''The Underdog Show'' was a six-week television series presented by

Julian Clary Julian Peter McDonald Clary (born 25 May 1959) is an English actor, comedian, novelist and presenter. He began appearing on television in the mid-1980s. Since then he has also acted in films, television and stage productions, numerous pantomim ...

and his dog, Valerie. The series was produced by the independent production company Splash Medi

Format

The show on BBC2 featured celebrities

Julia Sawalha Julia Sawalha (born 9 September 1968) is an English actress who played Saffron "Saffy" Monsoon in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulous''. She is also known for her portrayal of Lynda Day, editor of the ''Junior Gazette'', in ''Press Gang'', as ...

Anton du Beke Anthony Paul Beke (born 20 July 1966), known professionally as Anton Du Beke (), is a British ballroom and Latin dancer, and television presenter, best known for being a professional dancer and later a judge on the BBC One celebrity dancing sh ...

Clive Anderson Clive Stuart Anderson (born 10 December 1952) is an English television and radio presenter, comedy writer, and former barrister. Winner of a British Comedy Award in 1991, Anderson began experimenting with comedy and writing comedic scripts durin ...

, Huey Morgan,

Mishal Husain Mishal Husain (born 11 February 1973) is a British newsreader and journalist for BBC Television and BBC Radio. She is the main Sunday presenter of the ''BBC News at Ten'' and ''BBC Weekend News'' and one of the main presenters of BBC Radio 4's ' ...

, Selina Scott,

Kirsty Gallacher Kirsty Jane Gallacher (born 20 January 1976) is a Scottish television presenter and model. She began her career at Sky Sports News in 1998 and hosted '' Kirsty's Home Videos'', '' RI:SE'' and '' Simply the Best'' before returning to Sky Sports ...

and

Theo Paphitis Theodoros "Theo" Paphitis ( el, Θεόδωρος Παφίτης; born 24 September 1959) is a Greek-Cypriot British retail magnate and entrepreneur. He is best known for his appearances on the BBC business programme ''Dragons' Den'' and as former ...

pairing up with untrained rescue dogs for a

Crufts Crufts is an international dog show held annually in the United Kingdom, first held in 1891. Organised and hosted by The Kennel Club, it is the largest show of its kind in the world. Crufts is centred on a championship conformation show for do ...

-style competition. Every week, one duo was eliminated by a panel of three professional judges Kay Lawrence, Annie Clayton and

Peter Purves Peter John Purves (; born 10 February 1939) is an English television presenter and actor. He played Steven Taylor in ''Doctor Who'' under the First Doctor, a role he continued to play in audio dramas for Big Finish Productions. He later became ...

and the viewers via telephone voting. The outgoing dog being put up for adoption to find a new home with a viewer, although Theo, Kirsty, and Clive adopted the rescue dogs they were paired with. Steve Mann of Alpha Dog training School was the successful trainer of eventual winners, Selina and Chump. Steve Mann, a full-time professional Dog Trainer is considered one of the best dog trainers in the UK. A spin off show on

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

replaced the celebrities with eight children paired up with eight rescue dogs and eight professional dog trainers. The numbers in brackets e.g. (8th) denote the final position the celebrity finished in, not the order they were eliminated.

Series 2

A second series aired on

Living Living or The Living may refer to: Common meanings *Life, a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms ** Living species, one that is not extinct *Personal life, the course of an individual human's life * ...

instead of BBC Two. It was hosted by Tara Palmer-Tomkinson and Mark Durden-Smith. Raef, Jason, Brian and Kevin all adopted the dogs that they were paired with. The numbers in brackets e.g. (10th) denote the final position the celebrity finished in, not the order they were eliminated.

External links

* * *http://livingtv.co.uk/shows/underdog {{DEFAULTSORT:Underdog Show, The 2007 British television series debuts BBC Television shows Television shows about dogs