The Sooty Show [DVD]

Product Information

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

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. The Sooty Show was created by Harry Corbett, a children's entertainer and magician, following the popularity of his puppet character Sooty on children's television and the decision by BBC Television to commission him for several episodes featuring the character. Corbett hosted several episodes for the BBC, originally under the title of Sooty, before later renaming it to the title that would be use throughout its broadcast history, along with creating additional characters that would become key elements to the children's media franchise sharing the character's name. In 1967, Corbett fell into disagreement with BBC producers over the presentation of the programme, and with the decision by Paul Fox, BBC1 controller at that time, to cancel the programme, he signed a deal with ITV to move The Sooty Show to their channel. [3] Production was handled by Thames Television shortly after its return in 1968, with Corbett presenting the programme until he was forced to retire in 1975, with his son Matthew Corbett presenting the programme until its conclusion in 1992, when Thames lost its franchise.

Get involved

Sooty, and occasionally Sooty Heights, can currently be seen weekdays, 3pm on the CITV Channel in the UK.

Sooty and the gang starred in the "Make it!" episode of "Text Santa - Help with Hattitude" in 2013. Super Star (Compilation DVD with ' Danger Mouse', ' Rainbow', ' Button Moon', ' Chorlton and the Wheelies', and ' Jamie and the Magic Torch'.) 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's Fun House will be presented by Bonnie Spencer while Richard is preparing For the Sooty Movie. 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. 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. The gang are opening a souvenir pottery stall at the park - but the pottery gets smashed. 7. The Souvenir Stall 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 1990s. The park has since closed.

In 2009, Sooty along with Sweep and Soo appeared in Peter Kay's Animated All Star Band music video on "Children in Need". Calico Joe, a fully clothed cat who smokes, always stands erect as a biped, and is the normal villain. Sweep is scared of the water and cannot reach his frisbee when it lands in the sea. 2. The Swimming Lesson

Helping the community

Twice during the Sooty Heights era, ITV2 declared Christmas Day as being "Sooty Day" - and dedicated its schedule to episodes and documentaries about Sooty.