The Sooty Show [DVD]

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Sooty – A mute yellow male bear, and the protagonist of the show alongside its human presenters. The show introduced his trademark traits of tapping a surface to whisper into the presenter's ear what he wishes to say, owning a magic wand, the use of his magic words "Izzy wizzy, let's get busy!", and his fondness for using a water pistol. In 1990, Sooty's little cousin Scampi arrived causing mischief, originally just a one-off character, but joined the line-up one year later. 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. Outside the UK, the show was also given international broadcasts in other countries: these included ABC in Australia; TVNZ in New Zealand; and the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States.

The Sooty Show proved a success with children's television, due to the popularity of Sooty, spawning additional sequels including Sooty & Co. in 1993, as well as several stage shows, and a spin-off educational series titled Learn With Sooty. The programme itself was later made available on VHS and DVD, featuring episodes from primarily the 1980s to 1990s. Twice during the Sooty Heights era, ITV2 declared Christmas Day as being "Sooty Day" - and dedicated its schedule to episodes and documentaries about Sooty.Marjorie Corbett (1964–1981) – The first voice of Soo, whom her husband Harry had created as a talking female panda. She remained a part of the show until after the first series of the format change. According to Brenda Longman, who took over the voice of Soo, the reason Marjorie was replaced was because her heavy smoking caused her to be short of breath. It was also felt that she made Soo sound too old.

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

Sheridan, Simon (2004). The A-Z of Classic Children's Television: From Alberto Frog to Zebedee. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. pp.232–235. ISBN 1903111277. 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.

The Sooty Show proved popular with children and helped to develop the Sooty franchise, culminating in the formation of additional television programmes that would run on the format brought in by Matthew Corbett in the 1980s. After the programme's conclusion, it was followed with a sequel in 1993, titled Sooty & Co.. The programme also spawned an educational spin-off series for young children, titled Learn With Sooty, that was produced for the direct-to-video market between 1989 and 1991, and several stage shows involving the puppets, Matthew, and Connie Creighton. Its early success led to it receiving a short-run comic strip based on the character, for the children's magazine Playhour between 1960 and 1961, drawn by Gordon Hutchings. [5] It is Richard's day off so Sooty and Sweep have helped him prepare a picnic. 14. The Drive in the Country Sooty, Sweep and Soo help Richard organise a party for the opening of the Children's Club. 16. The Children's Party In 2017, Sooty and Richard Cadell appeared on the BBC games show "Pointless Celebrities" where they read out a selection of questions on children's television, including "which member of the royal family did Sooty squirted in 1955 (Prince Philip). After this Sooty squirted the host, Alexander Armstrong with his water pistol. The third format used by the programme was introduced by Matthew in 1981, later becoming a staple for all future programmes in the Sooty franchise. Under the new format, Matthew discontinued the use of a studio audience and comedic sketches, in lieu of a sitcom format focused on a single misadventure, with himself, Sooty, Sweep and Soo sharing a suburban house together. Elements of the previous format, such as guest stars and music, were retained, with narration added in for scenes focused entirely on the puppets; story-telling was also retained, but phased out over the 1980s. The new format included the use of educational elements in some stories, and the creation of specially designed sets for the puppet characters, which would be later updated and maintained in subsequent programmes in the Sooty franchise – in particular, a bathroom set created for the programme was specially designed so that its miniature taps and shower dispensed running water.In June 2008, it was announced that Richard Cadell had bought the rights to Sooty, having been put up for sale 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. Sooty appeared on Kellogg's "Puffa Sugar Stars" cereal in the 1960s, then on "Puffa Puffa Rice" cereal starting in 1973.