Strictly’s Pete Wicks takes on For the Love Of Dogs’ Alison Hammond with brand new show
STRICTLY star Pete Wicks is set to take on For the Love of Dogs presenter Alison Hammond with his brand new show.
The new series follows Pete as he works with Basildon Dogs Trust rehoming centre. to rescue, rehabilitate and rehome vulnerable dogs.
Pete Wicks: For Dogs’ Sake captures the emotional rollercoaster of animal welfare and offers a behind the scenes look at the realities of animal rescue.
Pete explains the show was a real passion project for him saying: “With two rescue dogs of my own, animal welfare is close to my heart.”
While the show deals with difficult situations, the series is ultimately life-affirming, with Pete doing all he can to support the team and ensure every dog finds a loving home.
Pete says: "I’ve wanted to do a show like this for about ten years now.
Animal shows
"It’s taken a while to get it off the ground, but I am so happy it’s filmed, edited and ready to go out to the world."
"If I had to do this every day and nothing else, then I’d be over the moon!"
Pete has loved animals ever since he was a kid and prefers them to people because he feels they live in the moment.
"All they want is love and loyalty, and that’s exactly what they give you back.
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"They don’t care what you look like, they don’t care where you’ve been, or how your day has been - they just make you happy."
"I would much rather be around animals, specifically dogs, than I would people.
"If we could be more like dogs and less like humans, that would be much better." he explains.
Pete owns rescue dogs himself and spends time at rehoming centres helping out because he believes every dog deserves to be loved.
This series was filmed at the Basildon Dogs Trust Rehoming Centre, where Pete got Eric, his eldest rescue dog.
Pete explains: "I could not have hand-picked a better team of people to work with. Eric, my eldest recue, is from Dogs Trust and Lisa who is the centre manager at Basildon is the one who found Eric for me.
"It’s a real full circle moment!
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2005 Darren Gough & Lilia Kopylova
2006 Colin Jackson & Erin Boag
2007 Darren Gough & Lilia Kopylova
2008 Jill Halfpenny & Darren Bennett
2009 Ali Bastian & Brian Fortuna
2010 John Barrowman & Kristina Rihanoff
2011 Charlie Brooks & Vincent Simone
2012 J.B. Gill & Ola Jordan
2013 Rufus Hound & Flavia Cacace
2014 Louis Smith & Aliona Vilani
2015 Harry Judd & Joanne Clifton
2016 Melvin Odoom & Janette Manrara
2017 Katie Derham & Brendan Cole
2018 Aston Merrygold & Janette Manrara
2019 Debbie McGee & Kevin Clifton
2020 —
2021 Anne-Marie & Graziano Di Prima
2022 Alexandra Mardell & Kai Widdrington
2023 Jamie Borthwick & Nancy Xu
"I said it a million times throughout the series, they are absolute heroes."
Pete hopes viewers will go on the journey he went through while he filmed the programme and have empathy for all the stories they share.
But he explains that what's most important to him is that he hopes that he did the dogs proud.
In the first few episodes Pete meets Murphy, a pregnant Mel who was seized at the border, a litter of puppies brought into Dogs Trust after being abandoned in a crisp box and a young Doberman called Olive,
who has spent three quarters of her life in quarantine kennels.
Pete and the team put their hearts and souls into helping them all as well as the other dogs he meets.
Head of factual and factual entertainment Helen Nightingale said: “We’d be barking mad to turn down the opportunity to work with Pete Wicks; and witness first hand his passion for dogs and their welfare.”
Adam Collings U&W channel director added: “This heart-warming series sheds light on how hard these charities work to give vulnerable dogs a safe space and shows the incredibly popular Pete in a fresh, totally compassionate, and potentially unexpected way to our viewers.”
Pete Ogden Director of commissioning said, “Pete, and his love of dogs makes him the perfect guy to take us behind the scenes of this wonderful charity. We’re thrilled to be shining a spotlight on what they do, and we can’t wait for audiences to see the show.”
This Christmas also sees the return of a special show for Alison Hammond, called For the Love of Dogs At Christmas.
With the help of a very special Santa, Alison will tell the stories of some of Battersea’s newest arrivals and follow the expert staff and volunteers as they prepare the good boys and girls for their potential new owners.
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Pete Wicks: For Dogs’ Sake airs Tuesday 7th December at 8pm on U&W and U.
For The Love Of Dogs At Christmas airs Thursday 19th December at 8:30pm on ITV1.