Warwickshire farm's camels are famous and loved by celebs after TV role
A couple who breed camels have been flooded with bookings after one of their animals starred in TV bonkbuster Rivals.
Joseph and Rebecca Fossett are the UK's only licensed camel breeders which they rear at their farm in Idlicote, Warwickshire.
The couple, along with their grown-up children Daisy, 25, and Leo, 22, have been making a living from the humped animals for decades.
The family hire camels out for private parties and weddings and even produce milk from the animals with a dairy on their farm.
In recent years the camels have become used to star treatment, featuring in more than 20 TV shows and movies and even computer games.
One of their camels even had a starring role in the Disney+ adaptation of Jilly Cooper's 1980s raunchy book Rivals.
Irish actress Victoria Smurfit, who plays Maud in the show, rode veteran camel Kokoso in an extravagant party scene while wearing a glitzy gown.
Rebecca, 59, revealed the iconic scene almost ended in a "catastrophe" after the crew failed to tell them the room was so full of actors.
She said: "Victoria Smurfit said it was her best day filming, when she rode a camel into a stately home.
"There are three shots of him, one of him is wandering around the lawn.
"The thing about Kokoso is he's the most cool, calm and kind camel on set.
"We went and did a site visit and to get into the house we needed at least a 6ft 7in clearance to get him in and we had to turn him in an angle to get him into the room.
"What they hadn't told us is that the room was going to be packed with people.
"If that camel had moved an inch it would have been a catastrophe. There were long curtains and candles. Everybody loved him, though."
Another of the couple's animals was the world's only motion-captured camel when it filmed a scene for the Assassin's Creed computer game.
The camels are also in high demand for personal appearances and have recently been in the company of Jeremy Clarkson, David Cameron and Michael Gove.
The animals have also appeared in Aladdin, Kenneth Branagh's Death on the Nile and the Aeronauts.
Rebecca added: "They've met a few celebs along the way.
"We've had David Cameron's children on and Michael Gove. They've met a lot of actors along the way because of the films they've been in."
In a bizarre incident, Jeremy Clarkson even rode one of their animals during a camel race.
Joseph added: "Jeremy Clarkson was brilliant, he was a fantastic jockey.
"He was just a little bit big. He went down the track flat out, won three races. But Clarkson would do, wouldn't he, same as in a car."
The couple run Joseph's Amazing Camels from their farm and currently own a herd of 14 camels.
While day-to-day maintenance is similar to a horse, Rebecca said costs can skyrocket due to insurers refusing to cover the animals.
She said: "We've been running this particular business since 2000. Joe has been working with them for years. He's a professional animal worker.
"At the moment we now have 14, they eat quite a lot. The most we had was 18, but in Europe they can have up to 80.
"We have a barn that they go into at night, we have several large fields too.
"It's really important with camels that they can walk around. They're naturally nomadic, you can often see them walking around the field, they do a lot of wondering.
"It's like looking after a horse financially, you don't have to shoe them. They need
water, grass and hay in the winter time, and they're particularly keen on carrots.
"You can't get insurance on camels, either. We had a camel last year who cost us £3,500 to have a tooth removed. Those kinds of things happen.
"They are in demand and exposure through Rivals certainly helped.
"We love them as our own and we're proud we're the only people in the UK mad enough to breed them."
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