Entertainment PR
CONNOR PR WORKING WITH SHOOTING TIGER PICTURES ON THEIR LATEST FILM “WELCOME TO CURIOSITY” UK PREMIERE ARRIVES IN LONDON ON MONDAY 4th JUNE 2018
UK PREMIERE ARRIVES IN LONDON ON MONDAY 4th JUNE 2018
HEADING TO DVD & DIGITAL HD AND SELECTED UK CINEMAS FROM FRIDAY 8th JUNE
Prepare for palpitating, edge-of-your-seat suspense as Salt Film Releasing presents psychological thriller and British feature, Welcome To Curiosity, arriving in selected UK cinemas and heading to DVD and Digital HD across the UK and Ireland from Friday 8th June.
With a stellar ensemble cast, the British indie film was shot in Cornwall and set in the fictional English town of Curiosity. It stars Richard Blackwood (Eastenders, Outside Bet, The Guvnors), Stephen Marcus (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), Amrita Acharia (Game of Thrones, The Good Karma Hospital), Cristian Solimeno (Rush, Love, Footballer’s Wives), Jack Ashton (Call the Midwife, Endeavour, Four Seasons) and Kacey Clarke (The Inbetweeners, Blood Orange).
Welcome To Curiosity explores four parallel storylines with the fates of five key characters unwittingly and sometimes fatally intertwined; a heist gone wrong, a serial killer on the rampage, a lunatic missing from the asylum, a vulnerable girl mixed up with a predatory man and a salesman with a vivid imagination. All with just one thing in common; an insatiable curiosity which may ultimately cost them their lives.
The story begins with the news that psychotic mass-murderer, Lee Hunting, has escaped from a psychatric unit. DS Binon is assigned to track the killer down and sets about a full scale man-hunt.
Arch-nemesis Fordy (Richard Blackwood) and Dexter (Cristian Solimeno) are commissioned by Dexter’s ex-father-in-law to carry out an armed robbery. Having pulled the heist off successfully, Fordy and his gang double-cross Dexter and a firefight ensues injuring Dexter’s right hand man, Al (Eke Chukwu). Dexter and Al escape with the £6 million haul and hide out on a rural farm, taking its owners Martine (Kacey Clarke) and her brother Thomas (Christopher Rithin) hostage. Events soon take a turn for the worse and the unlikely group go on the run as Dexter tries to flee the country.
Zoe (Amrita Acharia) is a young runaway who meets the dangerous and violent Sean (Jack Ashton) at a roadside cafe. The deadly duo embark upon a journey of lust and vengence with tragic consequences.
Elliott (Finn Corney) is young newspaper boy with an inquisitive mind. With the news of a serial killer on the loose in his rural village, Elliott becomes convinced the killer is local gardener, Stubbs (Brian Croucher) and sets out to investigate. But as the net closes in on the killer, will Elliott find out the truth and live to tell the tale?
Struggling beer salesman Tim (Gary Grant) is frustrated and disillusioned by life, which takes him on the road six days a week. He’s also deeply resentful of his boss. By chance, he picks up a hitchhiker who takes him on a wild and precarious journey through the seedier side of life. Events take a surreal and sinister turn for the worse and Tim soon realises his life is changed forever.
Directed by Ben Pickering (The Smoke), with screenplay by Darren Ripley (The Smoke, The Gatekeeper), Welcome To Curiosity is produced by Shooting Tiger Pictures and Taffy Boy Films. Cinematography is by Bruce Melhuish (The Glass Man, I Made This For You) with production design by Hannah Howell. Award-winning music composers, Luke Corradine and Stewart Dugdale are on board, producing a captivating original music score.
Director, Ben Pickering, said: “The film was originally written to be set in the rural United States but various reasons filming there was impractical for us. One of the challenges of bringing it to life on this side of the Atlantic was preserving that quirkiness. Rather than setting it in a town we all know, we created this fictional town of Curiosity where everything just isn’t quite right.”
“We considered shooting the film in Wales (where I grew up) and in secluded rural parts of Hertfordshire, even finding locations in both. And then one day while out with my kids, we stumbled across this vintage American diner called Mimi’s, parked up in an industrial estate near St Austell in Cornwall. It was so completely out of place, I took it as a sign.”
