When does a love of animals become an obsession? Meet the Animal Addicts – pet lovers who collect scores of animals, sometimes hundreds even, but whose passion for pets can sometimes end in prosecution.

Liz and Beryl thought they were running a friendly, if chaotic, animal refuge on their Norfolk Farm. But the RSPCA felt differently. How did they cope when their collection of animals swelled to over 300 and they faced prosecution?

Helen was once a respected vet and dog breeder, but when RSPCA inspectors found her living in squalor with over a 100, she was convicted of animal cruelty – with devastating results.

Bill, meanwhile, struggles to cope with the 70 owls he keeps at his house. He’s got multiple sclerosis but still gets up in the night to respond to injured owls.

Animal Addicts examines the mindset of people for whom collecting pets is a compulsion, but who nevertheless claim they are taking on animals that no-one else would house. The sometimes disturbing film also talks to the RSPCA about their work and the terrible scenes they uncover at the homes of animal addicts.

Animal Addicts Will Air On Channel 4 late in March.