The Higgins' brothers are coming on my podcast!

As you might have gathered, my two favourite things are dogs and films. (Jaffa cakes (the posh ones) close third.)

So, I am very delighted to be talking to the very talented Dominic and Ian Higgins on Wednesday's Facebook Live which then becomes part of my The Devil Wears Dog Hair podcast. Do check out their spectacular back catalogue - they run Pixel Revolution Films and they are attracting lot of attention at international film festivals - a cutting edge mix of reality and art.

Wednesday will be the premiere of their new animated short film Of Wolves and Men. Now I have already been lucky enough to see a pre-screening. You will love it, I promise you. And lovely Peter Egan is doing the voice over. I will be asking the brothers, I think I might recognise one of the wolves. Here's the trailer... not long to wait now!

I am rather fond of wolves, in a respectful way. I prefer to live with more human dogs if you know what I mean. The day we had a wolf in the studio in Slough was very hard to forget. It was school holidays so our photographer Tim Rose's very young daughter was there, too - and spookily she had independently chosen to wear a red dress that day.

The wolf really liked the little girl and it was reciprocated. It made for some great photos, I suspect Sophie will never forget that day - she's all grown up now. Tony is insistent that wolves should not be treated as pets, but Tony had reared this gorgeous wolf and knew her very, very well.

We also had Anita Bax's Champion Standard Poodle in the studio in full show topiary and we had them posing with the wolf (I wish I could find the photos - I am hoping Rosie my designer will discover them for me!).

Anita was very brave, her dog a little sheepish - which could have been a bit of a worry. Had it been in more recent times health and safety may have had something to say about it. But nothing bad happened. That time. The day we used a very ornate plate in a shoot with my dog eating a curry resulted in a rally in Hyde Park and a fatwa... but that's another story.

The wolf was much bigger than I had expected and I since met much smaller ones. We were definitely all aware we were in the presence of a very special soul.

Tony runs the most amazing organisation, Wolf Watch UK. Do become a member. He rescues wolves and lets them live in peace in acres of woodland with streams and wildlife to chase. It's not like a zoo, they are not there for our amusement. It's a favourite place for BBC wildlife camera crews to learn their far distant craft.

I visited him soon after our shoot and stayed over and heard the wolves calling overnight. The next day Tony gave me a very special treat. He took lots of dead chickens and scattered them around me and then let all the wolves creep up on me. I have to say it was unforgettable.

Being the editor of a dog magazine doesn't result in many gifts of free designer handbags, but I wouldn't swap jobs. Wolf Watch really is a magical place.

I went to another wolf sanctuary, but that was rather more commercial and it offered you the chance to take their wolves for a walk. But I was there primarily to listen to the amazing Michelle Paver talk. I brought my son as we had been addicted to her six book series The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. She'd done serious research to make sure she understood the period she was writing about and the behaviour of wolves and the signing was a thank you to the wolf people.

Like the Higgins' brothers short film Of Wolves and Men, her books are set in the time when man and wolf started working together. If you haven't yet read them, do.

I remember asking Michelle if anyone had optioned her books, it was many years ago but I was thinking in film, I always have. My son must have been at junior school, he's very small in the photos I took walking the wolves - and he's six foot three now.

Michelle sighed. It had all seemed so promising but after very, very many meetings talk of the films had stalled. I was certain they'd be amazing, I had been able to imagine every scene, but back them I hadn't been to film school. Also I suspect CGI wasn't up to recreating the prehistoric world and wolves talking etc.

I've just Googled...

According to Wiki: "Since the 30 May 2004 release of the first book in the series, Wolf Brother, the series has gained critical acclaim and commercial success worldwide. 

In 2004, 20th Century Fox purchased the rights to make feature films of the book series. The first book in the series, Wolf Brother, has been optioned from $250,000 against $1 million. The film series was going to be produced by Ridley Scott and Erin Upson. A script was in production, according to an answer to a fan letter.[9] However, the project was put on hold. The project has since been revived as announced at a Superfan event in July 2012, when Michelle revealed the books will be made into films for theater or television.

During a “Michelle Live” live stream on YouTube and twitch on March 30 2020, Michelle herself revealed that she has just completed a deal with Kindle Entertainment and Lionsgate and that a live action TV series will be made based on the series. Michelle said "I’ve had more meetings with producers about Wolf Brother than I can remember but Anne Brogan and Melanie Stokes from Kindle Entertainment stood out from the very first time I met them. They knew the series inside out and – a big plus for me – their children were fans. Wolf Brother fans have extremely high expectations for a television series and Anne and Mel share the same burning desire to create a legendary series. I’m entrusting them with the lives of Torak, Renn and Wolf! I know they will be in safe hands."

Every night when I read these six precious books aloud to my son, we could both see the films. I was so engrossed I even passed up on an invite to 10 Downing Street as I didn't want to miss putting my son to bed and the next instalment! (But I missed one before when my dog didn't like the dog sitter.)

My son is starting his degree course in Film making in a few weeks, I am so pleased for him.

Another story that I was sure would make a cracking film was Fleur, the beautiful little collie cross who has graced our magazine covers twice - a doggie Kate Moss.

She had been very badly mutilated in Romania. Gov-sponsored canine genocide had seen the streets cleared of dogs and them being 'spayed' by people who definitely weren't vets. Fleur hadn't been properly stitched back up and her insides were falling out when the photos did the rounds on Facebook. It's an epic story of a dog refusing to die and never giving up trust in humans despite barbaric treatment.

Well guess what, we helped Wendy and Andrew get Fleur's story published as a book.

And guess who saw the front cover on Amazon and fell in love.... well only the Higgins' brothers from Pixel Revolution!

Can't wait to talk to them on Wednesday - here's your invite.