The Sooty Show Sooty Hand Puppet

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While Cadell continued to operate stage shows and produce a second spin-off series, titled Sooty's Magic, for the direct-to-video market, Sooty Heights was changed by Gullane Entertainment in 2001. Richard discovered from them afterwards that it was the first time their son had ever dressed them directly. When portrayed in performances on television and stage shows, the character was cheeky and naughty, fond of playing practical jokes, but was also kind-hearted and good. In the early to mid 1960s, there were at least five Sooty annuals published by the London Daily Mirror. Knowing he would need to retire, Corbett opted to hand over control of his puppets and the franchise to his son Peter, who was now performing in children's television under the stage name of Matthew Corbett, with his own programme.

As a result, Corbett's work affected his health badly, culminating in him having a heart attack in December 1975. Unfortunately, kids’ TV is very underfunded, so we offer very little in terms of fees, but it hasn’t put anyone off. Reflecting on the milestone anniversary of Sooty, Richard, 54, reckons his longevity is down to his simplicity. It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. In time, his use of the puppet to entertain children with a variety of comedic routines and magic tricks earned him a place on the BBC's talent competition, Talent Night, being held at Belle Vue, Manchester in 1952.We can’t resist – on the passenger side, may I add – just bringing Sooty over to the window and waving and people nearly swerve off the road sometimes! The original voice artist and puppeteer for Soo was Harry Corbett's wife, Marjorie Corbett, who voiced Soo until 1980. Sooty appeared on US television on The Mickey Mouse Club, each Tuesday during the first two seasons. He pretty much looks identical to this, and pretty much does the same thing – so Sooty has been able to live in children’s bedrooms and in schools, and in all manner of places, on the hands of fans and be exactly the same thing. It became almost a school lesson with not a single joke in the damn thing, and ITV said, ‘Kids aren’t watching it like they used to.

Sooty appeared on Kellogg's "Puffa Sugar Stars" cereal in the 1960s, then on "Puffa Puffa Rice" cereal starting in 1973. Matthew told me it was a family business, run around the kitchen table, and it needs that approach,” he says. He also celebrates Sooty still finding an audience among children’s shows that look very different to him and his friends now. In 2009, Sooty along with Sweep and Soo appeared in Peter Kay's Animated All Star Band music video on "Children in Need". These included discontinuing the use of an audience and comedic sketches, dropping a number of puppet characters – leaving only Sooty, Sweep and Soo as the main stars – and setting the show to a sitcom format set within a suburban home, in which Matthew and the puppets faced a misadventure in each episode.Faced with the prospect of this or his programme being cancelled, Corbett decided to sign a deal with ITV to bring Sooty to commercial television, having earlier performed with the character in one of the channel's first product advertisement. Since then, he has performed in (and on) the capable hands of Harry, who passed on the family business to son Matthew Corbett, and now Richard Caddell, who has been ‘Sooty’s friend’ since 1998.

Sooty has stated that his favourite magic trick is to make an egg appear on somebody's head, so that it can then smashed by Sweep. Episodes of the programme mostly were aimed at comedic value, but elements of education were included in some stories; a spin-off educational series generated for pre-school audiences, titled Learn With Sooty, was later released between 1989 and 1991.Soo is an intelligent, calm and collected female panda who acts as the foil for both Sooty and Sweep. All routines in both are primarily aimed at providing family-friendly entertainment suitable for young children. In Sooty's late-sixties' and early-seventies' shows, a musical act featured were The Sooty Braden Showband. When Corbett suffered a debilitating heart attack on Christmas Eve, 1975, he passed presenting duties to his son, Matthew, who had begun his TV career on Rainbow.

In later years, the character tends to sometimes hate being tricked by the others, but does not mind enjoying a laugh when someone else is being tricked. When Richard Cadell bought the rights to Sooty, Longman was asked back and her first TV appearance as Soo was when she appeared on The Weakest Link in 2007.The first character, Sweep, was designed to be a dog and friend of Sooty, who would be portrayed as being dim-witted but good-natured and innocent, who would often make mistakes that would cause problems for others, often get his own back on others when tricked, and have an obsession with bones. According to PA news agency, Brian “begged” officials on The Sooty Show to allow him to take the glove puppet home for his son Lee Kent, now 46, who was a fan of the show. Sooty puppet was previously owned by stagehand Brian Isaacs who worked on the popular children’s show. For the first half of the tours, Matthew and Connie Creighton would present, and during the second half, while Matthew was busy writing and filming the TV shows, Connie and Spencer K.