TV host Paul O’Grady is mourning the passing of his faithful sidekick, Buster. The dog, who was 14-and-a-half years old, could regularly be seen on Paul O’Grady’s Channel 4 show, perching faithfully on the desk throughout the programme. Buster had been ill with cancer for a while and was put to sleep yesterday.

A spokeswoman said: “Paul is absolutely devastated. It all happened suddenly. Buster had been suffering and in a lot of pain. Putting him down was the kind thing to do.”

Buster has retired from the show last week through illness has previously been honoured by TV Times as ‘best dog in TV’. I expect that O’Grady will pay a tribute to his old mate on Monday’s programme.