To celebrate Sooty’s special anniversary, he’s taking to the road with Richard and the whole gang for his 75th Birthday Spectacular, a special UK national tour that kicks off on October 21 at Bradford’s Alhambra Theatre and runs through until April 2024. In 2021 "Sooty and The Trifle of Doom" was announced to be distributed by Kaleidoscope Film Distribution. He also remembers being invited to 10 Downing Street with Sooty within three weeks of first starting working with him in 1998, for a special awards ceremony honouring brave children, hosted by then Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair and his wife Cherie – who Sooty decided to squirt with his water pistol. He also celebrates Sooty still finding an audience among children’s shows that look very different to him and his friends now. In time, his use of the puppet to entertain children with a variety of comedic routines and magic tricks earned him a place on the BBC's talent competition, Talent Night, being held at Belle Vue, Manchester in 1952.

Cadell made his first appearance on The Sooty Show as a 15-year-old guest performer when he was named Young Magician of the Year by the Magic Circle. In June 2008, Cadell bought the rights with the intention of saving the franchise and ensuring its future. All routines in both are primarily aimed at providing family-friendly entertainment suitable for young children. It was produced by Cosgrove Hall Films (the producers of Count Duckula and Danger Mouse); they gave Sweep, and Scampi actual voices and kept Sooty the same, having to nod his head to say "yes" or "no" or miming what his ideas are. The two most prominent additions were made during his tenure with the BBC: Sweep in 1957, handled by his brother Leslie Corbett; and Soo in 1964, voiced by his wife Marjorie and brought in after backlash on the BBC's desire not to include a female character.But with all the changes in technology and entertainment over the years, how has Sooty, alongside long-time pals Sweep and Soo, managed to stay relevant and continue to enjoy popularity and success into his eighth decade? Harry Corbett famously bought the first Sooty puppet on Blackpool’s North Pier for seven shillings and six pence in 1948 to entertain his children. Alongside conducting new stage shows, he also began work on producing a new programme, which eventually launched on CITV in 2011 under the title of Sooty. Richard promises that they are ‘pulling out all the stops to make it a brilliant show’, fit for Sooty’s special anniversary.

And this summer sees the opening of Sooty Land, a multi-ride attraction at Crealy Theme Park in Exeter. The overall change involved the use of black dust (or 'soot') upon the ears and nose, which inspired Corbett to change the puppet's name from Teddy to Sooty. That’s one of my favourite illusions, actually, and I’m thrilled that Sooty is going to be able to present it in the show. Purchasing the item, he made use of it to entertain his children during that time, including his newborn son Peter, naming the puppet Teddy.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. After initial ownership changes from Gullane Entertainment to HIT Entertainment the franchise suffered some setbacks in 2004 and eventually Cadell bought the rights in June 2008. I think the great thing with Sooty – and this is a famous Harry Corbett quote – is that he’s never really been in fashion, so he’s never really been out! Talking about the simplicity, he then literally said to me, “You put it on your hand, and you wiggle it about”, and that was that was the extent of the teaching! The concept was created by Corbett's brother Leslie Corbett through the use of a saxophone reed, and became a permanent element of the character upon his debut.

In 1997, Matthew devised an animated spin-off, titled Sooty's Amazing Adventures, which ran between 1997–98 and featured a different style of adventures to the live-action show, including voices for Scampi and Sweep, and a different voice actor for Soo. Fifty years later, he’s still waggling them, only now he does it professionally, on stage and television. The creation of the franchise is traced back to 1948, when Corbett came across an all yellow bear glove puppet during a holiday in Blackpool. But Debbie McGee is one of my closest friends and we do laugh about it, because it generated so much publicity that Paul’s theatre show sold out continually for the next few months. Sooty has now been around for over 70 years, but has always been 5 years of age and still continues to entertain audiences to this day.

Sooty and Matthew Corbett appeared in a special episode of Thames Television's other mainstay of children's programming, Rainbow. He added: “The nation’s love for the little yellow bear with a sooty nose and paws never seems to dim. Twice during the Sooty Heights era, ITV2 declared Christmas Day as being "Sooty Day" - and dedicated its schedule to episodes and documentaries about Sooty. From 2005 to 2008, annual shows, featuring the puppet characters and various different presenters, toured around the UK. Following his father's retirement, Matthew Corbett took sole responsibility for the puppets on The Sooty Show, although he was forced to forgo his own programme as a direct result.

Sweep is a British puppet and television character popular in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and other countries. They then spent more of their own money making a 50-minute pilot episode in which Sooty and his friends enjoy a day out at Brean. The glove puppet gained a sufficient profile from television exposure that his likeness became a feature on charity collection boxes used by the Royal National Institute of Blind People in the late 1950s. Sooty puppet was previously owned by stagehand Brian Isaacs who worked on the popular children’s show. We can’t resist – on the passenger side, may I add – just bringing Sooty over to the window and waving and people nearly swerve off the road sometimes!Sooty was originally a completely yellow glove puppet until Harry's wife covered his nose and ears with soot so he would show up more on black and white televisions. The first character, Sweep, was designed to be a dog and friend of Sooty, who would be portrayed as being dim-witted but good-natured and innocent, who would often make mistakes that would cause problems for others, often get his own back on others when tricked, and have an obsession with bones. You’re still going to get squirted with a hose, you’re still going to get a pie in your face, whether it’s with an iPad, or whether it’s with a xylophone from 50 years ago. On television programmes, the presenter – Sooty's owner and main puppeteer – often acts as narrator for scenes involving the character and other puppets, thus providing a 'voice' for Sooty during their narration to portray the character speaking normally with other puppet characters.