Hello, my name is Becky Milligan, and I'm dropping in to tell you about a new podcast from Wondry.

It's called Hooked on Freddy.

It's a strange tale about a man, a wild dolphin, a bitter rivalry, and the weirdest allegation,

which spirals out of control.

It begins in the late eighties when a depressed grey town in the north of England has a wild visitor,

a bottle knows dolphin.

He's like a ray of light.

The locals in Ambul love him and name him Freddy.

Freddy loves them all, but his favourite playmate is Alan Cooper, a committed animal rights activist.

Alan and the wild dolphins swim together for hundreds of magical hours, far out to sea,

and a beautiful friendship is born.

But when Alan is accused of something unbelievable, disturbing, he finds himself at the centre of a tabloid scandal

that grips Britain and ends in one of the most bizarre court cases in legal history.

I'm going to play you a clip, and if you want to hear more, search Hooked on Freddy, wherever you get your podcasts.

September the 28th, 1990, is a fine day in Ambul, a small coastal town on the tip of North East England.

But we're not in the town.

We're about a quarter of a mile out, in the North Sea.

A man's in the water, wearing a wetsuit with yellow arms, and he's just hanging there alone.

His name is Alan Cooper.

And at first, yes, he is all alone, but then, something dark moves at speed under the water,

circles, disappears, and then resurfaces.

Now we can see him.

...