He'll never be FORGOTTEN

Battersea's ALI TAYLOR on filming Paul O'Grady's final episodes at the rescue centre...

- CAREN CLARK

PAUL O'GRADY: FOR THE LOVE OF DOGS
NEW THU, 8.30PM (UTV, 11.45PM; NOT STV), ITV1 FACTUAL

The sudden death of Paul O'Grady, aged 67, in March this year saw the nation mourn the passing of one of our best-loved entertainers, while the staff at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home were left grieving the loss of a friend and passionate ambassador who had raised awareness of the rescue centre's dedicated work for over a decade.

'He was an incredible man and has left a big hole - we miss him. But he's still touching hearts,' says Ali Taylor, Battersea's Head of Canine Behaviour and Training, whose hilarious onscreen banter with Paul has been one of the highlights of ITVI's Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs since the show began in 2012.

This week, Paul's final series at Battersea resumes with more heart-warming stories of pooches needing loving new homes.

Here, in an exclusive chat with TV Times, Ali, 57, reveals what's in store and why Paul will never be forgotten...

The latest episode sees Tara, a lurcher puppy you were fostering, become seriously ill. What can you tell us about her?

She came to me as a young pup and she didn’t like being left on her own, so we thought she had separation issues. But actually, she had a bad stomach and she started to go downhill and lose a lot of weight dramatically when she should have been growing. The vets weren’t sure what was going on but they did tests and she came back with a number of things like campylobacter [a severe bacterial infection].

You must have been so worried about her…

We didn’t think she’d pull through. Luckily, once we knew what to treat her for, things started turning around.