Three huge dragons to light up 2025 Illuminations

The three 22ft (7m) high dragons will be positioned near Blackpool Tower

A trio of huge smoke-breathing dragons will form the centrepiece of this year's Blackpool Illuminations.

The 22ft (7m) high creations will be positioned near Blackpool Tower during the free lights display, which will run from 29 August until 4 January.

Meanwhile, there will also be an open-air gallery by acclaimed wildlife artist Robert E Fuller, as well as a six-panel illuminated roadway section inspired by artist Jason Wilsher-Mills's childhood memories of Blackpool in 1978.

Singer and actor Olly Murs will pull the big switch in a special promenade show to light up the Lancashire seaside resort.

The dragons are part of Guardians of the North, a new creative project by Illuminations creative curator Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.

Wrapped around turrets, the dragons will "come alive" with light and smoke on the Tower Festival Headland.

Artist Jason Wilsher-Mills MBE was inspired by childhood trips to the Illuminations for his creation LOVE

There will be a new projection on the Blackpool Tower building by artist Ant Dickinson.

He is including an interactive element which will enable visitors to scan a QR code to "summon their chosen dragon and see it move across the building".

Of his contribution, Wilsher-Mills said: "When I was growing up on a council estate in Wakefield, as a working class lad, a coach trip would take the whole of the estate to see the Illuminations.

"Blackpool seemed to me as a child that it was bigger than anything I had ever experienced before, and was in fact magic.

"I have tried to capture the magic of the famous town in my artworks, which will grace the Illuminations."

For this year's Blackpool Illuminations, creative curator Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen has reimagined pampered dogs as regal icons in silks, frills and gilded attire

HUG, by internationally acclaimed street artist My Dog Sighs, will feature 12 unique versions of his Everyman character