Ashleigh wants to play herself in Pudsey movie

Ashleigh Butler says she would love to star in Pudsey: The Movie as herself.

The 18-year-old and her pet dog Pudsey won Britain's Got Talent last year, and now Pudsey is publishing his autobiography Pudsey: A Pup Star's Story, and there is a film adaptation in the pipeline.

Ashleigh said: "It's not 100 per cent that it's going ahead yet, but hopefully it will. Pudsey will definitely be in it and it will be a lovely story about him and what he gets up to.

"I'm not sure if I'll be in it, hopefully. I'll be there anywhere because wherever Pudsey is, I am, so I'll be on set all the time anyway.

"Quite a few people have said it wouldn't be right to have Pudsey and not Ashleigh, but it will be quite exciting whichever way it goes. We're looking forward to it."

Ashleigh has started TV presenting on CBBC show Who Let The Dogs Out And About? and would like to do more.

She said: "I was always into dance and drama and singing and I did panto at Christmas and it was an incredible experience. I'd like to show people a little bit more of me, because when we're together everyone focuses on Pudsey, so I'd definitely like to get more into presenting."

But she has been busy helping Pudsey write his book, going through old family albums, and remembering what he got up to as a puppy.

Ashleigh explained: "We had to tell everything that's happened to him and get photos. He's telling the story, so it's all his life right through from when he was a puppy to Britain's Got Talent. All my other pets are in the book, guinea pigs and cats, they're all in it too."

 

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.