“So we moved the production down to Cornwall, using local cast and crew wherever we could and shipping in everything else. For a low-budget film seeking to punch above its weight, with aerial sequences and firefights, it was an enormous logistical challenge.”
Star, Richard Blackwood, who plays the villain Fordy, added: “We shot the movie before I started EastEnders and it’s coming out just after I’ve finished, which is great. As happens a lot with low-budget British movies, it can take a long time to hit the screens, there so much involved in making these things happen that people don’t see.”
“It’s the closest thing to Pulp Fiction because it’s an amalgamation of different stories intertwining.”
“My character Fordy is basically everyone’s nightmare. He’s borderline psychopathic and will take almost anyone out who gets in his way. But he does it with humour and a smile.”
Welcome To Curiosity hit the headlines in 2014 as the world’s first ever equity-based crowdfunded film through online investor platform, Seedrs.com. Many independently produced films have since gone on to use this equity-based model, which enables investors to own a stake in the film and its profits. Welcome To Curiosity was the first in the world to pioneer this route.
Before landing in the UK, Welcome To Curiosity will also be released in selected cinemas across North America on Friday 25 May. The UK premiere will take place in London’s Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square on Monday 4 June, attended by cast and crew who will participate in a Q&A following the screening.
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FILM INFO:
Running time: 94 mins approx.
BBFC Cert 15
Watch the trailer: http://www.vimeo.com/welcometocuriosity7
For more information, media interviews or images please contact:
Siobhan Connor at Connor PR on 07966 177025 or email siobhan@connorpr.com
Hayley Hamburg at Connor PR on 07799 714727 or email hayley@connorpr.com
Editors notes:
About Salt Film Releasing
Salt Film Releasing is an all rights UK distributor. Part of the Tiger Lane Group of companies (whose subsidiaries include Shooting Tiger Pictures and Taffy Boy Films), it was established in 2017 to fill a gap in the distribution market for low-budget (less than £500,000 budget) UK British films struggling to gain distribution. WELCOME TO CURIOSITY is Salt’s first UK release, hitting UK cinema screens, DVD shelves and VOD platforms in June 2018. It will be followed by 10-12 releases per year, drawn from the best of the 60% of British films made for under £500,000 each year but which struggle to secure distribution.
About Shooting Tiger Pictures
Shooting Tiger Pictures is a London-based film and television production company run by Welsh film producer-director Ben Pickering. It develops low-to-medium budget British films for the domestic and international market as well as television projects in collaboration with Taffy Boy Films and others. It also offers production services through its parent company Jericho Lane. Shooting Tiger’s first feature, WELCOME TO CURIOSITY, will be released in selected cinemas, on DVD and on VOD in the UK, US and Canada in June 2018.
About Taffy Boy Films
Taffy Boy Films is a Wales-based film and television production company. Headed by writer-director Darren Ripley (writer of UK features THE SMOKE and WELCOME TO CURIOSITY), it develops film and television projects often with a crime theme. Following the release of WELCOME TO CURIOSITY in June 2018 in the UK, US and Canada, it will shortly begin production of the comedy TAFF’S GOLD directed by Ripley and produced by Shooting Tiger Pictures’ Ben Pickering.
Welcome To Curiosity, Ben Pickering, Film, Connor PR, Connor PR and film PR, Connor PR and premiere PR, Richard Blackwood (Eastenders, Outside Bet, The Guvnors), Stephen Marcus (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), Amrita Acharia (Game of Thrones, The Good Karma Hospital), Cristian Solimeno (Rush, Love, Footballer’s Wives), Jack Ashton (Call the Midwife, Endeavour, Four Seasons) and Kacey Clarke (The Inbetweeners, Blood Orange).
