Are You Being Served? is a British television sitcom that was broadcast from 1972–1985. It was created and written by David Croft, who also served as executive producer and director, and Jeremy Lloyd. Michael Knowles and John Chapman also wrote certain episodes. Produced by the BBC, the series starred Mollie Sugden, Trevor Bannister, Frank Thornton, John Inman, Wendy Richard, Arthur Brough, Nicholas Smith, Larry Martyn, Harold Bennett and Arthur English.
Hi-de-Hi! is British sitcom series, created by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, and produced for the BBC. The programme initially began with a pilot on 1 January 1980 and aired for nine series between 26 February 1981 to 30 January 1988, and starred Paul Shane, Su Pollard, Jeffrey Holland, Ruth Madoc and Simon Cadell.
Richard Paul Bacon is an English television and radio presenter. He has worked on television shows including Blue Peter, The Big Breakfast, Good Morning Britain, and on radio stations including Capital FM, Xfm London and BBC Radio Five Live. In 2016, Bacon became the presenter of The National Geographic Channel's reboot of its documentary and panel discussion TV series, Explorer. He's recently established himself as a format creator, including The Hustler (ABC), This Is My House (BBC1) and I Literally Just Told You. All three sold internationally.
The Sooty Show is a British children's television series, created by Harry Corbett, and produced for the BBC from 1955 to 1967, and then for ITV from 1968 until 1992. The show, part of the Sooty franchise, focuses on the mischievous adventures of the glove puppet character of the same name, alongside his friends Sweep and Soo, and their handler. Between 1955 and 1975, Corbett presented the programme until his retirement, before it was taken over by his son Matthew Corbett. It also co-starred Marjorie Corbett as the voice of Soo from the character's debut in 1964, until her retirement in 1981, whereupon Brenda Longman replaced her.
Sweep is a British puppet and television character popular in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and other countries.
Matthew Corbett is an English former actor, singer, comedian, magician, puppeteer, television presenter, and writer, best known for presenting The Sooty Show and later Sooty and Co. He is the son of Sooty's creator, Harry Corbett, and took over the show from his father in 1976. He retired in 1998.
Something Special is a British children's television programme presented by Justin Fletcher. It was created and produced by Allan Johnston. It is broadcast by the BBC, debuting on 1 September 2003. It is designed to introduce children to Makaton signing, and is specifically aimed at children with delayed learning and communication difficulties. It is aired on the CBeebies channel and is currently the longest running CBeebies programme and the longest running preschool series in Britain. In the past, it was also broadcast as part of the CBeebies programme strand on BBC One and BBC Two.
Simon John Cadell was an English actor, best known for his portrayal of Jeffrey Fairbrother in the first five series of the BBC situation comedy Hi-de-Hi!.
Mysti is a British children's television programme, produced by Mystical Productions for the BBC from 17 April 2004 to 16 December 2005. It initially took the format of an hour-long programme combining magazine and narrative elements, but was subsequently reformed into a series of 20-minute, all-narrative programmes.
Sooty & Co. is a British children's television series, created and presented by Matthew Corbett, produced by Granada Television, and aired on the Children's ITV block on ITV from 6 September 1993 to 14 December 1998. It is the sequel to the children's programme The Sooty Show, which had concluded in 1992, retaining the sitcom format, and focuses on the misadventures of Sooty, Sweep, Soo, Little Cousin Scampi, and Matthew as they try to run a bric a brac shop in Manchester. Episodes were mainly filmed at Granada's main studio in Manchester and around the city, though some episodes were filmed outside of Manchester, including within Scotland, Ireland, and Spain.
Soo is a British glove puppet and TV character from the show Sooty and first appeared in 1964 as the girlfriend of Sooty. Soo is an intelligent, calm and collected female panda who acts as the foil for both Sooty and Sweep.
Sooty is a British children's television series, created and presented by Richard Cadell, and premiered on CITV on 5 November 2001, running for three series. The programme is the fourth programme in the franchise of the same name, and replaced Sooty Heights, with Cadell supported by co-presenter Vicki Lee Taylor, and Brenda Longman during the first series, and Sheila Clark for the remaining series. The programme focuses on the exploits of the titular character and his puppet friends in their running of the hotel, and features many elements used in previous programmes. The show saw the return of a puppet character from the franchise, as well as the creation of a new character.
Series 1 of Top Gear, a British motoring magazine and factual television programme, was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two during 2002, consisting of ten episodes that were aired between 20 October and 29 December. This series was the first to feature Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond as the main hosts of the programme, a role they would both maintain until the twenty-second series, but the only series to feature Jason Dawe as their co-presenter before he was replaced for the second series.
Richard Cadell is a British illusionist, puppeteer, actor and screenwriter, best known for being the in-vision presenter and the hand of puppet Sooty since succeeding Matthew Corbett in 1998.
Liana Bridges is a British actress and presenter. Best known for co-presenting Sooty & Co. with Matthew Corbett and Richard Cadell in 1998, and Sooty Heights with Richard Cadell from 1999 to 2000.
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 1955, with the franchises focused around the adventures of the character – a mute yellow bear with black ears and nose, who is kind-hearted but also cheeky, performs magic tricks and practical jokes, and squirts his handler and other people with his water pistol, including on other television programmes the guest stars on. The franchise itself also includes several other puppet characters who were created for television, some of whom became the backbone to performances, and features additional elements including an animated series, two spin-off series for the direct-to-video market, and a selection of toy merchandising.
Sooty's Amazing Adventures is a short-lived animated spin off series of the Sooty franchise. In this incarnation of the famous bear, he is a full bodied bear free from the puppeteer's hand.
Learn with Sooty! is part of a British children's television series The Sooty Show promoting educational videos for children to learn from 1989 to 1991. It features the glove puppet characters Sooty, Sweep and Soo, and follows them in their many mischievous adventures. Learn with Sooty! was presented by Matthew Corbett.
Sooty is a British children's slapstick television series that aired on the Mini CITV block on CITV from September 2011 to October 2018. It was the fifth such incarnation of the series to feature the titular character Sooty, and the first since the last series ended in 2004, it is also the first since presenter Richard Cadell bought the licensing rights to the brand in 2008. This programme focuses on the storyline of the titular character, two of his puppet friends, and the presenter starting a new life running a holiday park known as Slater’s Holiday Park based at a British coastal resort.
