Clearwater Features Ltd. was a British film production company (based first in

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batter ...

and then at

Shepperton Studios Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not to be confused w ...

) that produced the first two series of the children's television series ''

Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends ''Thomas & Friends'' (originally known as ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'' and later ''Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!'') is a British children's television series that aired across 24 series from 1984 to 2021. Based on ''The ...

'' from 1984 to 1986. Clearwater is also known for creating the short lived children's TV series '' TUGS''.

History

The company was founded in the early 1970s by

Gerry Anderson Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s produ ...

alumni Ken Turner and

David Mitton David Nelson Godfrey Mitton (27 February 1939 – 16 May 2008) was a British director, producer, writer, model maker and special effects technician. He was best known for producing and directing the children's television programmes ''Thomas ...

, and produced television commercials as well as miniature effects for films and TV shows. Turner left the company in 1979, to be replaced by American-born director and producer

Robert D. Cardona Robert Daniel Cardona (born March 7, 1930) is an American television writer, producer, director and animator. He co-founded Clearwater Features, along with David Mitton, in 1980. Career Cardona has been based in the United Kingdom for much of ...

. The production logo of Clearwater Features was a pink Buick Y-Job parked at a film studio with palm trees, based on

Clearwater, Florida Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2020 census, the city had a populat ...

, and it appeared on every ending of every episode of ''Thomas the Tank Engine'' from series 1 and 2, and also appeared on a flag of a barge in the ''TUGS'' episode

4th of July Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music) In music a fourth is an interval spanning four staff po ...

. The company closed down on New Year's Eve 1990 because of ''TUGS''' conclusion. When the studio closed, David Mitton became part of The Britt Allcroft Company, and Robert D. Cardona went to live in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Britt Allcroft Britt Allcroft (born Hilary Mary Allcroft, 14 December 1943) is a British writer, producer, director and voice actress. She is the creator of the children's television series ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'' (later re-titled ''Thomas & Friend ...

, returning home from the US, purchased the models and sets which were used for ''TUGS'', and the show ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'' remained in production by The Britt Allcroft Company (later Gullane Entertainment) from 1984 until 2003, when it was produced by

HIT Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (commonly written as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Soph ...

Key people

* Ken Turner,

– co-founder *

– co-CEO (1979–1990) * Terry Permane – lighting, cameraman, director of photography * Bob Gauld-Galliers – art director * Mike O'Donnell,

Junior Campbell Junior Campbell (born William Campbell Jnr, 31 May 1947) is a Scottish composer, songwriter and musician. He was a founding member, lead guitarist, piano player, and singer with the Scottish band Marmalade and co-wrote and produced some of th ...

– composers * John Attwell – cameraman * Nigel Parkes – editor

Produced

TV series

/ 1984-1986 - created by

Wilbert Awdry Wilbert Vere Awdry (15 June 1911 – 21 March 1997) was an English Anglican minister, railway enthusiast, and children's author. He was best known for creating Thomas the Tank Engine. Thomas and several other characters he created appeared in ...

; developed by

* TUGS / 1989 - created by

and

Others

*Various British TV Adverts *

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

(Idents with Train)

Periscope lens system

The Clearwater Periscope lens system was a type of

television camera A professional video camera (often called a television camera even though its use has spread beyond television) is a high-end device for creating electronic moving images (as opposed to a movie camera, that earlier recorded the images on film). O ...

developed in 1983 by Clearwater Features for use on the

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

'' and '' Tugs''. The cameras were used together with live action model animation, to produce the image of character movements at eye level. Only two of these camera systems were ever made. The system used for ''TUGS'' was later shipped off to Canada and modified for the filming of ''

Theodore Tugboat ''Theodore Tugboat'' is a Canadian children's television series about a tugboat named Theodore who lives in the Big Harbour with all of his friends. The show originated (and is set) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada as a co-production between th ...

''.

References

Defunct film and television production companies of the United Kingdom Television production companies of the United Kingdom Film production companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1979 Mass media companies established in 1979 Mass media companies disestablished in 1990 1979 establishments in England 1990 disestablishments in England {{UK-media-company-stub