Nadiya Hussain is supporting ‘Be School Ready’, PTA UK’s national campaign to help families with children starting school in September
Exclusive interview with The Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain
Nadiya Hussain is supporting ‘Be School Ready’, PTA UK’s national campaign to help families with children starting school in September. The Be School Ready magazines, produced by PTA UK, which is also celebrating its 60th year, have been distributed providing both practical and emotional support for parents, carers and children so they can start school life with confidence.
http://www.pta.org.uk/BeSchoolReady
Get your kids making their healthy after school snacks as well as eating them! Nadiya’s Bake Me a Story is a book of recipes and stories devised and written by Nadiya herself. Cook up a batch of Carrot and Nutmeg Cookies on a Sunday afternoon and share the story of Rapunzel’s Enchanted Carrots while the cookies bake or read about Ruby-Red and the Three Bears and their Very Berry Muffins while you wait for your own to rise! Nadiya’s Bake Me a Story publishes 8th September 2016 in hardback, priced £14.99
As a mother of three very lively children it is safe to say that I have had my fair share of ‘mum I’m starving’ ‘how long before dinner?’, I’m so hungry’, ‘please can I have a crisp?’, ‘if I can’t have crisp, can I have a small biscuit?’. Whether you have one child, three like me or more, I know it’s the worst feeling trying to decide whether your child should have a snack or should I just let them have whatever they want. If not to just keep them quiet before dinner but ease your own guilt.
I spent years wondering what the right thing was to do during that very intense time between school pick up and dinner time. I will not lie, there have been times where I have just given the kids the easiest option, a packet of crisps, a small bar of chocolate, a biscuit (or two). But I noticed that the kids were like yoyos. After school the kids slumped, tired and exhausted from the day. They walk through the door and as I rush around they have a quick sweet treat and they are then the polar opposite, high as kites, excitable before the inevitable sugar crash to follow.
A few years ago I decided that I needed to overhaul my eating habits along with the kids. I just couldn’t do the constant peak and trough that come with lots of sugar all day long. Better eating habits didn’t mean taking everything away, it just meant eating sugar in moderation and incorporating more fruit and vegetables where possible. I thought it would be a difficult change to make when in fact the transition was the opposite of our sugar crashes and slumps. The transition was smooth.
One of the first things I knew I had to tackle was the time between school pick up and dinner. Upon picking the children up my first question is always ‘how was your day?’ and all three kids always respond with ‘Great, what’s for dinner?’ One of my first tips is that I always take a bottle of water (not chilled). I find children are weary of drinking chilled water because it’s cold and harder to drink quickly. So I take a bottle of water at room temperature and allow them to drink to their fill as soon as I see them. I never believe my children when I’ve asked them if they’ve drunk lots of water through the day. What I like to address is the fact that they may just be very thirsty.
As a fruitier alternative to plain water I like to have water bottles with wide necks and to this I add slices of oranges, kiwi and strawberries and leave it to infuse during the day and take that with me on the school run. Once they have drunk all the water they can finish the fruit inside too.
In between sorting the children, preparing for dinner, finishing emails and doing laundry, I always have a few snacks that I have pre prepared or snacks that can be quickly made. Here is a list of a few of our favourites:
- Frozen Yoghurt – small pots of yoghurt, I just pierce a lolly pop stick through the covering and stick the whole thing in the freezer. When frozen, peel off the top of the yoghurt pot and ease the frozen yoghurt out of its pot.
- Frozen Blueberry Yoghurt Sticks – take a wooden skewer and pierce it with about 10 blueberries. Dip the whole stick into yoghurt and place the sticks on a baking sheet and freeze. Once frozen take them off the sheet and place inside a freezer bag and store in the freezer.
- Apple and Peanut Rings – core and horizontally slice a green apple, spread the tops with smooth peanut butter and eat straight away.
- Houmous Celery Sticks – cut slices of celery sticks about 2 inches long. Fill the inside with houmous and serve.
- Summer Fruit Spring Rolls – take a circle of rice paper and soak for a few seconds till soft. Squeeze off any excess water and place down. Add any fruit, the more colourful the better and wrap like a spring roll.
- Boiled eggs – I like to keep boiled eggs in the fridge during the week. They are quick simple and nutritious and very easy to eat.
- Turkey Ham wrapped Cheese sticks – take a small stick of cheese and wrap around a slice of turkey ham.
- Mini omelettes – whisk up some eggs and add onion, cheese, chives and chopped peppers. Pour the mix into a 12 muffin cupcake tin and bake in the oven. Once cooled these can be stored for a week.
- Steamed edamame beans – these are great placed in a bowl, splashed with a little water and the covered in cling. Cooked in a microwave for 3 minutes and then sprinkled with salt and paprika.
- Plain popcorn – plain popcorn, quickly popped and a large handful is just enough.
