The Pet Psychic: What is your dog thinking?
Perfect pub walks with Bill Bailey
A reader contacted me a while ago to say he was a lifelong psychic who wanted to help the Mail with a missing persons investigation. He lived 20 minutes away and I was intrigued, so I went to visit.
Within minutes he announced that he felt a presence on my shoulder: “Your father wants to reach out, he has a message for you.”
Don’t worry, I said, we had already spoken on the phone that morning. My psychic looked irritated and said there was a strong family resemblance, and it must be my grandfather: ‘Harry? Jac? No, he says his name is. . . Tom?’
Shortly afterwards, the misty ghost of my grandfather (whose name was James) had enough and left. And I.
No dearly departed relatives accompanied Beth Lee-Crowther as she made her rounds in The Pet Psychic: What’s Your Dog Thinking? (H5). But a recently deceased mouse did haunt a reading.
Beth Lee-Crowther believes she has the ability to communicate with animals through telepathy
Beth, who believes she has the ability to communicate with animals via telepathy, was deep in paranormal conversations with an 11-year-old white-and-tortoiseshell cat named Arya, a ragdoll/snowshoe cross.
Arya’s owners, Elizabeth and David, thought about having her cloned and creating a genetically identical kitten at a cost of £10,000. They wanted to know if Arya agreed.
Beth revealed that Arya was having more trouble with her itchy nose and ears. This may have been a paranormal diagnosis, or there may have been a clue in the angry red inflammation around the cat’s eyes.
Then Arya sent a telepathic telegram about mice under the floorboards. Her owners looked bewildered, then outraged – and then embarrassed when the film crew pointed out a dead mouse near a hole in the skirting board.
A camera trap later revealed that it was the other moggy of the bunch, a two-year-old ginger rogue named Lula, who was the mouseur. Arya didn’t mention that, but you can’t blame an animal for taking credit when it doesn’t.
What the cat said very clearly was that cloning was not attractive. “She strongly believes,” Beth explained, “that you cannot duplicate her because, although the appearance would be the same, the actual soul would be different. She says, “I’m all you need.”
This real Doctor Dolittle says she can talk to the animals and her claim is not questioned
David was relieved: ‘The thought that I can save €10,000 is very positive for me.’ If he were a little more psychic, he might realize that this is the kind of thought a guy would be better off keeping to himself.
An arch voiceover from narrator Clive Mantle was the closest this show came to skepticism. No alternative explanations have been explored.
This real Doctor Dolittle says she can talk to the animals and her claim is not questioned.
But there is endless charm in seeing people with beloved pets, whether they are chickens, camels or ferrets.
And every animal lover knows that a good relationship is magical… maybe even telepathic. It’s one of the joys of life, and this series reflects that.
Bill Bailey and old friend Alan Davies took a leisurely stroll between pubs in the Peak District
Bill Bailey experienced a magical rapport with a barn full of dairy cows during the first of his Perfect Pub Walks (More4).
They reminded him of an Edinburgh Fringe audience, he said.
He and old friend Alan Davies took a leisurely stroll between pubs in the Peak District.
The premise is that middle-aged men don’t talk enough, and beauty salons are the place to do this – provided there’s a prospect of a pint later.
Bill, a birdwatcher in good health, loved it. Alan, an inveterate moaner whose body is a bag of pain, was less enthusiastic.
“I enjoyed it a little bit, not that much,” he said, summing up the show.
