Sooty

For other uses, see Sooty (disambiguation).

File:Sootywave.jpg

Sooty the puppet

Sooty is a British puppet and TV character popular in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and other countries. The children's television show which bears the same name and has featured the character since the 1950s was, according to the Guinness Book of Records, the longest-running children's programme in the UK.

Sooty was originally devised by Harry Corbett (nephew of fish and chip shop chain owner Harry Ramsden), who bought the puppet as a present for his son, Matthew Corbett, from a stall when he was on holiday in Blackpool in 1948. Sooty, a small yellow bear with black ears, who was mute to the audience but could communicate with Harry by apparently whispering in his ear, was featured on BBC TV from 1952. The original bear was completely yellow, and Harry covered his ears and nose with soot so that he would show up better on black and white television - hence the puppet's name. He would later be joined by other puppet characters Sweep (a dog which communicated by a saxophone reed type squeak), Soo (a shy and sweetly spoken panda), Kipper (a cat), Butch (another dog who occasionally played the part of a villain), Ramsbottom (a snake), 'Enry the Robot (a robot), Cousin Scampi (another bear), Miki (another cat - this time, novelly, Brazilian) and Maggie Mouse (a mouse). Following Harry Corbett's retirement, Sooty was operated by his son Matthew, and enjoyed a new wave of popularity.

Sooty's personality fluctuated between kindness, cheekiness, and downright naughtiness, very often misinterpreting things said or suggested by Harry, Matthew or Soo (possibly intentionally). He played the xylophone and kept a wand with which he performed magic. This was accompanied by the catchphrase "Izzy wizzy, let's get busy!" His water pistol also became an icon - Matthew usually on the end of a soaking, although even royalty have fallen foul of the water. Matthew carried on Harry's tradition of ending every show with the line "Bye bye everybody, bye bye", and in Matthew's final ever episode, his final scene was a collection of him saying the immortal words from the preceding years.

In the late nineties, Matthew Corbett retired, marking the end of Sooty and Co. (based around the idea of the Sooty gang running a shop that "sells almost everything") and essentially gifted Sooty to then co-star Richard Cadell, who presented the show through another five series, at first under the name Sooty Heights, then under the name, Sooty, both set at a hotel. He was joined in these by two female co-hosts, starting with Liana Bridges from 1999-2000 who worked in Sooty and Co. in the same period he did, and then Vicki Lee Taylor from 2001-2003, who had previously worked on The Queen's Nose.

Sooty is frequently shown on the CITV Channel in the UK, usually weekdays at 3pm.

In June 2008, it was announced that Richard Cadell had bought the rights to Sooty, having been sold by HIT Entertainment in October 2007. Plans for three new TV show formats are underway, with a reworking of one of Matthew Corbett's stage shows due to tour early next year.

History

• First appears on the BBC's Talent Night (1952)
• Sooty and Harry become regulars on the BBC children's show Saturday Special (1952-1955)
• The Sooty Show is aired on the BBC (1955-1967)
  • In 1957 Sooty is joined by Sweep, and in 1964 Soo is introduced as Sooty's girlfriend
• The Sooty Show is cancelled by the BBC, changes to Thames Television and is aired on ITV (1968–1992)
  • In 1976 Matthew takes over his father's role
  • In 1990, Sooty's little cousin Scampi arrived causing mischief, originally just a one-off character, but joined the line-up one year later
• Sooty & Co. is aired on ITV with Granada Television (1993–1998)
• Sooty's Amazing Adventures, an animated cartoon series is aired (1996–1997)
  • In 1998, Matthew retired and hand-picked Richard Cadell and Liana Bridges to replace him
• Sooty Heights was aired on ITV (1999–2000)
• Sooty was aired on ITV (2001-2004)
• Sooty, and occasionally Sooty Heights, can currently be seen weekdays, 3pm on the CITV Channel in the UK.
• Richard Cadell buys the rights to Sooty, and promises a new stage show, and a new TV series.

TV series

File:Sootysweep2004.jpg

Sooty, Sweep, Richard and Vicki, as seen in the 2003 TV series

• The Sooty Show (1955-1992)
• Sooty & Co. (1993-1998)
• Sooty Heights (1999-2000)
• Sooty (2001-2004)

There was also an animated cartoon series, Sooty's Amazing Adventures, aired from 1996–1997. Sooty appeared on US television on The Mickey Mouse Club, each Tuesday during the first two seasons.

Stage shows

Sooty also had a successful number of (mainly Christmas) stage shows across the UK.

During Matthew Corbett's reign, seven stage shows were performed repetitively. 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. Gibbens would present.

• Sooty's Creepy Castle (1984/1985 - 1991/1992)
• Sooty's Picnic (1985/1986 - 1992/1993)
• Sooty's World Cruise (1986/1987 - 1993/1994)
• Sooty's Wild West Show (1987/1988 - 1994/1995)
• Sooty in Space (1988/1989 - 1995/1996)
• Sooty's Circus (1989/1990 - 1996/1997)
• The House That Sooty Built (1990/1991 - 1997/1998)

File:SootyMagicWand02.jpg

The 2008 stage show, Sooty's Magic Wand Factory

After Matthew retired, six stage shows toured the country. All starring Richard Cadell, three of them also featured Richard's Sooty Heights co-star, Liana Bridges, with the fourth starring Amanda Howard in Liana's place.