In terms of drinks on a warm day I love to make the kids a quick cold smoothie after school and a nice warm drink on the colder school days.
Cold Drink – in a smoothie maker I like to add ice, mint, 1 green apple, the juice of a lime, half water and half apple juice and whizz.
Hot Drink – in a pan add coconut milk and heat up, to this I like to add unsweetened cocoa powder, vanilla extract and honey, boil and serve.
These are all great ways to give the kids a little something to eat to take the edge off the hunger before dinner. But also a great way of getting some of their 5 a day in too.
This is just enough food to keep them sustained long enough to get on to help cook dinner in the kitchen with me, which is their favourite thing to do after school.
Izzy Wizzy Let’s Get Baking Busy…Sooty, Sweep and Michelle Heaton battle it out in the kitchen for Sport Relief 2016
Izzy Wizzy Let’s Get Baking Busy…
Sooty, Sweep and Michelle Heaton battle it out in the kitchen for Sport Relief 2016
Sooty, Sweep and Michelle Heaton battle it out in the kitchen for Sport Relief 2016
- The pie’s the limit for Michelle Heaton, but will Sooty’s cakes rise like a well-behaved soufflé or fall at the final curdle?
- Limited edition Orla Kiely apron for Sport Relief – perfect for those wanting to get messy in the kitchen
Roll up, Roll up, CITV’s Sooty and Sweep have collaborated with TV personality Michelle Heaton in the kitchen for a fun-packed photo shoot to raise some dough for Sport Relief.
The nation’s favourite bear has been ‘Izzy Wizzy’ baking cakes for a Sport Relief Bake Sale in a bid to inspire the nation to get their baking trays out and raise some money for Sport Relief. Meanwhile, Sweep has slipped on his boxing gloves to show his knockout support for Sport Relief.
Sooty and Sweep’s new look is thanks to designer Orla Kiely, who has created a limited edition apron for Sport Relief. The apron is presented each episode to the winner of ‘The Great Sport Relief Bake Off’ and is available to buy exclusively from Sport Relief official partners: brands-for-less homewareretailer, HomeSense, TK Maxx stores, tkmaxx.com and sportrelief.com. The apron retails at £12.99 with at least £5.25 going to Sport Relief.
Sooty, Sweep and Michelle Heaton battle it out in the kitchen for Sport Relief 2016
The nation has been inspired to join in the Sport Relief fun and games and host their own bake sales to raise money to help transform people’s lives both across the UK and in the world’s poorest communities. So if you’re a fan, the apron is the perfect way to ‘rise to the occasion’, supporting a great cause whilst baking yourself proud in the kitchen.
Sooty’s right hand man, Richard Cadell told us Sooty had whispered in his ear that holding a bake sale is a piece of cake and he and Sweep had loads of fun with their new friend Michelle, even if she was a little bit messy in the kitchen!
Michelle Heaton said: “I urge everyone to put on a pinny, get baking and throw a showstopping bake sale for Sport Relief. Baking with Sooty & Sweep was the icing on the cake for me! By purchasing this apron from HomeSense and TK Maxx you can help to transform people’s lives both across the UK and in the world’s poorest communities.”
Since 2002, Sport Relief has raised over £262 million. The Sport Relief Games will take place between Friday 18th and Sunday 20th March, bringing the entire nation together to get active, raise cash and change lives.
The money raised from the apron will go towards helping people living incredibly tough lives. Half of the money raised by the public for Sport Relief is used to make a difference right here at home in the UK, with the other half used to make a difference in the world’s poorest communities.
Don’t miss out on your very own limited edition Orla Kiely apron from HomeSense, TK Maxx stores, tkmaxx.com, sportrelief.com and help raise money for Sport Relief 2016
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Media Information
Individual images are available on request
For further press information and interview requests please contact:
Siobhan Connor at Connor PR / 07966 177025 / Siobhan@connorpr.com
Join the conversation
Facebook – @myHomeSense
Twitter – @HomeSenseUK
Instagram – @HomeSenseUK
#raisesomedough
#SR16
#GBBOsportrelief
@sportrelief
@Sootyandco
Details and Prices:
All profits from the sale of the apron and the tea towels will be donated to Sport Relief to help transform the lives of some of the poorest and most disadvantaged people in the UK and around the world.
