Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends is an animated
children's television show. The series was based on
The Railway Series, a series of books created by the Reverend
Wilbert Vere Awdry[?]. The books, which told of the adventures of a group of living, talking trains, were based on stories which Awdry told his son Christopher to entertain him during Christopher's recovery from
measles.
Ringo Starr was the first narrator of the television series.
Characters from the series include Henry, Duck, Trevor, Bertie (a bus), Donald & Douglas, Percy, James, Gordon, Toby, Daisy, Mavis, Harold (a helicopter), Diesel, Bill & Ben, Edward and the Fat Controller, Sir Topham Hatt.