BROADCHURCH star David Tennant is narrating a series of films designed to reduce stress in cats and dogs on Bonfire Night.

The films have been developed by More Than Pet Insurance and are playfully entitled Woofering Heights and Peer Window in homage to the Emily Bronte and Alfred Hitchcock classics.

More Than worked closely with animal behaviourist Karen Wild and vet Robert White-Adams throughout the making of both films. In addition to compiling an in-depth academic report, Karen Wild consulted on both productions to ensure they would stay true to the research and have the potential to relax cats and dogs and counter the effects of noise phobia.

To that end, Peer Window is set entirely within a window frame to reflect a cat’s habitual behaviour of staring out of windows for approximately five hours a day.

The film depicts a blend of animate and inanimate objects, as recommended by the academic research, including looping scenes of fish, swaying trees, rain droplets and rippling water, among other abstract images. Accompanying these scenes are melodic sounds in cat-friendly frequencies and the softly spoken tones of David Tennant – based on the scientific insight that a human voice can relax cats.

Similarly, Woofering Heights, the film for dogs, employs key scientific prompts by incorporating slowly moving pastoral scenery, a cast of sedentary dogs and the relaxing lilt of David Tennant delivering an Emily Bronte-inspired narration full of words and cadences that can calm canines. What’s more, the film has been shot entirely in a dog’s colour spectrum of blues and yellows – heightening the viewing experience for them.


Karen said: “Noise phobia in cats and dogs can lead to distress, injury and long-term behavioural problems, so it’s important for pet owners that they do as much as they can to help calm and relax their animals. These films may seem strange to humans, but it’s important to realise that cats and dogs do not perceive the world in the same way we do and will respond to completely different audio and visual stimuli.

Hopefully these films, in conjunction with other veterinary-approved measures, can have a positive effect on cats and dogs that suffer from noise phobia.”