| Genre: | Documentary |
| Presenter: | Paul O'Grady (2012–2023) Alison Hammond (2024–) |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Num Series: | 11 |
| Num Episodes: | 92 (all specials) |
| Runtime: | 30 minutes (series) 60 minutes (specials) |
| Company: | MultiStory Media Olga TV |
| Network: | ITV1 |
| Last Aired: | present |
For the Love of Dogs with Alison Hammond (previously Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs) is a multi-award winning 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 is made by MultiStory Media and premiered on ITV1 on 3 September 2012.
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.[1] 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.[2]
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.
| 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[3] | TBC | 6 | Alison Hammond |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 | |
| Episode | Original airdate | Viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 April 2024 | |
| 2 | TBC | |
| 3 | TBC | |
| 4 | TBC | |
| 5 | TBC | |
| 6 | TBC | |
| 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 | 4.25 | |
| For 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 |
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.[4] 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.[5] [6]
| Year | Group | Award | Result | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Most Popular Factual Entertainment Programme | [7] [8] [9] | ||
| Best Factual Entertainment | ||||
| Best Features Programme | ||||
| Best Factual Entertainment & Lifestyle Show | ||||
| 2014 | Most Popular Factual Entertainment Programme | [10] [11] [12] [13] | ||
| Best Popular Factual Programme | [14] | |||
| Factual Programme | ||||
| Favourite Factual Show | ||||
| 2015 | Most Popular Factual Programme | [15] | ||
| Factual Programme | ||||
| Best Factual Entertainment Show | ||||
| Favourite Factual Show | [16] | |||
| 2016 | Factual Entertainment | [17] | ||
| Factual Programme | ||||
| Best Factual Show | ||||
| Favourite Factual Show | [18] [19] | |||
| 2017 | Factual Entertainment | |||
| Best Factual Show | [20] [21] | |||
| Favourite Factual Show | ||||
| 2018 | Factual Entertainment | |||
| National Television Awards | Special Recognition | |||
| 2019 | Factual Entertainment | |||
| 2020 | Factual | |||
| 2021 | Factual Show | |||
| Factual | ||||
| 2023 | Factual Programme | [22] | ||
| Factual | [23] |