- "The ultimate gratification in work is feeling that you're doing something good. We're giving life lessons to children."
- — Rick Siggelkow in 1993
Rick Siggelkow is an American producer, director and writer. He was the co-creator of Shining Time Station alongside Britt Allcroft. He has also worked on "Noddy Shop", "Ace Lightning", "Dinosapian", "Little People", and the American dub of "The Animals of Farthing Wood". He recently appeared in the 70 Years of Friendship YouTube documentary.
He first called Britt Allcroft in 1986 after Jay Islin, the head of WNET, handed him a videocassette that he had brought home from England. It contained the pilot version of the Thomas story "Down the Mine".
He and Allcroft were the producers for the first season and 'Tis A Gift. Nancy Chapelle became the main producer starting with the second season. He and Allcroft were executive producers for the second and third seasons and The Family Specials. He, Allcroft and Chapelle served as producers for the Jukebox Band series.
Rick had visited Shepperton Studios during the production of the third and fourth seasons of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends to advise Britt and David on how to change the stories around to better suit an American audience.
It was his idea to exclude the Thomas stories "Daisy" and "Percy's Predicament" from airing on Shining Time Station when he disapproved of Daisy's exaggerated feminine design. This was also the reason Diesel replaced her role in the story "Mavis" on the episode Do I Hear. [1]
Rick and Allcroft have been currently trying to get Shining Time Station onto DVD or back on television, but in 2021, Siggelkow revealed that Mattel had the rights for the show and the company's current methods are making the chances of the series getting on DVD very slim.
After Shining Time Station, he went to work for BBC Americas Worldwide, where he worked from 1996 until 2008. From 2014 to 2019 worked for HiT Entertainment. He currently teaches at New York University.
Trivia
- He, Jayne Harris Schipper and Jim Corston all worked as producers in "Dinosapien".
- He, Jayne Harris Schipper, Julia Weinstein, Jill Golick, Brian McConnachie, Wayne Moss, Stacey Hersh, Jayne Eastwood, Peter Wildman, Gerry Parkes and Neil Crone all worked on The Noddy Shop, Shining Time Station's spiritual successor. A location from Shining Time was referenced in the Noddy episode "Kate Loves a Parade."
- He, Jim Corston, Alan Kingsberg, Peter Wildman and Stacey Hersh all worked on "Ace Lightning".