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'Thomas & Friends was the best job of my career'

Alice Cunningham & Luke Deal
BBC News, Suffolk
Luke Deal/BBC Sean Hedges-Quinn holds a sculpture as he smiles at the camera. The bronze sculpture shows several of the Thomas & Friends characters along with the Fat Controller. Mr Hedges-Quinn has short grey hair and wears a blue shirt. Luke Deal/BBC
Sean Hedges-Quinn worked on Thomas & Friends from 2002 to 2008

A senior sculptor who worked on the Thomas the Tank Engine series - and three related films - said it was "the best job of my career".

Sean Hedges-Quinn, who lives in Great Bricett, near Stowmarket, Suffolk, worked on the show Thomas & Friends from 2002 to 2008.

He was in charge of sculpting the faces of the characters and even helped develop several new characters.

Mr Hedges-Quinn, who had three young children at the time, said it made him a "cool dad".

"I get asked by loads of people all over the world, all the time, about my time on Thomas the Tank Engine," he said.

"It's such a phenomenon, it's everywhere.

"I ended up working on Thomas the Tank Engine for six years and three feature films.

"It was an absolute joy to work on."

John Fairhall/BBC Sculptor Sean Hedges-Quinn holds a sculpted face from Thomas & Friends series. He can be seen slightly blurred in the background. John Fairhall/BBC
Mr Hedges-Quinn was in charge of sculpting the faces of the characters that were used on the models

Wilbert Vere Awdry created the Thomas the Tank Engine character in his 1945 children's book series, meaning it celebrates its 80th anniversary this year.

The first television show debuted in the UK in 1984, using real models and stop-motion photography.

As part of a team, Mr Hedges-Quinn would sculpt the faces of the characters, giving them different facial expressions.

"I think 16 of the last 17 new faces were designed all by myself, including all the expressions," he continued.

"I'd get told they wanted sad, happy, joyful, quizzical, and then I would make up an expression to match whatever they needed.

"But I also did the Fat Controller, landscapes, I did animals, basically anything that needed sculpting on the series was down to me."

Getty Images A full scale model of the Thomas the Tank Engine. It is a blue train with an animate face on the front. Getty Images
Thomas the Tank Engine is celebrating 80 years since his creation

It could take about a week to create the different faces, depending on how familiar Mr Hedges-Quinn was with the character.

He said some facial expressions could be more difficult than others.

In 2012, the show turned into an animated cartoon, meaning sculptures were no longer needed.

Away from Thomas the Tank Engine, Mr Hedges-Quinn said he has worked on Star Wars films, Saving Private Ryan, Phantom of the Opera and more.

He has also sculpted the statues of Sir Alf Ramsey, Sir Bobby Robson and Kevin Beattie, which stand outside Portman Road stadium in Ipswich.

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