Hooked on Freddie

Hooked on Freddie, a UK original limited series from Wondery and Blanchard House, journeys back to the late 1980s to tell the gripping and controversial real-life story of a dolphin, Freddie, whose visit to Amble, Northumberland, UK, turns the sleepy seaside town upside down.

Hosted by award-winning journalist Becky Milligan, the six-part series follows Alan Cooper, a lifelong animal rights campaigner committed to freeing captive dolphins, who forms a deep bond with Freddie. But when Alan’s friendship with Freddie is turned against him – and he is accused of subjecting the dolphin to an unspeakable act – the rumours trigger a tabloid scandal that grips the nation and a legal case unlike any the courts have ever heard before. And Alan is in the fight of his life.

Becky Milligan (The Home Babies) first encountered, and even swam with, Freddie the dolphin as a student journalist, and has followed the strange case closely ever since. The series is produced with full access to all the main protagonists, who are sharing their stories
for the first time.

Hooked on Freddie won Silver Best Sound Design at Signal Awards 2024, as well as Gold Listener’s Choice.

Credits

Host, writer, producer: Becky Milligan

Additional production and fact checking: Seren Jones

Executive Producer: Laurence Grissell and Rosie Pye for Blanchard House and Michelle Martin, Rich Knight, Jessica Radburn and Marshall Lewy for Wondery.

Managing Producers: Amica Sciortino Nowlan for Blanchard House and Rachel Sibley for Wondery

Sound Designer and Recordist: Volkan Kiziltug

Original Music: Daniel Lloyd-Evans, Louis Nanke-Mannell, Toby Matimong

Voice acting: Mark Umbers, Conor Macfarlane, Mark Gillis, Ollie Reyhart

Special thanks to Dr Emily Rose Hay, Karen Walton and the Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute.