Paul O’Grady fans were emotional last night (13 April), as the last ever series of For the Love of Dogs launched on ITV, just weeks after the death of its host.
O’Grady, who died in March aged 67, had hosted the show since 2012, and filmed this final season last summer.
The first episode of the final series featured O’Grady at the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, falling in love with a Newfoundland that needed major surgery on its back legs.
He also met a labrador cross who is obsessed with water and keeps flooding its kennel, and helped a terrified bichon frise who was found wandering around a forest.
Fans found the episode very tough to watch. “Difficult holding back the tears watching Paul O’Grady say goodbye to the lovely [Newfoundland] Peggy on TV last night,” tweeted one viewer. “So sad he is no longer with us.”
“Seeing him tonight made it feel like he was still with us, I so wish he was,” added another. “They broke the mould when they made this man.”
“Tonight’s #POGDogs is hitting harder than usual. Still cannot believe that Paul has passed. His love for the dogs at @Battersea_is heart-warming,” said a third.
A fourth posted: “Paul saying to Peggy ‘I’ve got to go now’. I choked up when he said that.”
“It was Kleenex all the way last night watching this wonderful man and the wonderful dogs,” tweeted a fifth.
Another said they were an “emotional wreck”.
There are five more episodes in the series, meaning the last ever instalment is likely to air on 18 May.
