Sooty puppet's name. He would later be joined by other puppet glove characters, including Sweep (a dog who communicates by a saxophone reed type squeak), Soo (a shy and sweetly spoken panda), Kipper (a cat), Butch (another dog who occasionally plays the part of a villain), Ramsbottom (a snake), 'Enry the Robot, Cousin Scampi (another bear, who is Sooty's cousin), Miki (another cat - this time Brazilian) and Maggie Mouse. Like Sooty, Scampi appears to talk only in a very light whisper which can be heard only when someone puts their ear close to his mouth. Matthew Corbett, the son of
Sooty past 20 years, but now it is time for him to stand on his own two feet. The plan is to use my 50th birthday in two years' time as a springboard to shoot Sooty to true international stardom." The deal included Corbett staying until 1998. Matthew Corbett retired in December 1998, bequeathing Sooty to then co-star Richard Cadell. Sooty came back to screens in 1999 at first under the name "Sooty Heights", which featured Richard, Liana Bridges (who worked in "Sooty & Co." in the same period he did) and the puppets all running the titular Sooty Heights hotel.