Alfie/Behind the Scenes

## Background Information

### Television Series

Alfie is a fictional excavator created by Phil Fehrle with writers Jonathan Trueman and Abi Grant, and with character artist Robert Gauld-Galliers.

In 2002, Alfie made his debut in the sixth series of *Thomas & Friends* in the episode, *Jack Jumps In*. He later appeared in the twelfth series, the spin-off series, *Jack and the Sodor Construction Company* and the special, *The Great Discovery*.

When the show transitioned into full CGI in 2009, Alfie was absent for six years. He later returned in the 2015 special, *Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure* and was one of the very few members of the Pack to return.

From his return in 2015 until 2016, Alfie was voiced by Nathan Clarke in both the British English and American English dubs of the series. Since 2019, Alfie has been voiced by Tom Stourton, also in both English dubs. Both Clarke and Stourton gave Alfie a British accent, but consistently give him a teenager's dialect.

### *Stories From Sodor*

Alfie made his *Stories From Sodor* debut in 2016 in the second season episode, *Jack of Many Trades*, although he was first mentioned in the first season episode, *Butch Proves a Point*, released earlier in the same year.

He went on to appear in the fourth, sixth, eighth, ninth, tenth, thirteenth, and fourteenth seasons, as well as the *Engine Friends*, *International Friends Near and Far*, and *Sodor Stories* miniseries. He also appeared in the special *Sodor and the Storm Part 1*. He appeared in a total of twenty-one episodes of *Stories From Sodor*, making his last appearance in the fourteenth season episode, *Darcy Saves the Day*.

### *Stories From Sodor:Future*

After being absent from *Jacob and Friends:All Grown Up*, Alfie made his *Stories From Sodor:Future* debut in the tenth season episode *Package from the Pack*. He went on to appear twice more in the tenth season, but has not appeared since, making his last appearance in the episode, *Kevin the Construction Crane*.

## Behind the Scenes

### Live-action model

Alfie's model was custom built by the model maker, Chris Lloyd. The model's chassis was built out of brass and the top was built out of plastic to keep the weight down. A small flat fan was built underneath the chassis to cause the dirt to be kicked up. The model was painted in a matte finish and the numbers were custom stickers.

There were three remotes built to control Alfie, one was used to control his movement, one was used to operate his bucket, and one was used to move his eyes.

Concept art
The eye mechanism had two servos, one for up and down movement and one for left and right movement. The up/down servo was attached to the body. The left/right servo had a rod attached to the arm, which connected to a bracket. The eyeballs were coupled to the bracket and locked in by the face-plate, so whenever the servos were powered, the eyeballs would move however the crew member desired.

Sixteen different facial expressions were sculpted for Alfie, although only thirteen were used on-screen in the television series and eleven were seen in *Stories From Sodor*. The faces were first sculpted in clay and from that resin casts were made using a silicone mould. One of Alfie's semi-complete face masks is now preserved by the Top Props preservation group.

Alfie's happy face that appeared in the television series between 2002 and 2008Alfie's wincing face that appeared in the television series in both 2003 and 2006Alfie's angry face that appeared in the television series from 2002 to 2003 and 2006Alfie's shocked face that appeared in the television series from 2002 to 2003 and 2006Alfie's smiling face that appeared in the television series from 2002 to 2003 and 2006Alfie's annoyed face that only appeared in the television series in 2003 and 2006Alfie's sad face that appeared in the television series in 2003, 2006, and 2008Alfie's worried/concerned face that appeared in the television series in 2003, 2006, and 2008Alfie's anxious face that appeared in the television series in 2003 and 2006Alfie's content face that only appeared in the television series in 2003 and 2006Alfie's determined face that only appeared in the television series in 2003 and 2006Page one of Alfie's faces, during production of Series 12 in 2008Page two of Alfie's faces, during production of Series 12 in 2008
The twelfth series marked the beginning of the show's transition into CGI and the characters' faces were animated through CGI with the aid of motion-capture animation. The physical models' moulded faces were replaced by white targets with triangles to fix a computer-animated face in post-production.

Alfie has had modifications throughout the model era. These include:

* The Great Discovery:
	+ The windscreen wipers above his face disappeared.
* Series 12:
	+ He lost the freckles on his face.

### Close-up Model

A close-up model of Alfie was required for scenes in the *Jack and the Sodor Construction Company* episode, *Alfie Has Kittens*, where he had to interact with close-up scale figures. The model was not complete and only the bucket was built.

### CGI Model

In 2009, the series introduced Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as a replacement for the show's long-standing live-action models. Alfie was recreated from scratch in CGI by Arc Productions in 2014 for production of the 2015 special, Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure. His model was "hand-sculpted" in Maya, a 3D animation and modelling software.

Alfie has had modifications throughout the CGI series. These include:

* Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure:
	+ He increased in size.
	+ The colour of his alloys changed from cream to grey, like Jack's.
	+ His shovel now has three teeth instead of five.
	+ His cab-side window was split in two sections.

## Voice Actors

* Nathan Clarke (*UK/US; Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure - twentieth series*)
* Tom Stourton (*UK/US; twenty-third series onwards*)
* Toshio Kobayashi (*Japan; sixth series only*)
* Emiko Takeuchi (*Japan; Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure onwards*)
* Gerardo García (*Latin America; Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure only*)
* José Luis Piedra (*Latin America; twentieth series only*)
* Manuel Pérez (*Latin America; twenty-third series onwards*)
* Kai-Henrik Möller (*Germany; Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure only*)
* Alexander Merbeth (*Germany; twenty-third series onwards*)
* Dan Schatzberg (*Israel; Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure*)
* Fernando Morata (*Brazil*)
* Anton Savenkov (*Russia; twentieth series onwards*)