The Three Railway Engines (lost live BBC broadcast adaptation of "The Railway Series" books; 1953)
Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends is a children’s show adapted from the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher Awdry’s The Railway Series stories. While this is certainly the most famous adaption of Awdry’s stories, it was not the first. The first attempt was a live broadcast in 1953 by the BBC; however, the broadcast didn’t fare well and caused a full series never to be produced.
Background
In 1953, the BBC approached The Railway Series editor Eric Marriott and inquired about the possibility of adapting at least two stories from The Railway Series to television in June of that same year. Marriott approved the proposal. The broadcast was to be done using 00 Gauge Hornby Models, with sets based on the book's original illustrations to fulfil the author's request that the adaptation be as faithful as possible. It was broadcast live from Lime Grove Studios on Sunday, June 14th, 1953.
Live Broadcast
The story that the BBC chose to adopt was Wilbert's third story "The Sad Story of Henry". However, the director had to deal with the 00 Gauge Models, superimposed rain, effects, music and narration by Julia Lang. The script was "freely adapted" to ensure that the broadcasts met the ten-minute broadcast limit. The models were reported to jerk around as they moved. Other than that, the broadcast went fine until the engine derailed. This was caused by the mistake of not switching the points before the engine arrived at them. But to the surprise of the viewers, a hand picked up the engine and put it back on the rails.
Aftermath/Preservation
The incident made the front of several newspapers a week later. This caused the June 28th broadcast to be put on hold and later cancelled and although numerous attempts were made to revive the series, all were unsuccessful.
As the show was broadcast live and knowing the BBC's track record for preserving old content, it is no surprise that the broadcast is lost. It is highly unlikely that anyone recorded the single broadcast, however, a Sodor Island Forums user named OJ said that he might have seen a clip of it while watching an episode of "It'll Be Alright on the Night" somewhere in the 1990s. Sadly, the clip was later found to be something completely unrelated.
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Videos
See Also (BBC Wiped Programs Media)
- 1953 British Grand Prix (partially found footage of Formula One race; 1953)
- Adam Adamant Lives! (partially lost BBC children's TV series; 1966)
- Anne of Green Gables (lost TV mini-series; 1972)
- Dad's Army (partially lost episodes and sketches; 1968-1970)
- Doctor Who (partially lost episodes of British science-fiction TV series; 1963-1974)
- Jazz Goes to College (partially found BBC jazz concert series; 1966-1967)
- Late Night Line-Up (partially found Beatles "Abbey Road" special; 1969)
- Madhouse on Castle Street (partially found BBC television play; 1963)
- Out of the Unknown (partially found BBC sci-fi series; 1967-1971)
- Requiem for a Heavyweight (partially found BBC Sunday-Night Theatre TV play; 1957)
- The Complete and Utter History of Britain (partially found British sketch comedy TV series; 1969)
- The Quatermass Experiment (partially found BBC sci-fi serials; 1953)
- Top Of The Pops (partially lost British music series; 1964-2006)
- United! (lost British soap opera; 1965-1967)
- Zingalong (partially found British children's series; 2002-2004)
See Also (Thomas Series)
Thomas & Friends
- Thomas & Friends "Jack Jumps In" (found Alec Baldwin narration of British children's TV series episode; 2002)
- Thomas & Friends: Day of the Diesels (lost original cut of direct-to-DVD film; existence unconfirmed; 2011)
- Thomas & Friends "Series 7" (partially found original music of American dub of British children's TV series; mid 2000s)
- Thomas & Friends "Series 12" (partially found Pierce Brosnan narrations of British children's animated series; 2008)
Thomas the Tank Engine
- Thomas the Tank Engine "Season 3" (found Michael Angelis narriation of British children's TV series episodes; 1991)
- Thomas the Tank Engine "Season 4" (found pre-recorded version of British children's TV series episodes; 1994)
- Thomas the Tank Engine "Down the Mine" (partially found unaired pitch pilot version of children's TV series; 1983)
- Thomas the Tank Engine "The Missing Coach" (partially found footage from unfinished episode of children's TV series; 1986)
- Thomas and the Magic Railroad (found deleted scenes of children's fantasy adventure film; 2000)
- Thomas the Tank Engine (lost pilot episode of unproduced 2D animated adaptation on "The Railway Series" books; 1976)
Other
- Thomas the Tank Engine (found original illustrated edition of book; 1946)
- Thomas and the U.K. Trip & Thomas Number 1 (found Japanese "Thomas the Tank Engine" crossover TV special and music video; 1993)
- Jack and the Sodor Construction Company (miscellaneous lost media of spinoff series; existence unconfirmed; 2002)
- The Three Railway Engines (found original edition of book; 1945)
- Barry the Rescue Engine (lost production material on cancelled "The Railway Series" book; 1980s)
- Thomas and the Magic Railroad (lost test footage of 3.5" character models for British children's TV series; 1995)