HiT Entertainment is the owner and production company of Thomas & Friends from the eighth to the twentieth seasons. They also helped to finish the seventh season.
HiT was originally formed as Henson International Television (hit!) in 1983 as a branch of the Jim Henson Company in order to coordinate the co-production of Fraggle Rock in London, England, United Kingdom. This subsidiary was later sold and retains none of the original Henson company architecture except for the name. It later re-branded itself as "HiT Entertainment".
They aquired Gullane Entertainment in 2002. Then, Gullane was purchased and went defunct in 2003. After Hit purchased Gullane, it produced their own series of Thomas episodes and merchandise. HiT acquired the television rights for Thomas and Friends in 2002, during the airing of the sixth season and the filming of the seventh.
On 1 February 2012, it was announced that Mattel purchased HiT Entertainment from Apax Partners for $680 million (US).
In May 2017, HiT Entertainment merged with Mattel Playground Productions, forming Mattel Creations. As of Mid-2018, Mattel no longer uses the HiT Entertainment brand name for shows and their website redirects to Mattel's Website. 9 Story Media Group took their role of their distribution for some of the DVDs. HiT Entertainment still, however, exists as a copyright holder for shows and merchandise.
Staff
Jocelyn Stevenson, Lenora Hume, Christopher Skala, Karen Barnes, Marion Edwards, Michael Carrington, Christopher Keenan, and Edward Catchpole acted as executive producers.
Ian McCue produced the series for HiT from the sixteenth to twentieth seasons. He also worked as line producer for the fifteenth season.
Sharon Miller and Jo Jordan served as creative producers. The later also served as post-production producer for Hero of the Rails.
Denise Green served as line producer for Hero of the Rails, Misty Island Rescue, the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth seasons. Micaela Winter also served as line producer for The Great Race, Bubbling Boilers and the twentieth season.
Claire Waxler and Sam Barlow served as supervising producers.
Karen Davidsen served as head/director of production from the nineteenth and twentieth seasons, Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure and The Great Race.
Karen Davies is the director of content services.
Releases
UK VHS and DVD Releases
HiT Favourites DVD Releases
AUS VHS and DVD Releases
US VHS and DVD Releases