Apron £12.99 with at least £5.25 going to Sport Relief
ABOUT SPORT RELIEF
Sport Relief brings the entire nation together to get active, raise cash and change lives. Since 2002, Sport Relief has raised over £262 million. The money raised by the public is spent by Comic Relief to help people living incredibly tough lives, across the UK and the world’s poorest communities. It all leads up to the Sport Relief weekend and an unmissable night of TV on the BBC, broadcasting live from Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Sport Relief 2016 will take place from Friday 18th to Sunday 20th March 2016. You can run, swim, cycle or even walk yourself proud at events across the country. There’s a distance for everyone in the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Games, whether you’re sporty or not. Find out more at www.sportrelief.com.
Comic Relief is a UK charity, which aims to create a just world, free from poverty.
Since 1985, Comic Relief has raised over £1billion. That money has helped, and is helping, people living incredibly tough lives, both at home in the UK and across the world.
For information about Comic Relief and the work it carries out, please visit www.comicrelief.com
Comic Relief, registered charity 326568 (England/Wales); SC039730 (Scotland)
About HomeSense
HomeSense launched in the UK in April 2008 and has 39 stores in the UK. HomeSense operates a unique ‘off-price’ concept, which offers quality and branded homeware for less than the recommended retail price. These savings are passed on to customers through a combination of opportunistic buying, established relationships with manufacturers and simple, no-frills operation. HomeSense is part of TJX Europe, a subsidiary of TJX Companies, Inc. Find your nearest store and loads more information at www.homesense.com
About TK Maxx
TK Maxx and HomeSense are the official Sport Relief sponsors for the fifth campaign running and have raised £17.7 million since 2005 through sales, customer donations and staff fundraising. TK Maxx is a designer brands-for-less retailer implementing a unique ‘off-price’ concept which originated in the US. It sells designer and high street brands of womenswear, menswear, homeware, gifts and accessories at up to 60% less than the recommended retail price (RRP). TK Maxx launched in the UK in 1994 and now has over 250 stores nationwide. Opportunistic buying and a no-frills operation means TK Maxx can pass huge savings on to the customer. A typical store has over 50,000 items in stock and receives 10,000 new pieces, styles and colours a week, which means stock is consistently fresh. TK Maxx is part of TJX Europe, the European subsidiary of the US group TJX Companies Inc. For more information see www.tkmaxx.com
Orla Kiely
The creative world of Orla Kiely was founded in 1995 to express visually, her love of pattern, colour, texture and rhythm, which as components all play and work together. Once hailed as the ‘queen of print,’ she is world renowned for her instinctive graphic discipline to simplify and stylise everyday motifs and forms. With clean, orderly repeat constructions and a boldness of scale, her work achieves strength with a very modern quality, while her love for all things mid century creates charming, uplifting and instantly recognisable prints.
From a small collection of accessories, commissioned exclusively by Harrods following her graduation from the Royal Academy of Art, the range has grown to include a complete ready-to-wear collection as well as homeware and stationery. Through key collaborations, Orla Kiely has launched a perfume, designed sold out shoe collections for Clarks – an ongoing partnership as well as publishing two books – ‘Pattern’ & ‘Home’ which celebrating both her prints and her love for interior design.
Globally, the brand is gaining momentum with key stockists in both fashion and home. Orla Kiely has a number of shops through the UK and has grown significantly with global reach in New York following the launch of her collaborations with Uniqlo and Target.
The Orla Kiely customer is creative, intelligent and stylish. She is not afraid to stand out and does it fashionably. The combination of luxurious fabric and attention to detail leads to a loyal following including Kate Middleton, Kirsten Dunst , Keira Knightley, Alexa Chung and Emma Watson.
She continues to work with fashion contemporaries, Leith Clark, Liz Goldwin and Venetia Scott.
Orla Kiely regularly presents at London Fashion Week and continues to surprise and impress, her presentations reaching cult status amongst fans and press alike.
