The first episode of all-new animated Thomas The Tank Engine series has launched on YouTube, with actor Henry Golding narrating.
Thomas & Friends Railway Stories, the latest animated series in the long-running franchise, launched with a special 30-minute episode titled Really Helpful Engines on YouTube on Thursday. It will then air on Channel 5’s Milkshake! in October.
Actor Henry Golding, best known for appearing in Crazy Rich Asians and The Gentlemen, takes up the role of the narrator.
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The British actor, 39, said he was in the “shadow of giants” following in the footsteps of Sir Ringo Starr and Pierce Brosnan, who narrated a 2008 movie special.
“I think we bring a new spin and a new sort of excitement to Thomas, and we’re kind of bringing it back up to date, which is the exciting part,” Golding said.
Speaking about the message contained in the series for children, he said: “I think some of the most important sort of themes that run through Thomas & Friends really is sort of all about friendship and teamwork, and this series and special strengthens that.
“And I think it’s so important to impart that on our children, because, you know, sometimes we often feel alone, but we need to realise that our friends are more than willing to help. Sometimes we just have to ask them.”
Thomas will also now be voiced by 13-year-old Harry Sparkes, from Harpenden in Hertfordshire, who is making his professional voice-over debut.
Over the past nine months, Sparkes has kept his weekly recording sessions a secret – telling his classmates he was going to physiotherapy for a foot injury.
He said: “It feels amazing, because I played and watched Thomas as a kid, and now I get to be Thomas. It just feels insane.”
Sparkes said he was excited he gets “to be part of something which kids from the next generation will get to grow up to watch”.
He added that he thought his friends would be shocked to find out he was voicing the character.
“I think my friends will react really weirdly to hearing like someone that they see every day and hearing their own voice just come out of TV, because it’s not something which you would normally see in school. So yeah, I think it would just be crazy,” he added.
Mattel – which owns the Thomas The Tank Engine franchise – has teased the new series will “introduce fans to a refreshed world of Sodor, while still celebrating the iconic railway action we have all known and loved since its debut as a classic book in 1945”.
Mattel’s general manager and global head of vehicles and building sets Ted Wu said: “Thomas & Friends has been a trusted companion for families for over 80 years. This relaunch celebrates the meaningful stories about friendship and helping others that have defined the franchise, while bringing it to life in ways that feel fresh and relevant for today’s preschool audience.”
Thomas The Tank Engine first appeared in The Railway Series, a collection of British books about anthropomorphic locomotives such as Thomas and his friends Gordon, Henry and James, by the children’s author Reverend Wilbert Awdry, first published in 1945.
The cheerful tank engine, who lives on the Isle Of Sodor where he runs on the Fat Controller’s North Western Railway, was later adapted for TV by British writer and producer Britt Allcroft as Thomas The Tank Engine And Friends, narrated by Beatles drummer Sir Ringo.
Characters appeared as models in their first TV iteration, before a live action film – Thomas And The Magic Railroad – was released in 2000, starring Peter Fonda.
In 2009, the series, now known as Thomas And Friends, saw its characters depicted in CGI for the first time, having seen CGI effects used in 2008, while in 2021 Thomas And Friends: All Engines Go saw the characters as 2D animations.
Thomas & Friends Railway Stories launched on the Thomas & Friends YouTube channel on September 17, with the Really Helpful Engines special before airing on Milkshake! in October.
The full series will then debut in early 2027.
