[Neil Jones]

Matthew Corbett sold Sooty in 1998 as he wanted to retire at that point, and Sooty & Co had ran for five years and IIRC Richard Caddell appeared more and more in the final series of that show, and then Sooty Heights turned up the following year which was a Caddell vehicle.

Sooty had been part owned by somebody else and Caddell eventually "saved" the bear for want of a better expression by buying him back in full which ultimately lead to the 2011 series