Dowager Hatt's Busy Day

"This is absurd! None of us know what job Dowager Hatt wants us to do next!” ”We’re all stuck here, waiting for her to finish pruning her pelargoniums!"

- James and Henry

Dowager Hatt's Busy Day is the third episode of the twenty-first season.

Plot
In the early morning at Tidmouth Sheds, the engines were ready for work. But then the Fat Controller arrives with a nasty cold. Luckily, his mother Dowager Hatt arrived and scolded him for coming to run the railway if he's ill.

His mother substitutes him and gives the engines their jobs, but she orders Thomas to collect her new hat from Brendam Docks rather than pulling Annie and Clarabel on his branch line from which Emily was tasked, despite her job was to take some scrap to the scrap yard. Dowager Hatt also tasked Gordon to do Emily's job, Edward to collect a cake for her friend Lady Toffington, and Percy to pull Gordon's express. This creates alot of confusion and delay!

Emily tells Dowager Hatt that there are certain engines that do their certain jobs and other engines that are not. With the help of Emily's assistance, Dowager Hatt puts everything right. She puts Gordon back on express passenger duty and sorted the engines back to their regular duties.

In the afternoon, the Fat Controller soon got back from his bed feeling alot and join his mother to have some tea in his office. Emily was glad that everyone is back doing their proper jobs, except for Philip who is working at the Ulfstead mine as the lights go off leaving him in the dark.

Characters

 * Thomas
 * Edward
 * Henry
 * Gordon
 * James
 * Percy
 * Emily
 * Philip
 * Annie
 * Cranky
 * Sir Topham Hatt
 * Dowager Hatt
 * A Workman (does not speak)
 * Toby (cameo)
 * Donald and Douglas (cameo)
 * Diesel (cameo)
 * 'Arry (cameo)
 * Salty (cameo)
 * Den (cameo)
 * Paxton (cameo)
 * Clarabel (cameo)
 * Slip Coaches (cameo)
 * Big Mickey (cameo)
 * The Teacher (cameo)
 * One of Dowager Hatt's Friends (cameo)
 * The Great Railway Show Judge (cameo)

Locations

 * Knapford
 * Sir Topham Hatt's Office
 * Tidmouth Sheds
 * Brendam Docks
 * Sodor Shipping Company
 * Gordon's Hill
 * Ulfstead Mine
 * Vicarstown (mentioned)
 * Crocks Scrap Yard (mentioned)

UK

 * John Hasler as Thomas
 * Keith Wickham as Edward, Henry, Gordon, Sir Topham Hatt and Dowager Hatt
 * Rob Rackstraw as James
 * Nigel Pilkington as Percy
 * Teresa Gallagher as Emily and Annie
 * Rasmus Hardiker as Philip
 * Matt Wilkinson as Cranky

US

 * Joseph May as Thomas
 * William Hope as Edward
 * Kerry Shale as Henry and Gordon
 * Rob Rackstraw as James
 * Christopher Ragland as Percy
 * Jules de Jongh as Emily
 * Rasmus Hardiker as Philip
 * Teresa Gallagher as Annie
 * Glenn Wrage as Cranky
 * Keith Wickham as Sir Topham Hatt and Dowager Hatt

Trivia

 * This marks the third time that Emily has taken Annie and Clarabel. The first time was in the seventh season episode, Emily's New Coaches, and the second time was in the seventeenth season episode, No Snow for Thomas.
 * Several references to past episodes are made:
 * The balloon on a flatbed is a reference to the fifteenth season episode, Up, Up and Away!
 * The globe from the eighteenth season episode, Emily Saves the World, is seen being pulled by Salty through Knapford.
 * When Dowager Hatt first speaks to Gordon, she calls him Geoffrey, to which Gordon responds with "Who's Geoffrey?" This may be a reference to the nineteenth season episode of the same name, which Lee Pressman also wrote. She also calls Gordon, Gerald. which is Gator's real name.
 * When Thomas arrives with the hat, the Fat Controller’s line "But why?" from the twentieth season episode, Buckled Tracks and Bumpy Trucks is re-used.
 * The episode plot is similar to the tenth season episode, The Green Controller.
 * This episode marks the first of several things:
 * Sukhmani Kaur's first episode as assistant production manager.
 * Gavin Ebedes' first episode as supervising editor.
 * Eddie Chandler's first episode as associate editor.
 * Alan Kennedy's first episode as director of post-production.
 * The first episode to have the writer's name in all uppercase letters.
 * Going by production order, this is the fourth episode of the twenty-first season.

Goofs

 * Both Donald and Douglas do not have crews.
 * Emily’s brake pipe changes positions in between shots of her talking to Dowager Hatt and the scene where Percy is pulling the express up Gordon’s Hill.
 * When the engines are stuck at the junction, Donald has Duck's whistle sound at one point and Henry is missing his leading wheels.