'Don't worry This City Is Ours fans - Banksey's cat is just fine'

Spoiler warning: This story reveals details of This City Is Ours Series 2

Fear not, This City Is Ours fans, Banksey's cat is absolutely fine...

George "Banksey" Banks, portrayed by Mike Noble, is the loyal right-hand man and enforcer for Michael Kavanagh, played by James Nelson-Joyce in the hit BBC One show.

Despite his violent life of crime, Banksey has a much softer side, for as well as being a devoted father he is proud cat dad.

But as his dodgy dealings appeared to catch up with him at the end of Series 2 - in which he may have met his demise - viewers have been left in a panic about what will happen to his black and white cat.

Who will look after it? Who will feed it? People on TikTok have been beside themselves with worry.

But...

"He's ok," said his owner and manager Carol Walker.

"There's various things happened, and the house is sort of empty.

"And the cat has appeared once, and then it doesn't appear again, and everybody's like, 'Is Banksey's cat all right? We want to know what's happened to Banksey's cat!'

"It's crazy, considering he was in for one appearance of about eight seconds, but that shows what a nation of animal lovers we are."

Banksey's cat, or Spud The Cat with a Tash to give him his official and full moniker, is a rescue cat from Preston in Lancashire, who just took it all in his stride as another day on set.

The seven-year-old moggy has been with Carol, who runs the SRPCC Cat Welfare Trust, since he was 10 weeks old, when he apparently walked into her home like he owned the place.

Carol explained: "He just walked in and took over, and when a kitten walks in with that much confidence, the first thing you do is sign him up with an agent!"

She said she had already had a couple of cats that had "done a few things" before Spud landed his first acting role in 2021.

Fast-forward a few years and Spud now has 10,000 followers on Facebook and Instagram and has raised £20,000 for three cat charities that receive a percentage of his fee and merchandise sales - SPRCC, which funds veterinary treatment for cats, Lancashire Cat Rescue and A Purrfect Friend.

"He loves it on set," Carol revealed.

"He just loves new experiences.

"Take some cats out of the home environment and they'll be cowering in the basket like, 'Where am I?' And he's... 'Oh, great. Can I go explore?'

"He's just so chilled. It's brilliant."

So can you direct a cat?

"You can to a degree," Carol said.

"I can get him to sit, but really the knack with the filming is to look at the script, and if you think it's something you can't do, liaise with the director.

"If you get a director that is willing to maybe compromise and change things round a bit, to accommodate what an animal will do, you've got a head start.

"Most cats in a strange environment would be spooked, but he can go on set and be quite happy - he's not bothered really by loud noises.

"Sometimes I swear he reads my mind.

"He's brilliant, he's so chilled and so confident."

As well as having been in both series of This City Is Ours, Spud has also appeared in BBC One's The Responder with Sue Johnson and Martin Freeman, and The Cage with Sheridan Smith.

"A lot of people are saying we need Banksey's cat in Series 3," Carol said. "So fingers crossed."

She said Spud fans can next see him on screen in a well-known BBC drama, set in Rochdale, that starts in the new year.

"It's probably his biggest part yet!"

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