Gullane Entertainment PLC was a British independent production company which produced children's programming, including Thomas & Friends (1984–2021), Shining Time Station (1989–1995), and The Magic Adventures of Mumfie (1994–1998). The company was purchased by HIT Entertainment in 2002, and went defunct within the same year. As of today, most of Gullane's library is currently owned by toy company Mattel as a result of their subsequent acquisition of HIT Entertainment.[2][3]
In the late 1980s, the company formed Quality Family Entertainment an American subsidiary to produce an adapted version of the series, Shining Time Station.[4]
In 1994, the company announced a strategic international alliance with Canadian-based company Catalyst Entertainment, who previously co-produced Shining Time Station with TBAC.[5]
In June 1997, the company announced they had purchased the rights to Captain Pugwash and would subsequently produce a new television series featuring the character.[6] Within the same year, the company entered into joint ventures to produce animated television series based on James the Cat, Topsy and Tim, and Little Hippo.[7] In November, the company formed a motion picture subsidiary (Gullane Pictures), to produce feature films.[8]
In December 1999, the company acquired a 50% stake on Sooty from then-owner from Sooty International Limited, forming a joint venture company called Bridgefilms (also known as Sooty Limited), which would also handle licensing rights to Magic Adventures of Mumfie.[9][10]
In March 2000, HIT Entertainment offered a $363 million bid to purchase the company,[11] alongside other interested companies.[12] In the same month, the company announced they had purchased The Media Merchants for £14 million, bringing Art Attack to their list of intellectual properties (IPs).[13]
In September 2000, after the critical and commercial failure of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Britt Allcroft stepped down as the company's CEO and soon, it was later renamed Gullane Entertainment.
Gullane Entertainment
In September 2000, with the negative reception and box-office failure of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Britt Allcroft stepped down as the company's CEO, and under new leadership, the company announced they would be renamed Gullane Entertainment in order to expand and export their brands worldwide.[14] Britt Allcroft would however, remain as a creative consultant for the Thomas the Tank Engine franchise (which would later be renamed Thomas & Friends).[15] Within the announcement of the name change came some new projects, including a new series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, an online platform (Planet Gullane), a new series of Art Attack alongside the production of 238 episodes for the international market in a partnership with The Walt Disney Company, a second series of Sooty Heights alongside the production of direct-to-video Sooty material and new seasons of Captain Pugwash, ZZZAP! and It's a Mystery. Gullane also announced production of a full series of Eckhart with Catalyst Entertainment.[16]
In October 2000, Gullane announced to set aside US$50 million to fund a year's worth of productions, including new Thomas-related projects and television movies (which never materialised), with one being a co-production with French company Teleimages for Animal Planet.[17]
In January 2001, Gullane announced they had purchased David & Charles Children's Books for £1.1 Million, putting two new franchises: Zippy Dinosaurs and Vroom Vroom, into Gullane's properties.[18]
In March 2001, Gullane announced their profits for the last six months went up 80%. On the same day, the company announced they would produce 26 new episodes of Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends for a Summer 2002 delivery, with a co-funding deal with a third party being allowed to coincide with the series' cost at a possible range of 78 new episodes by the next three years. On the same day, Gullane confirmed that Thomas and the Magic Railroad had been sold in over thirty countries worldwide, while Catalyst Entertainment delivered the first series of Eckhart and Longhouse Tales to the company. Earlier on, Gullane announced work on a 2D/3D animated co-production with Catalyst based on the fellow David & Charles book Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs called Sammy and the Dinosaurs which the company would distribute worldwide.[19]
In July 2001, Gullane purchased Guinness World Records for £45.5 Million from their original owners Diageo, although Gullane would continue to license the Guinness brand name from Diageo.[20] By December 2001, the company planned to produce new GWR-themed programming at a young male demographic, and that the publishing division had merged with Dave & Charles Children's Books to form Gullane Publishing.[21]
On 14 September 2001, Gullane signed a distribution deal with Tell-Tale Productions for the production of two new shows, called Ella, and Sprogs.[22]
In November 2001, Gullane was reportedly in talks to buy the entertainment assets of Canadian company CINAR, which had been affected by a financial scandal. However, those talks had fallen through due to either a failure to secure sufficient funding or in-fighting within CINAR's board of directors.[23]
In December 2001, Gullane purchased a majority stake in Fireman Sam from S4C International for £16 Million, with both companies agreeing to both produce a new season of 26 episodes and to remaster the previous 4 seasons.[24]
On February 13, 2002, Catalyst Entertainment announced that they had merged with fellow Canadian media company Cambium Entertainment to form CCI Entertainment Ltd. (Cambium Catalyst International) The merger allowed Gullane to achieve economies of scale and add clarity to their operating profile and added Cambium Entertainment's properties into their now-300-hours worth of programming. Gullane owned a 32% non-voting, 19% voting, interest in the newly enlarged business, and would continue to operate as Gullane's Canadian affiliate and distributor.[25][26]
On 8 March 2002, Gullane signed a co-production, distribution, and global licensing deal with Collingwood O'Hare Entertainment for the production of a new series titled Yoko! Jakamoko! Toto!, which had been pre-sold to CITV.[27] On 20 March, the company announced 208 new episodes of Art Attack for the European and Latin American markets, alongside 78 new episodes of Thomas & Friends.[28]
After approximately two years of negotiation, in July 2002, HIT Entertainment agreed to purchase Gullane Entertainment for £139 million.[2] It would be unknown if CCI Entertainment would be effected by the purchase.[29]
On 18 September 2002, before HIT's purchase, Gullane's distribution deal with Tell-Tale for Ella and Sprogs fell through, with the rights reverting to Tell-Tale.[30]
After the purchase
In January 2003, Britt Allcroft announced she had resigned as a board director at HIT Entertainment in order to focus her work on her new company Britt Allcroft Productions and Peter Urie was appointed Group Head of Production to replace her.[15]
In March 2003, CCI Entertainment announced they had ended their partnership with HIT, purchasing out their shares in the company, as well as most of Gullane's catalogue. The shows CCI reacquired were put into the company's CCI Releasing subsidiary.[31][32]
^The predecessor company, Britt Allcroft Railway Limited, or Britt Allcroft Limited, was founded in 1979. This company is now known as Gullane (Thomas) Limited
