{"id":21563,"date":"2022-09-07T01:01:19","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T23:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1703276"},"modified":"2022-09-07T01:26:11","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T23:26:11","slug":"thomas-friends-adds-first-autistic-character-bruno-the-brake-car","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/thomas-friends-adds-first-autistic-character-bruno-the-brake-car\/","title":{"rendered":"Thomas & Friends adds first autistic character, Bruno the Brake Car"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Lidia Molina-Whyte\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 07 September 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

A brand new character is set to join the cast of beloved children\u2019s show Thomas & Friends.<\/p>\n

Bruno the Brake Car is Thomas\u2019 latest friend, and is the first autistic character on the series.<\/p>\n

Bruno was developed in collaboration with the Autism Self Advocacy Network (US)<\/a>, as well as autistic writers and figures. He is voiced by nine-year-old actor Elliot Garcia, who hails from Reading and who is also autistic.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the role, Garcia said he felt \u201creally excited and happy\u201d about the character, who will debut in Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go!.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Elliot Garcia, 9, from Reading, Berks voices Bruno the Brake Car in Thomas & Friends<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Garcia\u2019s casting was helped by\u00a0Tom Purser, Head of Guidance, Volunteering & Campaigns at the National Autistic Society (UK), who heralded the arrival of the new character as \u201can amazing moment for autistic people\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bruno joins a cast of iconic Thomas & Friends characters, including saddle tank engine Percy and big blue tender engine Gordon.<\/p>\n

Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go! also introduced some new engines when it first premiered in 2021, including speedy bullet train Kana, music-loving Nia, and diesel shunter Diesel.<\/p>\n

Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go! is the latest version of the Thomas the Tank Engine series, which is based on The Railway Series<\/a> books by Rev W Awdry and his son Christopher.<\/p>\n

It airs on Channel 5 in the UK, and Netflix and Cartoon Network in the US.<\/p>

Looking for something else to watch? Check out our TV Guide<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0and get the next 12 issues for only \u00a31. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a>\u00a0with Jane Garvey.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n

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By Lidia Molina-Whyte Published: Wednesday, 07 September 2022 at 12:00 am A brand new character is set to join the cast of beloved children\u2019s show Thomas & Friends. Bruno the Brake Car is Thomas\u2019 latest friend, and is the first autistic character on the series. Bruno was developed in collaboration with the Autism Self Advocacy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":21564,"template":"","categories":[5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/thomas-friends-adds-first-autistic-character-bruno-the-brake-car.jpg",2000,1125,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/thomas-friends-adds-first-autistic-character-bruno-the-brake-car-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/thomas-friends-adds-first-autistic-character-bruno-the-brake-car-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/thomas-friends-adds-first-autistic-character-bruno-the-brake-car-768x432.jpg",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/thomas-friends-adds-first-autistic-character-bruno-the-brake-car-1024x576.jpg",800,450,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/thomas-friends-adds-first-autistic-character-bruno-the-brake-car-1536x864.jpg",1536,864,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/09\/thomas-friends-adds-first-autistic-character-bruno-the-brake-car.jpg",2000,1125,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Lidia Molina-Whyte Published: Wednesday, 07 September 2022 at 12:00 am A brand new character is set to join the cast of beloved children\u2019s show Thomas & Friends. Bruno the Brake Car is Thomas\u2019 latest friend, and is the first autistic character on the series. Bruno was developed in collaboration with the Autism Self Advocacy…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/21563"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}