User:Sooty's Cousin

I recently did a Google search for my father's name - Richard Lockwood. I've been trying to track down episodes of The Sooty Show in which he appeared on screen, other than as a puppeteer. I found a short reference to him on this site.

News of his death had reached your forum, through an unnamed source at the TV studio where non-location filming took place, but there was no other information about him.

In case anyone is interested, Richard Lockwood was Sooty's Company Manager (aka Stage Manager) on tour for many years with Matthew Corbett. He was also involved in the television series filming, both as a puppeteer and occasionally as an onscreen actor. I remember a cowboy and a gorilla (for years my brother and I would shout "daddy" at any primate appearing on screen) as well as the Vicar mentioned in the article. On stage, he was the voice of Butch, but I think that was someone else on TV.

He often got the family involved in creating items for the show. My mother made Sooty's cub scout outfit and contributed to several sets. I made a macrame hanging basket for Sooty's bathroom and the finger-puppet mouse that Spike Milligan threw (just in case anyone was concerned it was the real live mouse which featured in the episode and which I had responsibility for looking after in the run up to filming).

My brother and I would attend the live show at the Mayfair theatre every year and were usually given a shout-out from the stage as "Sooty's Cousins". During filming, my brother was brought on camera to test an escape artist's bonds, possibly in the episode where Lena Zavaroni sang with the mice. I was used in the odd crowd scene but couldn't tell you which episodes.

Richard died in 2014 aged 71.