropomorphised tank locomotive, and a fleet of his friends as they worked each day on the railway under the command of the Fat Controller. Allcroft’s death ...