The Sooty Show
The Sooty Show is the longest running children’s TV show in the world. The iconic yellow bear made his TV debut on the BBC in the 1950s and is currently enjoying a revival in the UK, with The Sooty Show airing daily on CITV and on ITV at weekends. Sooty, Sweep and Soo, with their current owner and presenter Richard Cadell, perform to sell-out audiences in their live tours and Sooty the Movie is set to go into production this year. www.thesootyshow.com
Connor PR promoting The Dog Rescuers Puppy Farm Special
The Dog Rescuers Puppy Farm Special
Channel 5, 8pm
Tuesday 27th October 2015
In this special puppy focused episode of Dog Rescuers Alan Davies reveals how the RSPCA cracked one of Britain’s biggest puppy farm operations in Manchester, rescuing 87 puppies from harrowing conditions and eventually bringing the owners of the racket to successful convictions just one week ago. Operation Pagan lasted 5 years and we will see exclusive footage from the raid and talk to the Special Operations Officers who conducted the investigation, who explain how they managed to bring this barbaric business to an end.
We see incredible footage of the puppies being rescued and taken to be examined by [RSPCA?] vets and we also visit them now to see how their lives have been turned around by living in loving new homes.
The programme also features; information on how viewers can give a rescue puppy a loving home, brand new dog rescues; and a story from Somerset, where we meet three adorable Japanese Chin puppies who, at six weeks old, are enjoying their final days at the animal centre before getting rehomed.
And finally we meet Bruce and Rebel, two 18 month old Lurcher pups who are long term residents of Newbrook Animal Centre. They were saved from living in terrible conditions for days on end and we will do a “live” appeal to see if we can find them a new home. In their heart breaking story we’ll hear how they will have to be rehomed together as Bruce has a degenerative eye disease and will be blind within a year, so will need to rely on best mate Rebel to lead him around in the future.
Connor PR specialists in TV promotion, Connor PR specialists in Entertainment PR, Connor PR and The Dog Rescuers
Connor PR’s latest TV project 41 Dogs In My Three Bed Semi – Friday 9th October 2015, 8pm, Channel 5
41 Dogs In My Three Bed Semi
Friday 9th October 2015, 8pm, Channel 5
- Dog-mad Lynn Everett loves her pet dogs so much she shares her semi-detached home with 41 of them
- Meet animal owner of 60, Steve Lucock, who claims his appearance on Britain’s Got Talent contributed to a failed marriage and left him with a home full of animals
- Dog enthusiast Emmie Stevens, 27, is so devoted to her pets that she has spent £60,000 on pampering them – with two hounds even getting hitched
Lynn Everett
There are estimated to be 71 million pets in Britain today, and 45% of households now own at least one. However, for some, one is nowhere near enough. In this remarkable film, a Middlechild production – we reveal Britain’s most staggering animal obsessives and witness what happens when animal obsessions get out of hand; the animosity, the relationship breakdowns, the risk of losing everything, and the tales of people who love animals so much they collect dozens of them in their homes.
In this one-hour documentary screened on October 9th at 8.00pm on Channel 5, we meet 57-year-old dog-mad Lynn Morgan from Barnsley, a dog obsessive. Many people have one of their favourite breeds of dogs as a pet, Lynn has one in every colour! At last count, Lynn had 41 dogs, all living inside her modest semi-detached home. Lynn lives with 25 French Bulldogs, six Chinese Crested dogs and 10 Miniature English Bull Terriers.
41 Dogs in a 3 bed Semi
We follow Britain’s Got Talent performer Steve Lucock and his 60 animals as he battles to put food in the mouths of his beloved wild family, whilst attempting to feed his own obsession; and dog-lover Emmie Stevens from Croydon who has a paw print tattooed on her wedding finger.
Lynn Everett and husband, Tony Morgan, live amongst their 41 dogs in her three-bedroomed semi on a very normal-looking street in Barnsley. The dogs are free to roam the downstairs of the house and share the sofas with Lynn and Tony. 41 is the maximum number the council will allow her to keep but if she could, she’d have many more. It’s a stressful existence living amongst 41 dogs and Lynn and Tony have a very fiery relationship, especially when it comes to matters concerning the dogs.
41 Dogs in a 3 bed Semi
In this film, we learn all about their lifestyle and witness the effect it has on their relationship. We meet Lynn’s disabled dogs and she explains how she gives every dog a chance, no matter how much it costs her. We reveal that Lynn breeds some of her more prized pooches and that this helps fund the upkeep of her extra-large family.
