[1] Sam is a dignified, former music hall artist who now works with his elderly trained dog Bella, busking in the West End of London.

Liz and Mark live nearby with their parents, Chrissie and Bob, and baby brother James in a drab, cramped basement flat.

Having mentioned it in passing, he agrees to take them to visit the Hyde Park pet cemetery, where he anticipates Bella will be buried someday after an elaborate funeral, the next day on his way to the West End.

The following day they visit their dad at work to see if he will give them the balance to pay for their dog, but he tells them he needs to save everything he can if he is to have a hope of getting the flat.

They return to Sam who, reluctant to concede that Bella's condition is terminal, agrees to give them the balance they need as an advance for more baby-sitting duties.

He leaves and, after tying Battersea to his table, the children take Bella's body, and at night sneak into the cemetery at Hyde Park and bury it there.

They hide when their dad and Sam arrive outside the cemetery with Battersea, but fall asleep as the two talk into the night about life, death, dogs and children.

"[5] while The New York Times described the film as "the sort of old-fashioned excursion into sentiment that ought to warm the hearts of parents in search of that elusive piece of merchandise that goes under the name of good family entertainment.

Peter Sellers, with a wardrobe of old music hall clothes, a talented but aged dog named Bella and a pram he pushes around London, plays the lonely, idiosyncratic old busker.