MUCH as we’d love to bring you an exclusive interview with Sooty, he’s not much of a talker.
Thankfully, the little bear who is celebrating his 75th, allowed his best friend Richard Cadell to speak to us, ahead of a show coming to The Hexagon in Reading next spring.
The theme is his birthday party, and it aims to celebrate the little mischief maker who once squirted his water pistol over Prince Philip – the scamp – as well as Sooty Show comperes Harry, Matthew and now Richard.
The original glove puppet was bought on Blackpool North Pier in 1948, when Harry Corbett was looking to entertain his family on their holiday. Four years later and the pair were on the BBC, beginning what has become the longest-running children’s TV programme in the world.
While Sooty manages to move with the times, at the heart of their act is slapstick humour that makes all ages laugh. After all, when is a custard pie in the face never not funny?
Harry’s son Matthew took over in the 1970s, Richard has been at the helm since the start of the century, with his shows regularly screened by ITV. He has been friends with the bear for longer – his first appearance on the show was in the mid-80s when, as a teenager, he showcased his amazing magical skills.
He owes his talents to the piano and the fact he hated lessons. He managed to persuade his mum to swap tinkling the ivories for learning how to saw a woman in half. And he was inspired by watching Paul Daniels – “Mr Saturday Night TV” explains Richard – as well as US magicians such as David Copperfield and David Blaine.
But instead of disappearing jet planes or walking on water as his idols did, Richard is on the receiving end of a water pistol. How?
Richard explains that he became a professional magician when he left school.
“I did do big illusions, and I still do them, including a vanishing motorcycle, and I was trying to be the British David Copperfield, doing big tricks. Sooty was a very, very different genre to anything I’d done, but they didn’t want a kids TV presenter to take over.
“It was so very far removed from me, but I immediately knew that it was my calling, as it were. I’d always been a fan and it just felt absolutely right.”
Richard is aware of Sooty’s legacy, having appeared on it when he was 15, as well as watching when he was a nipper.
“We all grew up with Sooty. Everybody knows him – most kids characters today, there are so many of them and most adults haven’t got a clue. With Sooty, 80%-90% of people know him because they grew up with him.
“I was just incredibly nervous when I took over, because he is the star of the show, and always will be, long after I’ve gone.”
Richard has very carefully modernised Sooty. The most recent series saw him, Sweep and Soo ‘help’ out at a holiday camp called Slaters, and roped in amazing guest stars including Ann Widdecombe, Paul Daniels, and Stacey Soloman, among many others.
“I’m very proud,” he says of the show that is repeated continually to very good viewing figures. “I made the show I wanted to make. I didn’t go to some sort of think tank for child psychology. I sat down with my friends and wrote shows that reflected the characters as I remembered them.
“They were genuinely quite funny, and they clicked. It was easy to stay true to the formula because it wasn’t broken. I felt all I needed to do was just move things on a bit quicker, because children’s TV today is much faster visually.”
He continues: “Matthew Corbett said the characters work best when they’re out in the real world – not in the studio. We shot with real children in a real environment like the theme park. I think that is our strength – modernising it has been to take the characters out of their sort of traditional hide-behind-the-table scenario. We were able to do a lot more with the characters because we took them all over the place.”
Now, he can’t wait to bring the show back to The Hexagon, on Sunday, February 11, at a family-friendly time of 2.30pm.
The show sees Sooty, Sweep and Soo preparing for a party. So, expect a messy baking session for the cake, Sweep’s dancing to bring the house down and Soo’s worries about her party wear causing laughter.
Also, Sooty is planning his biggest magic trick yet – making a member of the audience float in the air.
It wouldn’t be a Sooty without a water pistol. No royalty this time, but he has got audiences firmly in his sights with a new super soaker that will reach right to the back of the theatre.
Add in visits from special guests including Butch the Bulldog, Ramsbottom the Snake and circus superstar Michael Jordan, and you have a performance to remember.
Richard cannot wait.
“The stage show is what it’s at,” he says. “I’ve always been a stage performer, Harry Corbett was a stage performer. And don’t forget, Sooty was not made for television, it was a stage act that became a television show.
“What I try and do is involve the audience all the time. We don’t do a story where they sit back and attend. You have to give us full attention – it’s silly jokes, singalongs and audience participation.”
Being Sooty, you’ve got great-grandparents as well as children who grew up watching Sooty enjoying the laughter: “It’s very much a family experience,” Richard promises.
The Hexagon is one of Richard’s favourite places to visit. “It’s such a great venue. I like to get as close to the audience as possible. When you get an auditorium like The Hexagon, it’s almost like they are surrounding you. It’s a great intimate feeling there.
“I love being on the road with Sooty, it’s a great experience and I never tire of it.”
And afterwards? “One of the things I adore is that after each show Sooty goes in the foyer and children can queue up and say hello. Sooty enjoys it.”
He smiles: “You’ve got to remember, Sooty is 75, but he’s like Peter Pan in that he never grows up. In our little world, he’s five – so here’s a five-year-old boy who gets to go and squirt adults with water pistols, throw pies in the face and get away with it. What kid wouldn’t want to do that? How could you not love every second of it?”
Tickets for The Sooty Show are on sale now, and cost £18.50 for under 16s and £21 for adults. They can be bought by calling the box office on 0118 960 6060, or logging on to whatsonreading.com.
For more on the show, and Sooty himself, log on to: www.thesootyshow.com
