Princess Viola
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While many people are familiar with the classic childrens' television series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends (later shortened to just Thomas & Friends), based on The Railway Series books by the Rev W. Awdry, that aired from 1984 until 2020, it was not the first attempt at adapting these stories to television.
Way back in 1953, the Director of BBC Children's Television approached the then-editor of The Railway Series with a goal to acquire the rights to adapt two stores from The Three Railway Engines (the first book in the series) to television using model trains.
These rights managed to be acquired and on 14 June 1953, an adaption of the story 'The Sad Story of Henry' was broadcast live from Lime Grove Studios.
And it was a disaster.
The actual story itself was rather freely adapted in order to fill in the full 10 minute timeslot for the program, the movement of the model trains was jerky and unprofessional (with the narrator being forced to go off-script to cover the operator of the model trains mistakes), and, most infamously, a set of points on the track was not set properly so one of the model trains ended up derailed and viewers at home, including the Rev W. Awdry, were then witness to the hand of a crewmember coming into view to set the model train back on the tracks.
As you might guess, the Rev W. Awdry was furious at all of this and the BBC agreed as well, with the Head of Programmes calling the entire endeavor pathetic. The second episode was postponed but ultimately ended up cancelled.
Unfortunately, as this was broadcast live, no footage of the 1953 adaption of 'The Sad Story of Henry' exists and the only evidence we have in regards to its existence are newspaper articles published after it aired and the BBC's Written Archive Centre containing multiple documents about the production of the broadcast, including a photograph of the model of the character of James the Red Engine used during the story. This photograph is the only image we have of what any of the models looked like.
Way back in 1953, the Director of BBC Children's Television approached the then-editor of The Railway Series with a goal to acquire the rights to adapt two stores from The Three Railway Engines (the first book in the series) to television using model trains.
These rights managed to be acquired and on 14 June 1953, an adaption of the story 'The Sad Story of Henry' was broadcast live from Lime Grove Studios.
And it was a disaster.
The actual story itself was rather freely adapted in order to fill in the full 10 minute timeslot for the program, the movement of the model trains was jerky and unprofessional (with the narrator being forced to go off-script to cover the operator of the model trains mistakes), and, most infamously, a set of points on the track was not set properly so one of the model trains ended up derailed and viewers at home, including the Rev W. Awdry, were then witness to the hand of a crewmember coming into view to set the model train back on the tracks.
As you might guess, the Rev W. Awdry was furious at all of this and the BBC agreed as well, with the Head of Programmes calling the entire endeavor pathetic. The second episode was postponed but ultimately ended up cancelled.
Unfortunately, as this was broadcast live, no footage of the 1953 adaption of 'The Sad Story of Henry' exists and the only evidence we have in regards to its existence are newspaper articles published after it aired and the BBC's Written Archive Centre containing multiple documents about the production of the broadcast, including a photograph of the model of the character of James the Red Engine used during the story. This photograph is the only image we have of what any of the models looked like.
