A dog dubbed “Britain’s loneliest” has won a role in a Hollywood blockbuster after a local newspaper appeal was picked up by a national sister title.

Staffordshire Bull Terrier Freya is set to appear in the Transformers 5 film after director Michael Bay noticed the story, initially run by the Southport Visiter.

Freya had earned her unfortunate tag after staff at Freshfields Animal Rescue Centre, near Liverpool, spent the last six years trying to rehome her.

The Visiter ran a story on Freya last year and a follow-up appeal last month, which was picked up on Trinity Mirror’s TMWire service – a tool which allows journalists within the group to flag up or share full stories with other editors.

Freya, dubbed ‘Britain’s loneliest dog’

Bay noticed Freya’s story after it appeared on the Mirror Online website, and has now said he plans to cast her in his new movie, which will be filmed in the UK this summer, after sharing the appeal on Twitter.

The animal lover, whose films include Armageddon and Pearl Harbor, has also pledged to help find her a home.

Visiter Editor Andrew Brown said: “Freya first appeared in an appeal last year which featured in the Midweek Visiter and on Visiter.co.uk. We publish lots of appeals for Freshfields Animal Rescue Centre, and are always happy to help all of the animal centres we have locally.

“We ran a follow-up story last month, written by Visiter reporter Emilia Bona, after Good Morning Britain went down to film Freya. Lots of offers came in as interest in Freya’s plight snowballed.

“I was working at around 11.30pm on Thursday night when I received a very excited message from Debbie Hughes, a supporter at Freshfields who I’ve worked with on a number of stories about the centre.

“Hearing how Freya had earned a part in the new Transformers 5 movie – and seeing the Tweets from director Michael Bay – was just surreal.

“I published the article shortly before midnight, and shared via Facebook and Twitter. Some stories can’t wait. It’s great to see that every dog does eventually have its day. All we need now is to see Freya – after six long years – find a loving home.”