Thomas & Friends (series 17)

Season of television series

Season of television series

Thomas & Friends
Official cover art for the series 17 DVD
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	26
Original network	Channel 5
Original release	3 June 2013 (2013-06-03) – 21 November 2014 (2014-11-21)
List of episodes

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.

This article lists and details episodes from the seventeenth series of the show, which was first broadcast from 2013 to 2014.

Production[edit]

During production of the sixteenth series, Sharon Miller stepped down as head writer, and Andrew Brenner, formerly head writer for Fireman Sam, was appointed as her successor. Brenner already had a previous history with the brand, having adapted the first two series and subsequently written several original stories for the Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends magazine, published by Marvel Comics from 1987 until the early 1990s. Many of his stories were later adapted by Britt Allcroft and David Mitton for the third series (plus a further one for the fifth) without his knowledge or consent.

This also marked the first series since the fifth to include a railway consultant as part of the production team, with Sam Wilkinson in the role.

This series was narrated by Mark Moraghan for audiences in the United Kingdom and United States; this was his first series as narrator.

The CGI animation for this series was provided by Arc Productions, who took over from Nitrogen Studios following completion of Series 16 and Blue Mountain Mystery in 2012.

In April 2013, Lionsgate released the DVD “Railway Mischief”, which featured five episodes from the new series (episodes 4, 1, 2, 3 & 6) months before they were broadcast on television. The DVD was available exclusively at Walmart.

Episodes[edit]

Voice cast[edit]

David Menkin and Jonathan Broadbent joins the cast along with Bob Golding, Jonathan Forbes, Rebeca O’Mara, Miranda Raison and Mike Grady from that year’s special.

Following the number of departures for the previous year, Martin Sherman took over role of Diesel in the US, Keith Wickham took over the role of Bertie, Ben Small took over the role of Flynn, Steven Kynman took over the role of Butch in the US and Dart, and Teresa Gallagher takes over the role of Mavis in the US while David Bedella officially takes over the role of Victor in the UK.

Actor/Actress	Region	Role(s)
Mark Moraghan	UK/US	The Narrator
Ben Small		Rheneas, Flynn, Owen and the Troublesome Trucks
	UK	Thomas and Toby
	UK	Charlie
Keith Wickham | Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Whiff, Harold, the Fat Controller, the Wellsworth Station worker and a workman
	UK	Harvey, Salty, Den, Norman, Stafford, Skarloey, Sir Handel, Bertie, a Railway Inspector, and the Maron Station Speaker
Kerry Shale	UK	Diesel and The Zookeeper
	UK/	Some groaning passengers (Calm Down Caitlin)
	UK/	A Railway Inspector
Teresa Gallagher	UK	Emily, Some Children, The Blond Haired Boy, The Schoolboy, and The Blonde Haired Girl
	UK/	Belle, Mavis, Annie, Clarabel, The Shouting Little Boy, The Ginger Haired Boy, Lady Hatt (The Afternoon Tea Express only), and The Duchess of Boxford (Percy’s Lucky Day only)
Matt Wilkinson	UK	Spencer, Charlie, Scruff, Rocky, Cranky, Butch, Kevin, Farmer McColl, the Dock Manager and The Zoo Keeper
	UK	Winston, Rusty and Merrick
David Bedella	Victor
UK		Porter
Michael Legge		UK/	Luke
Mike Grady	Sir Robert Norramby

References[edit]