Special Royal episode of Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs to air this Christmas season

Special Royal episode of Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs to air this Christmas season

ITV will celebrate 160 years of Battersea Dogs & Cats Home with a one-off special episode of the award-winning series, airing over the festive season.

The episode will feature Her Majesty The Queen Consort, a long term supporter of Battersea and self-confessed dog-lover, in her previous role as The Duchess of Cornwall, hosting a celebratory event at Clarence House and later helping Paul care for some of the abandoned dogs searching for a new forever home.

In the hour-long episode, The Queen Consort hosts a garden party at Clarence House to celebrate Battersea’s anniversary before joining Paul at Battersea’s Brands Hatch site in Kent. Together they will meet some of the dogs struggling to be rehomed and assist with their treatment and care, in the hope of finding them a happy-ever-after home of their own in time for Christmas.

Battersea is currently incredibly busy due to an overwhelming number of dogs that are more difficult to rehome due to their older age, medical or behavioural issues.

Paul O’Grady says: “In the 11 years that I’ve been filming at Battersea, I’ve never known it so busy. What’s worrying is, there are a lot of dogs in here who would be classed as hard to home. Dogs with disabilities, blind dogs, you name it, we’ve got them in here at the moment.”

Top of Paul’s rehoming list are a blind Jack Russell, a giant Schnauzer with a life-threatening gastric issue and a puppy with a will of steel, fighting all the odds to survive. With the situation becoming increasingly desperate, Paul will turn to a very special friend for help.

Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs – Royal Special, is produced by Multistory Media for ITV1 and ITVX. Executive Produced by Mark Scantlebury and Elen Moore. Commissioned for ITV and ITVX by Satmohan Panesar.

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Note to editors

Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs is produced for ITV1 by Multistory Media and has already run for 10 series plus numerous Christmas specials and a spin-off series, For the Love of Dogs - India. The award-winning series premiered on ITV on 3 September 2012 and has since received multiple accolades, including a BAFTA nomination and four National Television Awards. A new series is currently in production for 2023.