Sooty & Co.

Context & Trivia

The puppets' story begins in 1948, when Harry Corbett bought Sooty at a joke shop in Blackpool; the first television appearance followed in 1952 on the BBC. Matthew Corbett inherited the characters in 1976 and continued the glove-puppet tradition, in which all expressiveness depends on the movement of the puppet's head and eyes. The shift to a second-hand shop setting — compared to 'The Sooty Show' (1992) — widened the range of comic situations without changing the puppetry technique: Granada Television in association with Sooty Films filmed the series at Granada's Manchester studios.

Each member of the glove-puppet cast has its own technical solution for communication. Sooty relies on whispers channelled through a squeaking device and the catchphrase 'Izzy wizzy, let's get busy!'. Sweep's high-pitched squealing language is produced by blowing through a saxophone-style reed. Soo, the pink panda, is the only puppet with a fully articulated speaking voice, performed by Brenda Longman, who also appeared on screen in the live-action role of market trader Mo. Scampi, Sooty's small cousin, was created specifically for this production to introduce new dynamics within the puppet ensemble.

The show ran on ITV from 6 September 1993 to 14 December 1998, across 90 episodes and six series. In the final series, Richard Cadell and Liana Bridges appeared as guest presenters to ease the transition ahead of Matthew Corbett's retirement in 1998, when he sold the rights to the characters to Cadell. The series was succeeded by 'Sooty Heights' in 1999.