Dowager Hatt/Behind the Scenes

Television Series
Dowager Hatt is a fictional mother created by the Britt Allcroft, David Mitton and David Maidment.

She was introduced the fifth series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends.

She is the mother of Sir Topham Hatt and Sir Lowham Hatt.

Gauge 1 figures
Dowager Hatt's Gauge 1 figures was custom built from wood for the fifth series. It was filled in with craft paint. The models were constructed for distance shots only.

One of these figures is on display at Drayton Manor Theme Park and the original figure made for Series 5 is owned by Simon Spencer one of the crew members during the HIT Era

Close-up figures
Close-up figures of Dowager Hatt were constructed for scenes where she had to interact with the close-up models for engines and set dressings. For Thomas and the Birthday Picnic, the new Dowager Hatt head was used on the Series 5 body but with a hat reused from a passenger (also from S5).

Dowager Hatt's S5 body mould was also used to create Allicia Botti.

CGI model
The twelfth series marked the beginning of the show's transition into CGI as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Dowager Hatt was recreated from scratch by Nitrogen Studios in 2008, a year before the show switched over to full CGI. Her model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

Photographs of Dowager Hatt's close-up figure were used for referencing. According to Greg Tiernan, every detail of the original television series models for each character is carefully reproduced in the CGI model. The models are subjected to many rounds of review before they are submitted to HiT Entertainment for final input and approval.

Dowager Hatt's appearance has changed over the course of the television series.
 * Series 12:
 * Her eye colour changed from brown to blue.
 * She appears to have lost a significant amount of weight.
 * Series 18:
 * Her wrinkles become more prominent.
 * Her skin becomes paler.

Voice Actors

 * Keith Wickham
 * Fu Suzuki
 * Keiko Nemoto
 * Margrit Strassburger
 * Ewa Serwa
 * Anna Apostolakis
 * Lena Meieran
 * Marianne Westby
 * Talya Barkay
 * Blanche Ravalec
 * Loretta Santini
 * Esperanza Navarro
 * Mercedes Espinosa
 * Susa Saukko
 * Vina Papadopoulou
 * Adna Cruz
 * Kim Eun-a
 * Lee Je-in