On loan
  • on loan to Showtown: The Museum of Fun and Entertainment, Blackpool

Sooty and Sweep

Puppet
ca. 1972-1992 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The puppet Sooty was created by Harry Corbett in 1948. The Sooty Show made its debut on BBC TV in 1955 and has been aired ever since, making it the longest running children’s TV show in the world. Sweep, a grey puppet dog, joined in 1957, followed by Soo (a panda) in 1964.

The British Film Institute (BFI) acquired its costume collection for display at the Museum of the Moving Image, which existed on the South Bank in London between 1988 and 1999. The collection is made up of British, European, American and Japanese films and covers the period from the silent film era to the mid-1990s. It contains a wealth of historic and significant film costumes worn by major performers and designed by some of the 20th century’s most important film costume designers. The collection was transferred to the V&A in 2015.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleSooty and Sweep (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Synthetic fur with plastic eyes and printed cotton dress. Hand and machine stitched.
Brief description
'Soo,' glove puppet featured in the television series, Sooty and Sweep, ca. 1972-1992
Physical description
Synthetic fur black and white 'Panda' glove puppet. The puppet is wearing a sleeveless patterned pale pink cotton dress with blue bias binding detailing at the collar and sleeveheads and a yellow band decorated with two red bow at the waist.
Dimensions
  • Height: 42.5cm (Maximum) (Note: Measured on mount)
  • Width: 18cm (Maximum) (Note: Measured on mount)
  • Depth: 17cm (Maximum) (Note: Measured on mount)
Measured by conservation
Credit line
Given by the British Film Institute
Literary referenceSooty and Sweep
Summary
The puppet Sooty was created by Harry Corbett in 1948. The Sooty Show made its debut on BBC TV in 1955 and has been aired ever since, making it the longest running children’s TV show in the world. Sweep, a grey puppet dog, joined in 1957, followed by Soo (a panda) in 1964.

The British Film Institute (BFI) acquired its costume collection for display at the Museum of the Moving Image, which existed on the South Bank in London between 1988 and 1999. The collection is made up of British, European, American and Japanese films and covers the period from the silent film era to the mid-1990s. It contains a wealth of historic and significant film costumes worn by major performers and designed by some of the 20th century’s most important film costume designers. The collection was transferred to the V&A in 2015.
Collection
Accession number
S.1715-2015

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Record createdMay 29, 2015
Record URL
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