For the Love of Dogs with Alison Hammond (previously Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs) is a British reality documentary television series set at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, presented by Paul O'Grady until his death in 2023, and by Alison Hammond from 2024. Under O'Grady it won numerous awards. The show was made by MultiStory Media and premiered on ITV on 3 September 2012.

O'Grady era

O'Grady commented that he had wanted to do such a show for years and that he took to it with an "enthusiasm that surprised everyone except me". Although scheduled to initially film at the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home for six days, he stayed as a volunteer for six months. At the end of the first series, O'Grady was invited to become an ambassador for Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

Following O'Grady's death, the episode titled A Royal Special, which originally aired in December 2022, was repeated on ITV on 29 March 2023.

In October 2023, Battersea announced that they would be naming a new veterinary hospital after O'Grady, and a "tribute fund" set up in his honour would go towards "life-saving and transformative medical procedures" for dogs and cats which need specialist care and treatment.

Format Throughout the series, members of the staff talk about the dogs in their care, including head vet Shaun Opperman and head of canine welfare training Ali Taylor. Each episode showcases a few of the dogs who come to Battersea as strays or because their owners can't look after them anymore, and follows each dog's progress through the home.

Transmissions Series Start date End date Episodes Presenter 1 3 September 2012 15 October 2012 7 Paul O'Grady 2 9 May 2013 4 July 2013 8 3 4 September 2014 20 November 2014 11 4 8 October 2015 10 December 2015 8 5 1 September 2016 27 October 2016 8 6 19 October 2017 14 December 2017 8 7 31 October 2018 19 December 2018 8 8 23 October 2019 11 December 2019 8 9 7 April 2021 8 December 2021 8 10 29 December 2021 13 March 2022 10 11 13 April 2023 28 September 2023 8 12 16 April 2024 21 May 2024 6 Alison Hammond 13 1 April 2025 6 May 2025 6

Episodes Series 1 (2012) Episode Original airdate Viewers(millions) 1 3 September 2012 3.53 2 10 September 2012 4.20 3 17 September 2012 3.97 4 24 September 2012 4.05 5 1 October 2012 4.10 6 8 October 2012 4.21 7 15 October 2012 4.43

Series 2 (2013) Episode Original airdate Viewers(millions) 1 9 May 2013 5.04 2 16 May 2013 5.25 3 23 May 2013 5.08 4 6 June 2013 4.44 5 13 June 2013 4.81 6 20 June 2013 4.83 7 27 June 2013 5.23 8 4 July 2013 5.09

Series 3 (2014) Episode Original airdate Viewers(millions) 1 4 September 2014 3.45 2 11 September 2014 3.42 3 18 September 2014 3.57 4 25 September 2014 4.19 5 2 October 2014 3.95 6 16 October 2014 4.10 7 23 October 2014 3.92 8 28 October 2014 4.10 9 6 November 2014 4.40 10 13 November 2014 4.11 11 20 November 2014 4.53

Series 4 (2015) Episode Original airdate Viewers(millions) 1 8 October 2015 3.46 2 15 October 2015 3.84 3 29 October 2015 3.86 4 5 November 2015 3.98 5 12 November 2015 3.85 6 19 November 2015 3.89 7 26 November 2015 3.67 8 10 December 2015 4.01

Series 5 (2016) Episode Original airdate Viewers(viewers) 1 1 September 2016 4.51 2 8 September 2016 4.12 3 15 September 2016 4.28 4 22 September 2016 4.67 5 6 October 2016 4.45 6 13 October 2016 4.82 7 20 October 2016 4.98 8 27 October 2016 4.66

Series 6 (2017) Episode Original airdate Viewers(millions) 1 19 October 2017 4.59 2 26 October 2017 4.60 3 2 November 2017 4.52 4 9 November 2017 4.96 5 16 November 2017 4.24 6 30 November 2017 4.75 7 7 December 2017 4.10 8 14 December 2017 4.70

