Britt Allcroft

Brittany "Britt" Allcroft (born Hilary Mary Allcroft, on 14th December 1943 in Worthing, West Sussex, England, United Kingdom) is an English producer, writer, director, and actress who was the multi-award-winning creator and adapter of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends (based on the Railway Series by Wilbert Awdry) and Shining Time Station.

She founded "The Britt Allcroft Company" with then-husband Angus Wright (they were married from 1973 to 1997), known as Britt Allcroft Limited (later renamed Gullane Entertainment) which was sold and acquired by HiT Entertainment in 2002.

Allcroft was also the screenwriter, a producer, and director of Thomas and the Magic Railroad as well as supplied the voice of Lady, in the final cut. She also created the American animated television show, The Magic Adventures of Mumfie, and in the late 1990's remade the classic series, Captain Pugwash.

She lives in Santa Monica, California, USA. She is also on the advisory council of Southern California Public Radio and the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund.

Career
Allcroft served as executive producer for the first two series. She took Robert D. Cardona's place as producer from the third to fifth series after Clearwater Features closed down in 1990. In May 2000, Allcroft was a director and advisor of Gullane and she returned for the sixth series as executive producer alongside Peter Urie and had script consulting duties on the seventh series after the performance of Thomas and the Magic Railroad. By 2003 (a year after Gullane Entertainment was sold and acquired by HiT Entertainment, as well as the same year when Series 7 was released), Allcroft had resigned from her remaining positions with the company and did not return for the eighth series after HiT had brought the rights to Thomas. This was attributed to the poor reception but successful merchandising of Thomas and the Magic Railroad. She also served as "Storyteller Director" for the show.

She also served as a producer for the first series of Shining Time Station and an executive producer for the second and third series and the Family Specials, both alongside Rick Siggelkow.

She also worked on a live-action kids show called The Scoobs.

Allcroft, along with Rick Siggelkow, were trying to get Shining Time Station onto DVD or back on television, though in 2021 Siggelkow revealed that Mattel had the rights for the show and the company's current methods are making the chances of the series seeing a DVD release very slim. She is also working on reviving The Magic Adventures of Mumfie, along with writing a book.

Series 1

 * Thomas' Christmas Party

Series 3
Both episodes were co-written with David Mitton.
 * All at Sea
 * Thomas and Percy's Christmas Adventure

Series 4

 * Rusty to the Rescue

Series 5
All 26 episodes were co-written with David Mitton; these nine episodes were co-written with Mitton and David Maidment.
 * A Better View for Gordon
 * Lady Hatt's Birthday Party
 * James and the Trouble with Trees
 * Gordon and the Gremlin
 * Baa!
 * Haunted Henry
 * Double Teething Troubles
 * Busy Going Backwards
 * Duncan Gets Spooked

Movie

 * Thomas and the Magic Railroad

Series

 * Series 1
 * Series 2
 * Series 3
 * Series 4
 * Series 5
 * Series 6
 * Series 7

Movie

 * Thomas and the Magic Railroad

Movie

 * Thomas and the Magic Railroad

Voices

 * Lady

Films

 * Thomas and the Magic Railroad (2000)
 * Mumfie's Quest (2000)

Television

 * Magic Adventures of Mumfie (1995-1999)
 * Storytime with Thomas (1999)
 * Thomas & Friends (1984-2003)

Awards and nominations

 * Honouree - The WIFTS Television Pioneer Award, 2015, for "Thomas & Friends".
 * Won - Gemini Awards - Best Children's or Youth Fiction Program or Series, 1993, for "Shining Time Station", shared with Rick Siggelkow and Nancy Chapelle. Two times.
 * Nominated - British Academy of Film and Television Arts - Best Animated Film, 1985, for "Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends", shared with David Mitton and Robert D. Cardona.

Trivia

 * Allcroft mortgaged her house to fund the pilot episode's production.
 * Her favourite episodes are All at Sea and Down the Mine.
 * In 1997, Allcroft attempted to sue the Bluebell Railway for "ripping off the character" of Stepney, despite the fact he was built 88 years before being introduced in the franchise; this lawsuit attempt failed. She made the same attempts to the Talyllyn and Nene Valley Railways for dressing up their engines as her characters, despite Awdry approving them.
 * According to Allcroft, Thomas and the Magic Railroad was partially inspired by the fourth series episode, Thomas and the Special Letter.
 * Allcroft has revealed that "P.T." in P.T. Boomer's name stands for "Passing Through".
 * Similar to how Wilbert Awdry was critical of Henry's Forest, Allcroft was critical of Thomas and the Royal Engine, and criticized its marketing, particularly where Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex was involved. The next day, however, she quickly clarified that her "concern was, in no way, about the actual writing of this story", and passed on good wishes to the writer, Michael White.
 * In several Facebook posts, Allcroft has publicly denounced the All Engines Go! reboot and also spoke out against it. Making her one of the few people who worked on the original television series, alongside Wilbert Awdry's daughter, Veronica Chambers, to speak against the reboot. Veronica Chambers, however, had never worked on the original television series.
 * For the 2020 Blu-Ray release of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Lily's narration for the original draft (which was never finished in the original film's production) was provided by Allcroft herself.
 * She would also provide voices for other characters for any missing dialogue that was not included with their original voice actors.