- “The live action appealed to me as it felt like the best train set ever and I had and loved my model railway as a child.”
- ―Andrew Brenner on the original live action model series, 2012 SiF interview
Andrew Lewis Brenner (born on 7th February 1961) is an American-born English script writer, producer, songwriter and singer who was the head writer of Thomas & Friends from November 2010 to August 2018, succeeding Sharon Miller in 2012. In 2019, David Stoten became the new head writer of the series for Steam Team to the Rescue and the twenty-fourth series.
Career[]
Brenner worked on the magazine stories, starting at the beginning of their publication in 1987. He was given series one and two on video and was asked to adapt the episodes into magazine stories. When Brenner ran out of episodes to adapt, he wrote original stories, several of which were adapted into third series and fifth series episodes without his knowledge or consent. Brenner also wrote magazine stories that were either originally written by Wilbert Awdry or Christopher Awdry from The Railway Series. He stopped working on the magazines soon afterwards. Brenner was never credited for his work in either the magazines or the television series. Among the stories that were adapted were Henry's Forest, which was inspired by a storm that caused damage and blew trees over around London.
He began writing for the seventeenth series in November 2010 for which he wrote ten episodes. Brenner also wrote ten episodes for the eighteenth series, six episodes for the nineteenth series, and ten episodes for the twentieth series, three of which were adaptations of Small Railway Engines. He also wrote two episodes for the twenty-second series. Brenner also worked as a script editor for Blue Mountain Mystery before taking over as head writer.
Brenner was also the head writer of "Tractor Tom" (second series only), "Angelina Ballerina," "Fireman Sam" (2008 reboot), and "The Cramp Twins". It was stated on his online CV that he is the head writer for Jack and the Pack, but this claim was later removed for unknown reasons. He is currently head writer on "Pablo."
He left Thomas & Friends in August 2018 to pursue other projects. The twenty-third series was his last contribution to the series.
Thomas & Friends[]
Original Stories[]
Season 3[]
- Thomas Gets Bumped - adapted from Hello, Thomas! and A Bump on the Line
- Thomas, Percy and the Dragon - adapted from Percy's Night Out and Percy and the Dragon
- Diesel Does it Again - adapted from Trouble in the Harbour Yard and Bumps
- Henry's Forest - adapted from the magazine story of the same name and Clearing Up
- No Joke for James - adapted from The Express and A Passenger for James
- Thomas, Percy and the Post Train - adapted from The Post Train and After the Last Train
- Trust Thomas - adapted from Bertie's Bumpy Road
- Edward, Trevor and the Really Useful Party - adapted from Edward and the Vicar and The Vicar's Fête
- One Good Turn - adapted from Head On and Pulling Together
- Heroes - adapted from In a Muddle and the magazine story of the same name.
- Percy, James and the Fruitful Day - adapted from Percy Gets Jammed
Season 5[]
- Something in the Air - adapted from A Fishy Smell and Erosion
- Thomas, Percy and Old Slow Coach - partially adapted from Fire
- Thomas and the Rumours - adapted from Rumours and Speculation
Thomas & Friends Episodes Written[]
Season 17[]
- Gordon Runs Dry
- Bill or Ben? (adapted from Diesel's Race)
- Too Many Fire Engines
- Santa's Little Engine
- The Missing Christmas Decorations
- The Frozen Turntable
- Away From the Sea
- The Smelly Kipper
- Gone Fishing
- Thomas' Shortcut
Season 18[]
- Old Reliable Edward
- Disappearing Diesels
- Duck in the Water
- Thomas the Quarry Engine
- Thomas and the Emergency Cable
- Missing Gator
- Spencer's VIP
- Last Train for Christmas
- Marion and the Dinosaurs
- Millie and the Volcano
Season 19[]
- Best Engine Ever
- The Little Engine Who Raced Ahead
- Philip to the Rescue
- The Other Side of the Mountain
- No Help At All
- Goodbye Fat Controller
Season 20[]
- Toby's New Friend
- Saving Time
- Pouty James
- Three Steam Engines Gruff
- Engine of the Future
- Hugo and the Airship
- Cautious Connor
- Tit for Tat (adapted from the Railway Series story of the same name)
- Mike's Whistle (adapted from the Railway Series story of the same name)
- Useful Railway (adapted from the Railway Series story of the same name)
Season 22[]
- Forever and Ever
- Seeing is Believing
Specials[]
- Blue Mountain Mystery (script editor)
- King of the Railway
- Tale of the Brave
- The Adventure Begins
- Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure
- The Great Race
- Journey Beyond Sodor
- Big World! Big Adventures!
Mr. Perkins[]
- Mr. Perkins' Storytime: The Flying Kipper
- Mr. Perkins' Postcard: Ulfstead Castle
- Mr. Perkins' Storytime: Trucks!
- Mr. Perkins' Postcard: Blue Mountain Quarry
- Mr. Perkin's Storytime: Thomas and Gordon
- Mr. Perkin's Postcard: Knapford Station
- Mr. Perkins' Storytime: Pop Goes The Diesel
- Mr. Perkins' Postcard: The Dieselworks
- Mr. Perkins Storytime: Gordon Goes Foreign
- Mr. Perkins Storytime: Henry and the Elephant
- Mr. Perkins Storytime: Thomas Comes to Breakfast
- Mr. Perkins Storytime: The Story of How Toby and Henrietta Came to Sodor
- Mr. Perkins Storytime: Percy the Ghost Train
- Mr. Perkins Storytime: Thomas and Bertie
- Mr. Perkins Storytime: Percy and Harold
- Mr. Perkins Storytime: Thomas, Terence and the Snow
- Mr. Perkins Storytime: Sir Topham Hatt's Engines
- Mr. Perkins Storytime: Trouble in the Shed
Songs[]
Songs Written[]
- Never Overlook a Little Engine
- We Make A Team Together
- Will You Won't You
- Streamlining
- I'm/He's Full of Surprises
- You Can Only Be You
- The Shooting Star Is Coming Through
- Be Who You Are, and Go Far
- Somebody Has to be the Favourite
- Who's Thomas?
- The Hottest Place in Town
- I Want to Go Home
- We Can't Do Anything
- The Most Important Thing is Being Friends
- Where in the World is Thomas?
- Free and Easy
- Sometimes You Make a Friend
- We're Friends (co-written with Kevin Roberge and Carl Taylor)
Songs Performed[]
- He's Full of Surprises (with Ian McCue, David Stoten and Oliver Davis)
Trivia[]
- During his tenure as head writer, the twenty-first series and twenty-third series were the only series not to feature a single episode written by him.
- According to an interview on SiF, his favourite characters are James, Toby, Bill, and Ben.
- When he heard that some of his stories had been adapted for the third series and fifth series when asked on an interview with SIF, he was not pleased that producers Britt Allcroft and David Mitton had taken credit as the writers, much less quoting the dialogue line for line.