Thomas & Friends series 2
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Thomas & Friends series 2 | |
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![]() DVD cover art | |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
No. of episodes | 26 |
Original release | |
Network | ITV |
Release | 24 September 17 December 1986 | –
Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends 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 Reverend W. Awdry. It was produced by Clearwater Features Ltd. for Britt Allcroft (Thomas) Ltd.
This article lists and details episodes from the second series of the show, which was first broadcast in 1986.[1] This series was initially narrated by Ringo Starr for the United Kingdom audiences, who later re-narrated 17 episodes for the United States on Shining Time Station in 1989. The entire series was narrated by George Carlin for US audiences.
Production
Stories
Christopher Awdry was commissioned to write a new Railway Series book as source material for the second series. Three stories from More About Thomas the Tank Engine provided additional roles for Bertie the Bus, Terence the Tractor, and Harold the Helicopter. The episodes "Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree" and "Thomas and Trevor" were both one-off stories written by Christopher. The following series would begin to use original stories by the production staff, with some of the remaining Railway Series stories deemed "repetitive and too 'story-book' orientated".[2]
Filming
Early in production, a third episode based on The Twin Engines was due to be filmed, based largely on the story "The Missing Coach". This was originally to be the episode Donald and Douglas the Scottish twins were introduced in. It was thought that the model crew had gone as far as filming scenes on the Tidmouth Station set with Thomas arriving at the station, before Britt Allcroft decided the episode had too little action and its storyline would be too difficult to understand by younger viewers.[3] Subsequently, the episode was cancelled and the story’s exposition was instead included in the episode adaptation of the story “Break Van”, which would instead serve as the twin engines’ introductory episode.
In August 2020, there was a leak on Twitter that showed that the crew had filmed virtually the whole episode, including and up to the scene where Donald and Douglas swap tenders to impersonate each other (the scene that made Allcroft deem the story too confusing to air on TV), and the audio is the only thing missing. Several promotional stills from the filming of The Missing Coach have surfaced in various Thomas publications over the years, while the series’ original director David Mitton was believed to be in possession of the original film footage.
Episodes
No. overall | No. in series | UK title (top) US title (bottom) | Directed by | Source | Original air date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
27 | 1 | "Thomas, Percy & the Coal" "Double Trouble" | David Mitton | More About Thomas the Tank Engine by Christopher Awdry | 24 September 1986 |
28 | 2 | "Cows" "A Cow on the Line" | David Mitton | Edward the Blue Engine by Rev. W. Awdry | 24 September 1986 |
29 | 3 | "Bertie's Chase" | David Mitton | Edward the Blue Engine by Rev. W. Awdry | 1 October 1986 |
30 | 4 | "Saved From Scrap" | David Mitton | Edward the Blue Engine by Rev. W. Awdry | 1 October 1986 |
31 | 5 | "Old Iron" | David Mitton | Edward the Blue Engine by Rev. W. Awdry | 8 October 1986 |
32 | 6 | "Thomas & Trevor" "A New Friend for Thomas" | David Mitton | 1987 Thomas Annual story by Christopher Awdry | 8 October 1986 |
33 | 7 | "Percy & the Signal" | David Mitton | Percy the Small Engine by Rev. W. Awdry | 15 October 1986 |
34 | 8 | "Duck Takes Charge" | David Mitton | Percy the Small Engine by Rev. W. Awdry | 15 October 1986 |
35 | 9 | "Percy & Harold" "Percy Proves a Point" | David Mitton | Percy the Small Engine by Rev. W. Awdry | 22 October 1986 |
36 | 10 | "The Runaway" | David Mitton | More About Thomas the Tank Engine by Christopher Awdry | 22 October 1986 |
37 | 11 | "Percy Takes the Plunge" | David Mitton | The Eight Famous Engines by Rev. W. Awdry | 29 October 1986 |
38 | 12 | "Pop Goes the Diesel" | David Mitton | Duck and the Diesel Engine by Rev. W. Awdry | 29 October 1986 |
39 | 13 | "Dirty Work" "Diesel's Devious Deed" | David Mitton | Duck and the Diesel Engine by Rev. W. Awdry | 5 November 1986 |
40 | 14 | "A Close Shave" "A Close Shave for Duck" | David Mitton | Duck and the Diesel Engine by Rev. W. Awdry | 5 November 1986 |
41 | 15 | "Better Late Than Never" | David Mitton | More About Thomas the Tank Engine by Christopher Awdry | 12 November 1986 |
42 | 16 | "Break Van" "Donald and Douglas" | David Mitton | The Twin Engines by Rev. W. Awdry | 12 November 1986 |
43 | 17 | "The Deputation" | David Mitton | The Twin Engines by Rev. W. Awdry | 19 November 1986 |
44 | 18 | "Thomas Comes to Breakfast" | David Mitton | Branch Line Engines by Rev. W. Awdry | 19 November 1986 |
45 | 19 | "Daisy" | David Mitton | Branch Line Engines by Rev. W. Awdry | 26 November 1986 |
46 | 20 | "Percy's Predicament" | David Mitton | Branch Line Engines by Rev. W. Awdry | 26 November 1986 |
47 | 21 | "The Diseasel" | David Mitton | Main Line Engines by Rev. W. Awdry | 3 December 1986 |
48 | 22 | "Wrong Road" | David Mitton | Main Line Engines by Rev. W. Awdry | 3 December 1986 |
49 | 23 | "Edward's Exploit" | David Mitton | Main Line Engines by Rev. W. Awdry | 10 December 1986 |
50 | 24 | "Ghost Train" "Percy's Ghostly Trick" | David Mitton | Tramway Engines by Rev. W. Awdry | 10 December 1986 |
51 | 25 | "Woolly Bear" | David Mitton | Tramway Engines by Rev. W. Awdry | 17 December 1986 |
52 | 26 | "Thomas & the Missing Christmas Tree" | David Mitton | Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree by Christopher Awdry | 17 December 1986 |
Characters
Introduced
- Bluebell the Cow ("Cows")
- Trevor the Traction Engine ("Saved from Scrap")
- The Vicar of Wellsworth ("Saved from Scrap")
- Jem Cole ("Saved from Scrap")
- Duck the Great Western Engine ("Duck Takes Charge")
- Harold the Helicopter ("Percy & Harold")
- Devious Diesel ("Pop Goes the Diesel")
- Donald and Douglas the Scottish Twins ("Break Van")
- The Spiteful Brakevan ("Break Van")
- Daisy the Diesel Railcar ("Daisy")
- Bill and Ben the Tank Engine Twins ("Percy Takes the Plunge" (not named yet) / "The Diseasel")
- BoCo the Diesel Engine ("The Diseasel")
Recurring cast
- Thomas
- Edward
- Henry
- Gordon
- James
- Percy
- Toby
- Bertie
- Terence
- Henrietta
- Annie and Clarabel
- Troublesome Trucks
- Sir Topham Hatt/The Fat Controller
References
- ^ "TVARK ITV London Thames Television". TVARK. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
- ^ http://www.sodor-island.net/steveasquithinterview.html
- ^ http://www.sodor-island.net/interviews.html