Lady Campanula Tottington is the deuteragonist of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and a supporting character in its video game adaption. She is Wallace's second love interest after Wendolene Ramsbottom.
Her family is revealed to have held an annual Giant Vegetable competition at Tottington Hall for over 517 years. At the start of the film, she is courting Victor Quartermaine, though she ultimately ends up dumping him due to his appalling actions over the course of the film, as well as her growing attraction to Wallace.
Appearance[]
Lady Campanula Tottington is tall and slender, with fair skin. She wears red lipstick, blue eyeshadow and has thick, curly orange hair, which she wears sticking out horizontally from either side her head. She has a very extensive wardrobe, with her usual outfit consisting of a strapless purple dress with white flowers, a white, petal-like necklace with a yellow collar, yellow earrings, long white gloves and a daisy in her hair. When at the church and visiting Wallace at home, she wore a purple and dark green dress and coat ensemble with a matching hat. When Wallace visited her at Tottington Hall, she was wearing a blue dress with green leaf patterns and a sprig of fern in her hair. For the Vegetable Competition, she donned an orange dress with a matching orange sash and a carrot top accessory and finally, when opening the bunny sanctuary at the end of the film, she wore a yellow dress with a honeycomb pattern, a light green silk shawl and a yellowish-green veil in her hair.
Personality[]
Lady Campanula Tottington is a very compassionate woman. She adores animals (especially fluffy ones like rabbits) and has a passion for gardening too. She is also a pacifist, preferring to find a non-violent solution to her rabbit infestation and also attempting to persuade Victor to stop his "thoughtless killing". Lady Tottington also tries to always see the good the people and is always willing to give them second chances. However, it is because of this that she also comes across as being somewhat submissive, especially towards her now ex-partner, thus allowing him to easily manipulate her. By the end of the film, though, Lady Tottington becomes far more assertive, finally standing up to Victor and even spraying him with plant fertiliser and whacking him over the head with a giant carrot.
Biography[]
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit[]
Lady Tottington's first and only appearance is in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. She is preparing to host the annual Giant Vegetable competition on the grounds of her ancestral home, Tottington Hall, a tradition that her family has held over 500 years. However, Lady Tottington discovers there is a problem with this, due to her recent rabbit infestation. Although her spouse, Victor says he will take care of the rabbits, Lady Tottington would prefer to find a more humane way of dealing with 'the fluffy creatures' and hires Anti-Pesto for the job. It is here she first meets Wallace, and is clearly impressed by his ingenius method of humanely dealing with pests. She states that if it weren't for the upcoming competition, she would happy to let the rabbits roam free, and also inadvertantly gives Wallace his idea to change the rabbits's behaviour, ultimately setting off the main events of the film.
After the Were-Rabbit runs rampant through the town, Lady Tottington convinces the townsfolk to give Wallace and Gromit another chance to deal with the infestation. During this time, she and Wallace become very close, with Lady Tottingham inviting Wallace to her private garden at Tottington Hall, confiding in him about her relationship problems with Victor and insisting he call her 'Totty'. When Anti-Pesto fail to capture the Were-Rabbit, the townsfolk put pressure on Lady Tottington to let Victor take care of it. Fearing that the competition will have to be cancelled, Lady Tottington reluctantly gives in and agrees to let Victor shoot the Were-Rabbit, under the condition that it be "quick and painless". She goes to tell Wallace about this and also admits she has developed feelings for him. Unfortunately, Wallace has at this point discovered he is the Were-Rabbit and is in the middle of transforming, resulting in him slamming the door in Lady Tottington's face and inadvertantly blowing her a raspberry. Devastated, Lady Tottington leaves in tears.