Lynn leaves the house just once a year, to go on a scouting mission to Crufts. Lynn began by breeding Bull Terriers but soon found that she couldn’t bear to part with them once born. She has sold some of her more prized puppies in the past but even though she has been breeding dogs since she was 18, she admits it’s becoming nearly impossible to let any new ones go. And now, as long as she sticks within the 41 she’s allowed, instead of selling, she’s buying too! Lynn has five chest freezers and spends £280 on tripe each month to feed her pets. She also buys copious amounts of fabric softener for the dogs’ blankets and there are beds set up for them in the front room.
Not many people could cope with the set-up the couple have in the house but Lynn’s personality seems to suit it perfectly. The worst consequence of their lifestyle choice is the abuse they attract from outsiders who don’t believe the dogs can be healthy or happy in such an environment. This has resulted in substantial trolling over the Internet, on dog-based forums and social media. The pinnacle of the abuse came during Christmas 2014, when a brick was thrown through their window.
Meanwhile in Blyth, Northumberland, animal addict 47-year-old Steve Lucock was at the peak of his career as a magician in the mid-2000s, performing around the country with his wife as his on stage assistant. As Steve is so obsessed with animals, he based their entire show around them. When their act featured on the TV show Britain’s Got Talent, the exposure resulted in 100 animals in need of a home being dropped on their doorstep, in addition to the 60 they already had! Steve’s reluctance to part with the new animals put a strain on his marriage, eventually leading to divorce and plunging Steve in financial disarray.
Not every animal act on Britain’s Got Talent goes the same way as Pudsey or Matisse it seems. Now, unemployed and without a performing partner, Steve has been forced to reduce the number of animals he lives with back to a more modest level of 60. Steve’s living room is home to a parrot and around the rest of the house you’ll find dogs, cats, meerkats, owls, raccoons, skunks, snakes, turtles, rats, doves, rabbits and Steve’s showpiece… his foxes.
The foxes are house-trained and his red fox, identical to the ones who roam the streets at night, is as tame as a ‘well-trained dog’. He often takes his fox when he entertains at children’s parties, much to the amazement of the attendees, who cannot believe how domesticated it is. Steve’s animal obsession has had serious financial repercussions. He only manages to feed his animals through donations given to him after shows he puts on for free locally. However, he is determined to continue growing his collection and is always on the lookout for new additions. In this film, we follow Steve as he tries to turn his fortunes around. We witness a rather tragic performance at a holiday camp and see evidence of Steve’s problems with money. However, he’s come up with a new idea for a show that he hopes will be a big hit on the kids’ party scene. Called Animalgique, it tells the story of the animals’ struggle against man and what children can do to help. Steve rehearses his show and promotes it around Blyth before the big night of his premiere arrives.
In Wiltshire, Mary Cunningham’s small house is overrun with cats. For many years she’s been taking them in and providing homes to any that are offered to her. Her whole life revolves around her feline family. Mary’s house is also brimming with clutter, she claims that this in fact just ‘stock’. Mary raises money for her cats by visiting car boot sales and fetes, selling her ‘stock’. In this film we learn that Mary faces the threat of eviction if the number of cats increases in her home, or if she can’t maintain the property. We watch as Mary attempts to secure a pitch at the biggest event of the year, The Calne Summer Festival and Carnival. If she can get a stall there, she’ll clear a lot of her ’stock’ and make enough money to do some decorating.
Emmie Stevens’ is an animal obsessive in training – her current 12 dogs are some of the most pampered pooches in the country. Emmie, 27, from Croydon, South London, is obsessed with dressing up canines and even calls them her children. Over the past seven years she has spent £60K on them. To Emmie, her dogs are her children and she feels a very maternal connection to them. As she says, “parents like dressing their children up” and that’s precisely what she does with her dogs. She has a whole room devoted to their outfits. Recently, Emmie married two of her dogs at a lavish ceremony attended by 30 of their best doggie friends. In the film we learn that Emmie’s addiction to dogs started after enduring years of confidence-destroying bullying before buying her first dog, Doodles. The love and happiness she got from him, and the compulsion to care that grew inside her, drove her to seek that ‘buzz’ over and over again. If there was more room in her house she’d have more dogs and one day Emmie fully intends on increasing her collection.
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Connor PR promoting 41 Dogs In My Three Bed Semi, Connor PR expert in TV promotion