• Sooty's Magical Mystery Tour (1998/1999)
• Sooty's Treasure Hunt (1999/2000)
• Sooty's Magic Farm (2000/2001)
• The Magic and Mayhem Tour (2001/2002)
• The Izzy Wizzy Tour (2002/2003)
• The Comedy and Chaos Tour (2003/2004)

From 2005, annual shows, featuring the puppet characters and various different presenters, toured around the UK. More information.

• The Wet and Wild Show (2005)
• The Izzy Wizzy Holiday Show"(2006)
• Sooty's Magic Castle (2007)
• Sooty's Magic Wand Factory (2008)

Books

File:Sooty annual 4.jpg

Sooty's fourth annual

In the early to mid 1960s, there were at least five Sooty annuals published by the London Daily Mirror. These features an expanded cast of characters including:

• Sooty, who was shown as white not yellow and wore red trousers.
• Sweep, also white not grey, who walked on all fours like a normal dog, but could stand as a biped to play the bugle and so on.
• Cokey the clown, another close friend of Sooty.
• Mr Fusspot, Mayor of TV Town where the action takes place.
• PC Nab, one of the police of TV Town.
• Calico Joe, a fully clothed cat who smokes, always stands erect as a biped, and is the normal villain.
• Ali Artful, a black man who wears a fez and everyone knows is a thief.

A Sooty annual also appeared in 1991-92.

Guest appearances

• The Sooty show had a number of celebrities from all walks of life making an appearance on the show. Most notable was Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain who is a self confessed Sooty fan and always has the puppet as a mascot on the front of his drumkit, and has occasionally donned a full size Sooty costume at shows as an entrance.
• A number of famous faces made cameo appearances - usually as themselves - in Sooty and Co, including Gareth Hunt, Matthew Kelly, William Roache, Jack Dee, Paul Merton, Shane Ritchie, Frank Bruno, Neil Buchanan, Jim Bowen, Harry Hill, Barbie Wilde and Father Christmas!
• Sooty and Matthew Corbett had appeared on a Christmas episode of They Think It's All Over, attacking Nick Hancock with Sooty's water pistol after Hancock ruled against them in one game. Hancock exacted revenge by emptying a bottle of water over Corbett's head.
• Sooty also appeared in the video for "Is This the Way to Amarillo" 2005 remake mimed by Peter Kay. Sooty and his co star Sweep (puppet) appeared on the shoulders of Peter Kay as he ran down a corridor.
• Sweep (albeit with his face blurred) appeared in an episode of the BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me
• Sooty and Sweep appeared alongside Richard Cadell in June 2008, For a special 90th Birthday message for Nelson Mandela. It is available to view on YouTube.

Controversy

Although an innocent children's TV programme, Sooty did occasionally come under some controversy with the British watchdogs. Moments included:

• In 1964, the show was accused of placing sex into children's television, by the introduction of Sooty's Panda girlfriend, Soo.
• Pushing hard drugs - a 1980's episode had Sooty attempting to lock Sweep into a tranquilizing booth.
• Being anti-police - Sooty hitting PC Nab over the head with a toy hammer.
• Product placement was occasionally featured on the Sooty Show and Sooty & Co in the 1990s. Examples of this includes the episode where Sooty, Sweep et al go to Camelot Theme Park, at the time owned by the Granada TV company, and featuring a daily Sooty show in its theatre. This was featured as one of the four pictures from the Odd One Out round on an episode of Have I Got News for You on the subject of product placement.
• The character of Butch being criticised as being too frightening to young children.
• During the mid-nineties an episode was broadcast where Soo pretended to be pregnant in order to play a trick on Matthew, following a visit from a (human) friend who had just had a baby. This storyline has subsequently been twisted into an urban legend that Soo was actually pregnant despite the converse being clear to the viewer from the start of the episode. Such storylines are commonplace in television for young children who are likely to question the appearance of new siblings. Soo's ruse included pretending to crave unusual foods, morning sickness and placing a cushion underneath her dress. The combination of these "symptoms" was seemingly enough to fool Matthew for the duration of the episode.

Trivia

• In Sooty's late-sixties' and early-seventies' shows, a musical act featured were The Sooty Braden Showband. This featured Sooty and friends on various instruments playing alongside Musical Director Alan Braden and his band. The Sooty Show would close with a rousing performance from the band.
• Richard Cadell actually made a guest appearance in The Sooty Show Christmas Special in the 1980s - 10 years before taking over from Matthew Corbett.
• A large number of shows ended with or contained a song relating in someway to the episode, although over the years a number of songs were repeated and quickly became classics - the most famous being "Battle Of The Drums" and "Home Is Where The Heart Is".
• Twice during the Sooty Heights era, ITV2 declared Christmas Day as being "Sooty Day" - and dedicated its schedule to episodes and documentaries about Sooty.
• Sooty appeared on Kellogg's "Puffa Sugar Stars" cereal in the 1960s, then on "Puffa Puffa Rice" cereal starting in 1973.
• The Doug Anthony Allstars wrote a song describing Sooty as a skinhead.
• There used to be an extremely popular 'World of Sooty' museum in Shipley, West Yorkshire open in the early 1990s, but this was later replaced by an animatronic cat exhibition, which was in turn replaced by a marketing agency. There were also Sooty related attractions at the now defunct Granada Studios Tour in Manchester, and also at The American Adventure Theme Park in Derbyshire until the late 1990's. The park has since closed.
• The original Sooty now resides in the northern UK village of Brancepeth near Durham, with owner Charlotte Lonsdale also possessing a more recent version of the famous puppet.

See also

• Soo (puppet)
• Sweep (puppet)

External links

• [[The Official Sooty Website|http://www.thesootyshow.com}}
• Reaching Brand New Sooty Heights