At the Guardian, Stuart Jeffries writes about Brannon Carty’s documentary An Unlikely Fandom: The Impact of Thomas the Tank Engine (USA, 2025) and the fans who love the show. “It celebrates the men (and the fans Carty interviews are overwhelmingly male) who have found friendship, community and creativity in what, as far as I can judge, is the most wholesome of subcultures.

Yet a sense of shame pervades Thomas the Tank Engine fandom. ‘Aside from a handful of people,’ says Carty, ‘no one’s really out and proud about it–because it’s socially unacceptable, especially here in the States.’ Why? ‘I think Thomas gets looped in with Sesame Street and other preschool TV shows over here, whereas in the UK it’s seen more as a children’s show.’”

Read more here.