Sooty

Sooty
The current logo of the franchise since 1995
Created by	Harry Corbett
Years	1955 – present
Films and television
Television series	The Sooty Show (1955–1992) Sooty & Co. (1993–1998) Sooty Heights (1999–2000) Sooty (2001–2004) Sooty (2011–2018)
Animated series	Sooty's Amazing Adventures (1997–1998)
Direct-to-video	Learn With Sooty (1989–1991) Sooty's Magic (2000–2002)
Official website
https://www.thesootyshow.co.uk/

Sooty is a British children's television media franchise created by Harry Corbett incorporating primarily television and stage shows. The franchise originated with his fictional glove puppet character introduced to television in The Sooty Show in 1955. The main character, Sooty, is a mute yellow bear with black ears and nose, who is kind-hearted but also cheeky. Sooty performs magic tricks and practical jokes, and squirts his handler and other people with his water pistol. The franchise itself also includes several other puppet characters who were created for television, as well as an animated series, two spin-off series for the direct-to-video market, and a selection of toy merchandising.

The franchise remained in the ownership of Corbett until his retirement in 1976, before being passed on to his son Matthew. The rights to the franchise were sold in 1996 to a development firm who formed a holding company for the property, with Matthew later retiring and handing over control of the puppet characters to Richard Cadell in 1998. 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. He has since focused on ensuring the survival of the brand with new stage shows and television programmes.