She later hosts the Vegetable competition, still upset over the apparent death of the Were-Rabbit, and asks Victor directly if it suffered; he assures her that it didn't, but adds "Not yet, anyway" under his breath which she nonetheless hears. Before she can inquire further, PC Mackintosh accidentally reveals that the Were-Rabbit is not in fact dead and panic ensues. Mrs. Mulch flees with her prize pumpkin, with Lady Tottington and the others trying to coax her back, but unfortunately attracts the Were-Rabbit right towards the stage. When Victor runs out of gold bullets, he gets the idea to use a blunderbuss and the Golden Carrot trophy instead. When he tries to grab it, Lady Tottington stops him, stating that the trophy "belongs to the show" and becomes very upset when he tries to physically wrestle it from her grasp. When the Were-Rabbit sees this, part of Wallace's personality resurfaces and he rushes to Lady Tottington's defence, knocking Victor away and abducting a terrified Lady Tottington. He brings her to her private rooftop garden, where he reveals his true identity, much Lady Tottington's surprise. She attempts to comfort Wallace, until Victor arrives to kill him. Lady Tottington tries to defend him, until Victor accidentally lets slip that he already knows the Were-Rabbit is actually Wallace. Lady Tottington is understandably upset and angry that Victor deceived her and is attempting to murder Wallace. Victor also reveals that he wants her family fortune and turns to shoot the Were-Rabbit, but Lady Tottington helps Wallace escape by spraying Victor in the eyes with plant fertiliser. Victor then traps her by pinning her hair to a giant vegetable with a pitchfork, so that she cannot intervene. Lady Tottington eventually manages to get free and (after putting plasters over the bit where her hair was impaled) whacks Victor over the head with her prized giant carrot, unceremoniously telling him to "Consider yourself dumped!"
When Wallace sacrifices himself to save Gromit, Lady Tottington comforts Gromit and weeps over Wallace's body. She is overjoyed when Wallace is restored to life. Afterwards, Lady Tottington turns her home into a sanctuary for "all things fluffy", letting all the rabbits captured by Anti-Pesto to be released to roam free around the grounds of the Hall.
Other appearances[]
She also makes an appearance in the video game adaptation of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Lady Tottington has also appeared in a couple Wallace & Gromit commercials. In PG Tips "Wallace & Gromit", she's invited to have tea with Wallace and Gromit, to which Wallace tries to perfect the drinking temperature with another absurd, buggy contraption. In DFS "The Great Sofa Caper", Wallace tries to make her a new sofa with his contraption, only to receive a lukewarm reaction from her and have Gromit take them to DFS. She and the gang are much more pleased with their offerings, with Wallace claiming he told Gromit this was the place to come to.
Relationships[]
Victor Quartermaine[]
Wallace[]
Gromit[]
Trivia[]
- Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit was originally an idea for a book that was combined with a story called Vegicide. The latter would feature Wendolene returning with Wallace as her gardener. It'd then instead have Lord Wormold be the owner of the big garden as they tried to make a gigantic vegetable whilst Wallace worked there to win a vegetable show he had to win, with the idea of Anti-Pesto Humane Pest Control also beginning to materialise. As the story changed and took shape, Wendolene evolved into Lady Tottington.
- Additionally, Wendolene was originally meant to be living in a much grander residence of a castle or manor house in A Close Shave, which was taken out at an early stage of scripting, and that resurfaced as something for Lady Tottington.
- "Totty" (her nickname) is a British slang term for an attractive woman (particularly one from an upper-class family).
- Her first name is misspelled "Companula" in the credits.
- Her surname, 'Tottington', is taken from the Lancashire village of the same name. The film is set in Wigan, which is also in Lancashire, indicating that it might be nearby or she has heritage there.
- In one of the alternate endings of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, she ends up marrying PC Albert Mackintosh.
- The end of The Curse of the Were-Rabbit videogame reveals that Lady Tottington practices veganism and that this was apparently the reason why she declined Wallace's offer of cheese.
- Veganism is a much stricter form of vegetarianism; while a vegetarian (to put it as simply as possible) is someone who doesn't eat meat, a vegan is someone who doesn't consume anything that comes from an animal. This includes not only meat, but also stuff like eggs, dairy products (including cheese) and honey (which comes from bees).
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