Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs programme nominated for a National Television Award

Liverpool’s Paul O’Grady. Photo: Olga Productions

A television show fronted by Birkenhead-born presenter Paul O’Grady has been nominated for a National Television Award (NTA).

His ITV programme For the Love of Dogs features in the best factual programme category.

The show goes inside London’s Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, talking to staff about the work they do and following animals’ progress as they await a new home.

For the Love of Dogs has run for nine series since 2012 and has already won several awards.

Show a ‘Cinderella tale’

O’Grady has covered a wide range of stories as part of the programme and met two Maltese Terrier puppies in the latest series who staff suspected may have come from a puppy farm in Romania, having been sold to a family in the UK for £4,000.

They were brought into Battersea after the family struggled to cope with looking after them.

O’Grady revealed he was “inundated” with messages about the show during lockdown.

He said: “I always say it about this show, but it really is a Cinderella tale.”

“You get a dog that comes in and has often been abused or badly treated, and they make them well again and they go off to a lovely home. It has a happy ending.

“So you might cry at the beginning, but then you can cry at the end too.”

The Great British Bake Off, starring Wallasey-born celebrity chef Paul Hollywood, has also been nominated for an NTA in the best challenge show category.

How to vote

Voting for the NTAs is open until Thursday, September 9, 2021.

For a full list of nominees and to vote click here.

O’Grady’s other projects

Earlier this year it was announced the presenter would be in a new show due to air later this year called Saturday Night Line-Up.

Each week, O’Grady will be joined by a number of famous faces who will be asked to line up in order of ‘best’ to ‘worst’, or ‘most likely’ to ‘least likely’ in a variety of different scenarios.

Whether it’s who the British public would least like to go on holiday with or who would make the best supply teacher, all the scenarios are designed to provoke funny rivalry between the celebrities.