Sooty's Amazing Adventures

Sooty's Amazing Adventures
Created by	Matthew Corbett
Starring	Susie Blake Jimmy Hibbert Rob Rackstraw
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	16
Production
Running time	10 minutes
Production companies	Cosgrove Hall Films Meridian Broadcasting
Original release
Network	ITV Network (CITV)
Release	1996 – 1997

'Sooty's Amazing Adventures' was a short-lived 'one-series' animated spin off series of the popular puppet show Sooty.

In this incarnation of the famous bear, he is a full bodied bear; free from the puppeteer's hand. The show centered on Sooty and the Gang living in a run-down old theatre, located in an unnamed coastal seaside town. The main stage of the theatre, features a trapdoor where the Gang embark on various adventures and also through (and back in) time.

Episodes of the series

• Mummy's Boys: The gang want to go to Switzerland on a sporting holiday, but they use the trapdoor, and get transported to Egypt.
• A Hula Secret:
• Hot Air: A Hot Air Balloon enthusiast, Captain Fogbound, pays Catarina a visit, and Sweep, Soo and Scampi accidentally fly away in his Balloon, and it's up to Sooty to save them.
• Desert Song: On a very hot day, Sooty and the gang decide to go to Antarctica, but once again, the trapdoor takes them somewhere completely different, this time a desert.
• Things That Go McSqueak in the Night: After getting thrown off their tour bus in Scotland, Sooty, Sweep, Soo and Scampi are stranded, until they find a castle, where they discover their Scottish cousins.
• Alas Poor Sooty: The gang put on a Play, supposed to be a tragedy, but not everything goes as planned.
• Hopalong Sooty: Sweep wants to go back in time to the Wild West via the trapdoor, but once they're there, the gang encounter a criminal named 'Filthy Ted', and Sooty tries to sort him out.
• Sooty Hood and his Merry Bears:
• Chocolate With Nuts:
• Scampi and the Computer Chips: Scampi buys a robot, so he doesn't have to do his chores, but unfortunately, the robot goes haywire, and the gang has to stop it.
• A Hard Days Knight: Through a Wishing Well, Scampi makes the gang and himself transport back to Medieval England, but they get captured by a Knight named Sir Oswald the Merciless, which intends to put them in the dungeons.
• Life's Such A Dragon:
• Close Encounters Of The Furred Kind: Sooty and the gang are on the roof of the theatre, when Soo spots a Shooting Star. She thinks she sees another one, but it turns out to be an alien spaceship, and the gang get abducted by the aliens inside.
• Mars, She's Making Eyes at Me:
• The Big Picture:
• A Knight at the Theatre:
• 20,000 Sweeps Under The Sea:

Setting and location

The gang live in an old run down theatre in an unknown/unnamed English coastal town. The four embark on their adventures through a trapdoor located on the theatre's main stage which would take them to various places and times. However more often than not the trapdoor fails to send them to their desired location.

Characters

Sooty A quiet and smart bear who is the undisputed leader of the gang. Sooty being a mute finds communication difficult but often gets what he is trying to say across to the rest of the cast. He wears a pair of bright red overalls with 2 yellow buttons and usually saves his friends with his trusty magic wand which he is only permitted to use once per adventure.

Sweep Now being able to speak with a rather groany voice rather than the 'squeak' he is so well known for. Sweep is not the brainiest of the bunch and often thinks of nothing else than food which often involves 'sausages'. A rather cowardly canine he never usually hangs around when danger is near. He is voiced by Rob Rackstraw. He is a Dog with a red nose. He wears a green and blue dungarees, green Underpants and a red collar.

Soo A female panda with an attitude who does not stand for any of the mischief the other two usually get themselves into. Soo could be seen as the sensible one who whips the others into some kind of organisation. She wears a blue dress with yellow flower on it and White Underpants. She is voiced by Susie Blake.

Little Cousin Scampi The smallest and youngest of the gang, and Sooty's little cousin too. If mischief has been aroused it is most probably this little bear who has orchestrated it. Appears in a schoolboy outfit. He is voiced by Jimmy Hibbert.

Other characters

Apart from the many friends the gang make on their adventures, the only recurring character in the series, is a well spoken aged Persian cat named 'Catarina' whose seldom stands for nonsense and often criticises the gang for their conduct.

Survival (Archive status)

In 2014, it was revealed (in an interview with Richard Cadell himself), That when the current Sooty presenter/rights holder had acquired the rights to Sooty in 2008, he received lots and lots of archived Sooty material in the process. This included all the master tapes to the Sooty's Amazing Adventures series, which he actually destroyed out of not liking it and not wanting anyone to see it.

However, in 1997 and 1999, two VHS tapes were produced, named Things That Go Mcsqueak in the Night, and Alas, Poor Sooty, both featuring 4 episodes each. They are very hard to find, but the full tapes have since been uploaded to YouTube. Also, YouTube user The Sooteries Channel has uploaded the original broadcasts of 4 episodes of the series, one of which, Close Encounters of the Furred Kind, was not featured on any of the videos, and is the only known surviving recording of the episode so far.

Cadell has since been approached by many other outside sources with the idea (and also attempt) of producing a CGI reboot of Sooty, but he does not want such a series to be made.