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The long-time favourite British children’s show,Thomas the Tank Engine, is coming to Melbourne and will feature two new characters, Tracey the Tram and Shane the Train.
Most of us struggle to separate Ringo Starr’s Liverpudlian drawl from the iconic blue and red Tank Engine. Trying to imagine an ocker Aussie accent squeezing its way into the quintessentially British brand seems pretty bizarre.
But, that’s exactly what’s happening after AFL partnered with Thomas the Tank Engine which will bring Thomas to Melbourne for four episodes.
There are some big questions to answer, like how did Thomas get to Melbourne? Did someone put the tank engine on a ship? Will Thomas skip every second station, as a train is want to do in Melbourne?
The episodes star Matthew Richardson as the voice of Shane the Train and Sabrina Frederick-Traub as the voice of Tracey the Tram.
Mathew is known for his former glory days as a player for the Tigers and Sabrina for her time as a star player for the AFLW Lions.
Speaking to the Age, Richardson said he’d been excited to inject some Aussie charm into the children’s classic.
“It wasn’t your everyday request, but Thomas and Friends is iconic and I couldn’t be more thrilled to add some Aussie charm into these episodes. With a baby on the way, this has been great preparation for what I’ll be watching for the next few years.”
The first episode has aired online and features Thomas and Shane ferrying Bulldog players to a game – and yes, it’s all as uncomfortably cliched and equally as beautiful as you’d imagine it to be.
The next three episodes will launch over August and September and to be honest, we can’t wait to see where it will go from here.
Will we figure out how Thomas got here? Only time will tell.
