Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
GREAT BRITISH WALKIES!
Phil Spencer hits some stunning locations in his new show – a series of rambles and intimate chats with celebrity dog-lovers
We’re accustomed to seeing Phil Spencer pounding pavements in search of property bargains and gently bickering with Kirstie Allsopp. But the Location, Location, Location co-host is going solo for his new project, Great British Dog Walks With Phil Spencer, set in the great outdoors and featuring celebrity chat and canines.
‘I’ve been making property shows for 20-odd years, but I’ve wanted to make an outdoorsy show for almost as long as that,’ explains Phil, 53, whose production company with Kirstie is making the series.
‘I’m a farmer’s son, brought up in the countryside and I live in the countryside. I love nature and wildlife – I’m rarely found indoors.’
The three-part series sees Phil tackle parts of the 195-mile Coast To Coast Walk devised by Alfred Wainwright in 1973. Setting out from St Bees, overlooking the Irish Sea in Cumbria, Phil rambles across country towards Robin Hood’s Bay on the North Yorkshire coast with his one-year-old German shorthaired pointer puppy Luna. On each leg of the walk he’s joined by a celebrity and their pooch. With glorious drone shots of rolling hills and dales, the delightful series showcases Britain’s beauty as well as Phil’s skills as an interviewer.
Episode one features SAS: Who Dares Wins instructor Mark ‘Billy’ Billingham and his British bulldog Alfie; episode two has Paralympian Libby Clegg with her pet Hatti, a former guide dog, and her current guide dog Bramble. Phil’s last guest is farmer and former JLS member JB Gill with his rescue dog Nala.
‘There’s always been an element in my work of talking to people,’ says Phil. ‘To advise people about their property decisions I need to understand them and their lifestyle. But this was another level – it wasn’t about property, it was just simply getting to know somebody. There was a mixture of real excitement and apprehension because it was totally different.
‘I wanted to ask Billy what it was like being in the SAS for 17 years and having to deal with an awful lot of bad people around the world. I asked Libby what it was like winning a gold medal and then coming home and thinking, “What now?” and feeling a bit rubbish. And I asked JB about what it’s like being a Christian in a boy band. These are the conversations I hope people will be interested in.’
Did the doggies bond too? Phil says Luna initially squabbled with Billy’s dog Alfie, but they got over it, and JB’S dog Nala, thought to be a mastiff crossed with a Rhodesian ridgeback, engaged in a power struggle with Luna. ‘Nala spent the first couple of minutes establishing that she was the boss,’ says Phil. ‘And then everybody got on.’
The British weather failed to cooperate on Phil and Libby’s walk, which had to be rerouted around Kirkby Stephen on the Cumbrianorth Yorkshire border when a March blizzard set in. ‘We couldn’t get out of the hotel up onto the moor,’ explains Phil. ‘But the Dales looked magical covered in snow.’
Phil, who lives in Hampshire with wife Fiona and sons Jake, 19, and Ben, 17, is devoted to his pet. ‘Luna loves me more than the children do!’ he jokes. ‘She’s pleased to see me every morning, which is really nice as nobody else even looks up!’
He’s hoping a second series will be commissioned so he can invite his dream guest Prince William for a walk with his cocker spaniel Orla. ‘He’d be great company talking about his dog rather than his job, and his love of the countryside,’ says Phil. ‘I’d take him on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, given he’s the Prince of Wales.’
One guest who’s not on Phil’s list is Kirstie, even though she has a dog, a Border terrier named Dandy. ‘I don’t think it would work, we know each other so well,’ says
Phil. ‘We’d end up talking about different stuff, it wouldn’t be me finding out about Kirstie. And she’d probably tell me to b**ger off!’
Great British Dog Walks With Phil Spencer, Thursday, 9pm, More 4.