Arts / ‘A fairytale journey’ – delight as otter film scoops award
THE TITULAR star of an otter film which has captured minds and hearts says its success has been “a fairytale journey” after it picked up another top award.
Billy and Molly: An Otter Love Story was the Science and Natural World winner at the Royal Television Society (RTS) awards in London’s Grosvenor Hotel on Tuesday night.
Other award winners on the night included Claudia Winkleman, James Corden and Danny Dyer, who were all in attendance to collect their prizes from comedian and host Tom Allen.
Billy and Susan Mail, from Walls, were among this illustrious company to see Billy and Molly being lauded on the main stage.
Billy said they were “just delighted” to receive the prize, which was “completely unexpected”.
The film, released internationally by National Geographic and Disney, became a massive festival success, winning three prizes at last year’s Wildscreen Panda Awards – including best production.
Now it can add an RTS triumph to that list, and Billy said the whole experience had left him stunned.
“Susan said the director set out to make a film that was a fairytale,” he said.
“For us, it’s been a fairytale journey.
“We’re just ordinary folk. You’re not expecting this kind of thing to happen.
“But we’re just going to enjoy it while it’s still happening.”
And it seems like the fairytale may not be over yet. Billy said there were a “couple more things in the pipeline” for Billy and Molly that he could not yet talk about.
The film charts Billy’s quest to care for a wild otter – the Molly of the title – who appears outside their house desperate for food.
Despite Susan’s insistence that it was “not exactly a blockbuster” when they were approached by National Geographic, it has gone on to be a huge success – including on streaming platform Disney+.
Billy said they met a few folk who were “really, really positive about the film” at Tuesday’s awards ceremony, adding those from National Geographic with the couple in London yesterday “just love it”.
They were among 600 to 800 people attending the glitzy capital do, but Billy – a self-confessed TV “luddite” – was in no danger of being overawed by his celebrity company.
“There was quite a few big names and apparently it’s a big do,” he said.
“But I’m not really into that kind of stuff, so I wouldn’t know!”
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