Coffey Man Interviews: Ian McCue

Since the nineteenth series of Thomas & Friends is due to be aired on Channel 5's Milkshake starting from tomorrow, I am happy to share you a special interview I had conducted several months ago. The interviewee is none other than the current producer of the series, Ian McCue, who will be telling us how he first discovered Thomas through the launch of the television series in 1984, and eventually gained his role as the Producer alongside head writer Andrew Brenner.

DISCLAIMER:
All opinions expressed in interviews belong solely to the people interviewed, and do not reflect the opinions of myself, Ian McCue and HiT Entertainment.

Ian McCue

(Taken at Drayton Manor, April 2015

Copyright: Myself)

• How did you get involved in Thomas & Friends?

I’d worked on various animated shows since leaving school in 1986. My good friend Marion Edwards was working at HIT when she offered me the role of Line Producer, during the end of series 15 & 16. I didn’t quite know what to expect, but it wasn’t long before I became fascinated by the railway realism of the original stories and I soon became very passionate about the show, which I hope shows in the latest work.

• What are your duties of the producer?

Originally as a Line Producer, my role was to ensure that everything was done on time and on schedule. You could say “without confusion or delay”! However, when we started Blue Mountain Mystery my role started to evolve into more of a creative role, helping with the scripting, casting & creation of characters, such as Luke.

I then shared my responsibilities on series 17, but by series 18 I was very much in the creative driving seat working closely with Andrew Brenner on scripts and with ARC Productions on the animation.

• How did you create the original characters for the series? (i.e. Porter, Samson, Gator etc)

All of the engines are based on real working engines and a lot of the recent engines, which then became the basis for new characters, were discovered by Andrew, who would send them to me to discuss. He’s always looking for unusual engines whilst writing up story ideas. Engines that would give us good character stories as well as some unique technical differences.

• What is the best thing about working on Thomas & Friends?

There are so many enjoyable aspects to working on a show like Thomas & Friends. I think one is the challenge to keep it fresh and relative, without losing the original concept that this is a working railway. I am also really proud of being able to better the look of the show - working closely with ARC Productions we really have made the CGI Thomas & Friends look quite amazing, as you will see in series 19 and the next movie.

• Are you familiar with Thomas before? (i.e. 'The Railway Series' and/or the original television series)

I remember reading about Ringo Starr in the papers leading up to the first launch, but this was at a stage when I was at secondary school, so I didn’t pay much attention to pre-school TV then. It was only when my little boy was born and he became fascinated by Thomas after bringing a toy home, that I became more away of the content. He and I would watch the classic live action episodes every morning. The slow pace of the show was very therapeutic for a parent, especially when you had to get up at 5.30am. A couple of years later I was offered a job on the show. How could I say no?

• Do you have anything to say to the fans of the show, young and old?

I hope that we are doing the show the justice that it deserves. We aren’t going to please everyone, but we try our best keep the heritage of the show close to our hearts when we are creating new engaging stories for the new generation.