A real life Thomas performed for Queen Elizabeth II as part of her 80th Birthday celebrations
Hugh Bonneville stars in epic new Thomas & Friends film: Journey Beyond Sodor
This summer, everyone’s favourite number #1 blue engine, Thomas, embarked on his biggest adventure yet, in his twelfth feature-length film, Thomas & Friends Journey Beyond Sodor. On his epic journey, Thomas travels away from Sodor across to the mainland to experience adventures beyond his wildest dreams, and befriends the Experimental Engines, Lexi, Theo and Merlin. New engine Merlin, voiced by multi-award-winning British actor Hugh Bonneville, commented: “I am delighted to be involved in the latest Thomas & Friends film. Like so many others I enjoyed the books when I was young, so it’s a real honour to be voicing a new character, Merlin. To play an engine in one of Thomas’s adventures is a big thrill for a little boy in a grown-up body!” Join Thomas, Merlin and the rest of the experimental engines when Journey Beyond Sodor is released on DVD in October.
Thomas & Friends hits the road with inflatable play station
Following the success of 2016, this year Thomas & Friends set friendship in motion with the Thomas & Friends inflatable Play Station, which toured 23 different locations around the UK during the Easter and May half-term. From 8th April – 4th June, Thomas fans could enjoy the free, interactive experience at selected Smyths and Toys R Us stores. Little engineers could work together to complete nine different activities as they made their way through the Play Station to the finish line, from finding James and Percy in the maze to discovering the exciting new products available from the Thomas & Friends range. The imaginary Island of Sodor lies between the Isle of Man and Barrow-in-Furness
6-foot tall chocolate Thomas sculpture visits Kings Cross Station
To celebrate the Easter weekend, a giant 6ft tall, 7ft long chocolate sculpture of everyone’s favourite #1 blue engine, Thomas, arrived at Kings Cross station. The sculpture, based on the Thomas & Friends chocolate train engine, sold exclusively in M&S UK stores during Easter, weighed 140kg and took 250 hours to build by three master chocolatiers. A total of 100kg of chocolate was used to create the masterpiece, the equivalent to 50,000 chocolate buttons.
Mattel Supplement
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