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‘Landing role on Thomas & Friends was crazy’

A girl with tied back bushy dark hair, wearing a pink hooded top, smiles as she puts two of her fingers up in a peace sign. She is sitting in a recording booth and a microphone and iPad are set up in front of her.

Lee BlakemanBBC Radio Stoke and Alex McIntyreWest Midlands

45 minutes ago

Earlier this year, young actor Ellie-Mae Siame landed a role in a show about one of the world’s most recognisable characters – Thomas the Tank Engine.

The 14-year-old is the voice of Nia, the orange and black-coloured engine number 18 in Thomas & Friends: Railway Stories.

A full-length YouTube special premiered on Thursday, which has already been viewed more than two million times, and it will be on Netflix from 30 September before a full series airs in 2027.

“It was crazy to see how big Thomas the Tank Engine was – I knew it was big but not that big,” Ellie-Mae told BBC Radio Stoke.

The Stafford teenager said she was contacted by her agent and did a filmed audition for the show in January.

She expected either not to hear back or be contacted to do a recall or a read-through – instead, she was offered the role of Nia straight away.

Ellie-Mae said: “It’s crazy to think they liked my voice that much and gave me the opportunity to be Nia that fast.”

“When I found out I got Thomas the Tank Engine, it was a shock but it was also really exciting,” she added.

“It’s opened such a big pathway – the doors to more opportunities and experiences.”

Ellie-Mae has been acting since she was five years old, first appearing as Maudie in the 2020 film Four Kids and It.

Her credits since then have included Generation Z, His Dark Materials, Modern Love and My Week with Maisy, in which she starred alongside Dame Joanna Lumley.

A little girl with bush hair, a purple jacket and red shirt, smiles as she sits on Cheryl's knee - Cheryl is also smiling and has long dark hair and is wearing a black jacket. They are sitting next to a desk with various items on it, in an office room.

The teenager said she loved both screen and voice acting, but added: “I think voice acting is probably my favourite because I don’t have to learn a script.

“You get to change your voice a bit so it doesn’t have to be your natural or your normal voice.”

Initially, she did not realise how big a deal Thomas the Tank Engine was because she was “more into princesses” than trains.

But her parents’ excitement, along with many others, showed her how beloved the franchise had become since it first arrived on TV screens in the 1980s, and in books for 40 years before that.

A girl with a yellow head covering with a purple M on the top, and wearing an orange-coloured outfit, smiles as she stands next to Joanna Lumley - a woman with long blonde hair, a blue top and dark blue jacket. A screen can be seen on a stand to the left.

Ellie-Mae found the role particularly special as it meant combining her love of acting and singing – she can be heard on the programme’s theme tune, for example.

She described recording one of the songs for an episode as being one of her favourite memories, along with seeing Nia on screen for the first time.

“I don’t even know how to put it into words,” she said. “It’s such a big thing. Seeing how many people like Thomas the Tank Engine is crazy because I get to be a part of that.

“I don’t know how to explain it, it’s such an exciting part of my life and definitely something I’ll remember forever.”