Britt Allcroft

Britt Allcroft

Hilary Mary Britt Allcroft is the multi-award-winning creator of a trio of children's entertainment: Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, ( retitled Thomas & Friends), Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Shining Time Station (with co-creator Rick Siggelkow) and Britt Allcroft's Magic Adventures of Mumfie. Cubley & The City Kids is in development.

She was born Hilary Mary Allcroft, in Worthing, England and, at 16, changed her name to Britt as her career in British radio and TV gained momentum. She went on to create a string of shows for the BBC and ITV networks during the 1970s and 1980s, including Moon Clue Game, Dance Crazy, Keepsakes and the much acclaimed Mothers by Daughters for Channel Four, which was picked up by PBS in the US. She worked in live theatre, staging shows at the London Palladium and Drury Lane Theatres.

In 1979, whilst making a documentary about British steam trains, she met Rev. Wilbert Awdry, author of The Railway Series of children's books. She said, "It really didn't take me long to become intrigued by the characters, the relationships between them and the nostalgia they invoked." She told him that she would like to bring these stories to life and made an arrangement to secure certain rights through the then publishers Kaye & Ward.

In 1980 she co-founded Britt Allcroft Railway Productions with her husband, producer Angus Wright.

It took Britt four years to raise the finance and put the first series of films together in collaboration with director David Mitton. The first episode of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, shot on 35 mm film with story teller Ringo Star and music by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell, premiered on British TV in October 1984.

The huge success of Thomas on British television and the merchandising that Britt had begun to put together in 1983 soon led to further success in other parts of the world. In 1985 Britt met US producer Rick Siggelkow and they created Shining Time Station, a life-action sitcom for kids with the character of the magic little Mr. Conductor introducing two Thomas stories in each half hour show. STS won many awards and enabled Thomas to gain stardom in the US.

Britt followed Thomas and Shining Time Station with the classically animated Magic Adventures of Mumfie in collaboration with director John Collins. This production was critically acclaimed and seen in many parts of the world..

Britt was able to buy back the Mumfie library in 2008, several years after she left her original company.

She wrote and directed the movie Thomas & the Magic Railroad, released in 2000, as well as providing the voice for the character Lady. The film was not a critical success, and Allcroft resigned in September 2000. Her resignation followed many years of internal stress within the company. In 2007, news surfaced on a Thomas fan site that the released version of the Thomas movie was a drastically edited version of Allcroft's original script and shot film - in effect, the claim was that production of the film had been taken out of her hands. On Britt's exit, the company changed its name to Gullane Entertainment.

Gullane was subsequently acquired in 2003 by Hit Entertainment, which was taken over by Apax Partners in 2005. In 2012, Apax sold HIT to U.S. toy giant Mattel.

Britt Allcroft now lives and works in Santa Monica, California. Her focus is writing, the rebirth of the Magic Adventures of Mumfie in publishing and on screen, and her work in live theatre. She is on the advisory council of the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund.