Britt Allcroft, who adapted Rev. W. Awdry’s The Railway Series for television as Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends and Shining Time Station, has reacquired the underlying rights to the animated Mumfie property. She wrote and produced Britt Allcroft’s Magic Adventures of Mumfie for worldwide broadcast in the 1990s, introducing kids to a ‘special little elephant with a great big heart’ and pals Scarecrow, Whale, Napoleon Jones and Pinkey the Flying Pig.
Through her Santa Monica-based Britt Allcroft Prods., Allcroft purchased the rights from Bridgefilms Ltd., a joint venture company in the HIT Ent. Group, which has owned the property since 1999. Terms were not disclosed, but the deal gives Allcroft rights to the 110-minute Mumfie the Movie, the half-hour Mumfie’s White Christmas special, 33 half-hour episodes that can be divided into 79 10-minute blocks, and 26 original songs penned by acclaimed lyricist John Kane, Emmy-winning composer Larry Grossman and Emmy-nominated producer/arranger Steve Horelick. She also has the right to produce new Mumfie productions and profit from merchandising and artwork.
‘Getting Mumfie back fulfils a dream I have had for years of getting a second chance to provide Mumfie the nurturing he needs,’ says Allcroft. ‘With the explosion in cable, satellite and digital technologies, there are exciting new opportunities to revitalize Mumfie to help satisfy the growing hunger for entertainment that families can grow up with.’
Allcroft was inspired to produce Mumfie by a book she owned as a child featuring the artistry of Katherine Tozer. The critically acclaimed ratings hit aired between 1994 and 1999 on the FOX in the U.S, ITV in Great Britain and on numerous other television markets worldwide. The reruns have widely fallen out of rotation, but have begun to develop a new following online. The original trailer for Britt Allcroft s Magic Adventures of Mumfie and other information on the series can be found at www.brittallcroftproductions.com.
