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Wendolene Ramsbottom is a character who first appeared in A Close Shave, voiced by Anne Reid. She owns a wool shop and asks Wallace and Gromit to wash her windows. Her father, Fred Ramsbottom, was an inventor who created a mechanical dog called Preston.
After Fred's death, Preston malfunctioned and forced Wendolene to carry out sheep rustling until he was defeated.
Wallace fell in love with Wendolene and hoped to pursue a relationship with her. However, this did not come to be as when he invited her to have cheese with him, she told him that she was allergic to dairy products.
Appearance[]
Wendolene seems to be an older woman. She wears white dangly earrings, brown shoes, a green dress, a yellow or orange cardigan, a pink coat, and blue eye shadow. She also has brown hair, which she wears in a bob-cut. Her head looks similar to Wallace.
Personality[]
She is sweet, but also timid and shy. Although she followed Preston's orders in sheep rustling, she was genuinely unhappy to do so.
History[]
Wallace & Gromit: Cheese Lover's Yearbook[]
In Wallace & Gromit: Cheese Lover's Yearbook, after the events of A Close Shave, Wallace still tries to make things work with Wendolene in spite of her cheese allergy. They attend The Cheese Society's annual dinner and dance together and also meet up at both the Grand Firework Display and for Boxing Day with Gromit, Shaun and Preston II. Wallace even mentions wanting to propose to her in his New Year's resolutions.
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.
- The character was used again in the Wallace and Gromit Fan Pack Christmas Edition.
- Ramsbottom could refer to the Lancashire town of Ramsbottom which is interestingly near the town of Tottington, which suggests that Nick Park has taken the names of many Lancashire towns and incorporated them into his characters. Some examples are: Preston, Wendolene Ramsbottom, and Lady Tottington.
- She makes a cameo in the Cracking Contraptions episode "The Snoozatron" on a "Wendy's House" book when Wallace turns on his lamp.
- She makes a cameo in a black and white photo in the 2006 film Flushed Away when Roddy is scrolling through the DVD collection on the shelf.
- In 2005, Aardman's storage facility caught fire, destroying most of Wendolene's puppets. Only one is known to survive and that is an armature and head missing its eyes and clothing. It was put up for auction in March of 2021 and was previously in the hands of a Aardman crew member who was given it as a gift in 1995.
- After this character cries, saying "I'm so sorry about Gromit!", she leaves and Wallace mouths "Come back!" silently.
- Her name comes from the cleaning product Windolene.
- According to Wallace & Gromit: Cheese Lover's Yearbook, Wendolene's birthday is 28 December.