Thomas & Friends creator dies at 81

According to media reports, Britt Allcroft, the creator of the classic children's animation "Thomas and Friends", has passed away at the age of 81.

Britt Allcroft, the British producer, director and screenwriter who adapted the antics of the lively and impulsive engines into the animated series "Thomas & Friends," which became the famous IP we see today and has long been loved by children and adults, died in Los Angeles on December 25, 2024 at the age of 81. Her daughter Holly Wright confirmed her death.

Allcroft was a major force behind the television adaptation of Thomas the Tank Engine, which began as a character in a series of children's books created by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry in the 1940s and swelled into a multibillion-dollar franchise with movies, merchandise and even theme parks.

Her initial adaptation was a low-budget live-action production that premiered on ITV in 1984 as "Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends," later shortened to "Thomas and Friends." Audiences were quickly drawn in by the show's life lessons, catchy music, lush landscapes and entertaining ensemble cast of anthropomorphic engines. It was an instant hit and aired for more than three decades in the UK, the US and elsewhere.

“Children now live in a fast-paced world, but I don’t think children have really changed,” Britt Allcroft said in a 1995 BBC documentary. “They need tenderness, comfort in their lives. They need fun, they need stories that entertain them but also help them make sense of the world.”