Gender Female Species Giant panda | Nationality British TV show Sooty & Co. | |
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Portrayed by Marjorie Corbett (voice; 1964–1980)
Brenda Longman (voice; 1981–2001, 2004—)
Sheila Clark (voice; 2001–04) Similar Sweep, Sooty, Roland Rat, Basil Brush, Zippy | ||
Soo is a British glove puppet and TV character from the show Sooty and first appeared in 1964 as the girlfriend of Sooty. They still remain boyfriend and girlfriend today. In many episodes they kiss. Soo is a calm and collected female panda who acts as the foil for both Sooty and Sweep, and usually wears a red skirt. In the new series she has a pair of pink wellies which were seen in the Series 2 episode "The Rainy Day" where she jumps in a puddle.
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Voice
The original voice artist and puppeteer for Soo was Harry Corbett's wife, Marjorie Corbett, who voiced Soo until 1980. Brenda Longman took over in 1981 until 2001, when the then new owners of Sooty Hit Entertainment, overhauled the series and Sheila Clark became the voice of Soo in Sooty from 2001 - 2004. Soo's personality also changed during this period from her usual calm and collected to become a bit more moody and rather stroppy and just as sanctimonious as ever.
Brenda Longman was brought back to voice Soo in 2007 onwards when Soo appeared on The Weakest Link and the latest Sooty show from 2011 until 2013.
Other appearances
In 1991 Soo along with many other puppets appeared in the 1991 Comic Relief music video Helping Hand
In December 2007 Soo appeared on, and won, a puppet special of The Weakest Link hosted by Anne Robinson which was originally broadcast on 28 December 2007 at 6pm on BBC One, and was the strongest link statistically five times in the game, in Rounds 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7. She raised £11,500 for her chosen charity, the World Wide Fund for Nature, after defeating Roland Rat thanks to sudden death, and when voting, she generally sided with the majority of the other puppets, and was the deciding vote in Round 7, eliminating Nobby the Sheep. She is the second puppet to win The Weakest Link after Basil Brush. In her appearance on The Weakest Link, it is revealed that she owns a pair of wellingtons and wore them to the show.
On 30 September 2008, Brenda Longman, assisted by Soo, appeared on BBC One's Bargain Hunt, buying antiques at London's Portobello Road Market and then selling them at Bellmans Auction House in Sussex.
On 31 March 2010, Soo appeared in a music video with Sugababes called "Suegarbabes".