Graduate has 84 DVDs of Mamma Mia! as people keep buying it for her
A graduate has ended up with 84 copies of Mamma Mia DVDs - as people keep on buying her them as presents.
Leah Rankin originally ended up with two copies of the 2008 smash hit when her grandma forgot she'd already given one of the DVDs to her. After the 22-year-old then found herself with a third one when her dad Ralph Rankin also mistakenly bought her a copy thinking she would enjoy it, a running joke ensued. Tickled that his daughter now had three copies, and after repeatedly spotting the DVDs languishing in charity shops, the 56-year-old began to snap them up.
The business owner managed to track down 71 copies of the original movie and the 2018 sequel, wrapping each one up before proudly presenting them to her. And the number has kept climbing, with her now having 84. But the dad-of-one shows no signs of slowing down, having already forked out £60 on the long-running joke and with his sights set on bombarding her with 500 in total. Long-suffering Leah conceded the whole thing was strange but said it was very typical of her dad.
Ralph, from Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, Scotland, said: “Her nana used to sit and watch DVDs with her, and Mamma Mia! was one of them. When she was younger, she bought the DVD for them to watch. A few months later, she bought her another Mamma Mia DVD for her birthday, forgetting that she had already bought her one. She had three copies for a number of years. After I'd seen Mamma Mia!s in charity shops and secondhand DVD shops, I thought I'd just start buying them. She hasn't seen it for a few years, but she may have to watch it now.
“If I'm out and about I'll see a charity shop and go in, you do find them a lot in charity shops. In one shop I found a dozen, and when I went to buy them the lady looked at me as if I was mad.”
Ralph hopes to reach 100 copies in time for Leah's birthday in February and reach 500 in the next few years. Fun-loving Ralph admits that people online have found his reasons for his collection strange, but he says he just wants the DVDs.
Bemused Leah said: “It's strange but for my dad it's pretty expected, it's the kind of thing that he does. When I opened the first couple of copies I thought 'how many am I going to get here?' and they just kept coming. I love the film, it's definitely a family thing, because I used to watch it with my mum and my nana. It's funny and strange, it's very typical of my dad, it's the kind of thing that he does, it's very strange. All my friends think it's crazy they've seen it on Facebook and TikTok and send it to me saying look who's popped up and I just say yeah, that's my dad.”
After posting the collection online, ABBA lovers have started sending Ralph their own copies of the film to help boost the numbers.
Ralph said: “I was thinking I might stop at 100 but then I thought 'no, why stop?' I'm just going to keep going. I've kept her birthday present quiet for now, but I'm hoping to get 100 DVDs in time for it. People have asked why I'm doing this, why I need so many, but it's just because I want them - to keep the running joke. It's nice that the public got involved as well, it's quite sweet. In a couple of years I'll probably have around 500, who knows."
Ralph shared the quirky collection on TikTok, where Leah commented: “As if the three I had wasn't enough.”
The post racked up comments from social media users, who were both baffled and supportive in equal measure. One commenter said: “Oh well if one stops for some reason you have a back up.” Another said: “I've never had more respect for someone before.” One said: “They're all the same thing, I don't understand why you need that many.”