Series 7 (2018) Episode Original airdate Viewers(millions) 1 31 October 2018 5.12 2 7 November 2018 5.15 3 14 November 2018 5.09 4 21 November 2018 5 28 November 2018 6 5 December 2018 7 12 December 2018 8 19 December 2018 5.12

Series 8 (2019) Episode Original airdate Viewers(millions) 1 23 October 2019 2 30 October 2019 4.73 3 6 November 2019 5.14 4 13 November 2019 4.87 5 20 November 2019 6 27 November 2019 7 4 December 2019 8 18 December 2019 4.90

Series 9 (2021) Episode Original airdate Viewers(millions) 1 7 April 2021 4.63 2 14 April 2021 4.21 3 21 April 2021 4.24 4 28 April 2021 3.96 5 5 May 2021 4.20 6 24 November 2021 3.66 7 1 December 2021 8 8 December 2021 3.91

Series 10 (2021–22) Episode Original airdate Viewers(millions) 1 29 December 2021 2 5 January 2022 3 12 January 2022 4 19 January 2022 5 26 January 2022 6 2 February 2022 7 9 February 2022 8 16 February 2022 9 23 February 2022 10 13 March 2022

Series 11 (2023) Episode Original airdate Viewers(millions) 1 13 April 2023 2 20 April 2023 3 27 April 2023 4 4 May 2023 5 7 September 2023 6 14 September 2023 7 21 September 2023 8 28 September 2023

Series 12 (2024) Episode Original airdate Viewers(millions) 1 16 April 2024 2 23 April 2024 3 30 April 2024 4 7 May 2024 5 14 May 2024 6 21 May 2024

Specials Title Original airdate Viewers(millions) Christmas 2012 25 December 2012 4.02 Christmas 2013 25 December 2013 4.28 Christmas 2014 25 December 2014 2.98 Christmas 2015 25 December 2015 3.12 Christmas 2016 25 December 2016 3.97 Best in Show 3 January 2017 3.42 Christmas 2017 25 December 2017 4.25For the Love of Dogs – India 26 April 2018 3.49 3 May 2018 3.23 10 May 2018 3.45 17 May 2018 3.27 Christmas 2018 25 December 2018 3.85 Christmas 2019 26 December 2019 Back in Business 15 July 2020 3.82 What Happened Next 29 July 2020 3.38 Christmas 2021 25 December 2021 A Royal Special 19 December 2022 3.28

Awards For the Love of Dogs has won a number of awards. The show has won two consecutive National Television Awards for 'Most Popular Factual Entertainment Programme' in 2013 and 2014. In 2014, it was nominated for a third National Television Award, this time under the category 'Most Popular Factual Programme', but lost out to Gogglebox. It won again in 2019 after beating Gogglebox for the first time in five years, and then in 2023.

The show was also nominated for a BAFTA for 'Best Features Programme' in 2013.

Year Group Award Result References 2013 National Television Awards Most Popular Factual Entertainment Programme Broadcasting Press Guild Awards Best Factual Entertainment BAFTA Television Awards Best Features Programme TV Choice Awards Best Factual Entertainment & Lifestyle Show TV Times Awards 2014 National Television Awards Most Popular Factual Entertainment Programme Broadcast Awards Best Popular Factual Programme TRIC Awards Factual Programme TV Times Awards Favourite Factual Show 2015 National Television Awards Most Popular Factual Programme TRIC Awards Factual Programme TV Choice Awards Best Factual Entertainment Show TV Times Awards Favourite Factual Show 2016 National Television Awards Factual Entertainment TRIC Awards Factual Programme TV Choice Awards Best Factual Show TV Times Awards Favourite Factual Show 2017 National Television Awards Factual Entertainment TV Choice Awards Best Factual Show TV Times Awards Favourite Factual Show 2018 National Television Awards Factual Entertainment National Television Awards Special Recognition 2019 National Television Awards Factual Entertainment 2020 National Television Awards Factual 2021 TV Choice Awards Factual Show National Television Awards Factual 2023 TRIC Awards Factual Programme National Television Awards Factual

References

External links