Thomas & Friends series 1
The first series of the British children's television series Thomas & Friends originally aired in the United Kingdom on CITV from 9 October 1984, to 8 January 1985. Based on The Railway Series books by Wilbert Awdry and narrated by Ringo Starr and George Carlin, respectively, the series focuses on the daily adventures of various anthropomorphic steam locomotives as well as other vehicles living on the fictional Island of Sodor. The season was produced by Clearwater Features Ltd. for Britt Allcroft Ltd. and Central Independent Television.
Production
All of the stories in series 1 were originally written by Wilbert 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 was filmed in April 1983. It was an adaptation of "Down the Mine", which was remade entirely when the rest of the episodes were shot. The pilot was later restored and released to the public in May 2025 on the Thomas & Friends YouTube channel.
Filming lasted 7 months from September 1983 to March 1984. Post production was completed in April, 6 months before its official debut on October 9, 1984. According to Starr himself in 1984, narration for the entire first season took 8 days to complete with 4 or 5 episodes a day and including re-recordings of 4 episodes due to his vocal tone. The first episode premiered on October 9, 1984.
This series was narrated by Ringo Starr. However in 1989, Shining Time Station was created as a way to bring Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends to American television. Ringo Starr portrayed Mr. Conductor, a tiny magical conductor who told stories of engines on the Island of Sodor. Starr re-narrated twenty-five of the episodes in the first series, "Whistles and Sneezes" being the exception. Terms like "trucks" and "guards" were re-named to "freight cars" and "conductors" in the new narration. After Starr left the show, American comedian George Carlin played Mr. Conductor's cousin and narrated all episodes from the first series to the fourth series. The first season of Shining Time Station lists the Thomas stories' original UK titles in the end credits, but were re-titled for later seasons and for home video.
Episodes
Home media
United Kingdom
Series 1 was first released as two separate VHS and Betamax volumes by Guild Home Video in 1985. They remain the only Thomas related products released on the latter format. The Video Collection later re-released them as three VHS volumes in 1986, and have seen numerous re-releases over the years.Video Collection International released a complete series VHS set in 1998, available as either a single-VHS or double-VHS release. It was soon released on DVD in 2004 as part of the "Classic Collection Boxset" before being released on its own the following year. The 2012 re-release by HIT Entertainment uses the 2003 restoration of the series.
Episodes from the series have also made it to various compilation releases with other series.
United States
Strand VCI Entertainment and Anchor Bay Entertainment have released Series 1 episodes on various VHS and DVD volumes.In 2004, the complete series was released on DVD as part of a 3-disc boxset titled "The Early Years", featuring the original UK narrations and titles for the first time in the US.