Robert D. Cardona (born in New York, March 8, 1938) is an American writer, producer, director and animator, who has enjoyed the majority of his success in Britain. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous Year 1938 ( MCMXXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located His best-known work was with his long-term working partner: David Mitton. David Nelson Godfrey Mitton ( July 13, 1938 - May 23, 2008) was a producer and a director as well as an experienced Their most famous productions are Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, which Cardona produced until 1986 (the second series), and TUGS, which consisted of thirteen episodes highly sought-after today. TUGS is a British Children's television series, first broadcast in 1989
He is also a co founder of Clearwater Features. Clearwater Features (1986 Ltd was a film production company in Shepperton, England that produced the first two seasons of the children's television series Thomas
Cardona emigrated to Canada in the early nineties, and - still having concepts around the idea of tugboats in mind - played the role of assistant director on Theodore Tugboat - which is considered by many to be inferior to TUGS. Theodore Tugboat is a children's television show about a Tugboat named Theodore who lives in the Big Harbour with all of his friends
Cardona was also producer of Emmerdale Farm from 1973-1976. Emmerdale, known as Emmerdale Farm until 1989 is a British Soap opera that has aired on ITV since 1972