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Creation
The creation of the franchise is traced back to the origins of the puppet character Sooty. The glove puppet originally began life as an all yellow bear called Teddy, who was purchased by magician and puppeteer Harry Corbett to entertain his children, including his newborn son Peter, during a holiday in Blackpool in 1948. Corbett created several of the characteristics that would later form the image of Sooty while using him in performances, focusing on portraying his puppet as kind-hearted, but also cheeky and naughty. One particular aspect, which would become a element of future performances with the puppet, was making the character mute, and thus having the puppet communicate with Corbett by 'whispering' into his ear, who would then repeat what was said so his audience could understand what was said. Corbett's performances involving the puppet in his routine gained him recognition and eventually a place on the BBC's talent competition, Talent Night, in 1952.

His puppet proved popular with viewers, helping him to become the overall winner in the competition and landing him a regular performance on the BBC children's show Saturday Special, where his puppet gained immense popularity with children, turning him into an overnight success. When the BBC decided to offer him his own children's programme, Corbett agreed to the deal following a discussion with his wife, effectively leaving his previous job to focus on a career in entertainment. Before he would appear on television, his puppet was given a transformation to help it stand out to viewers on black and white television screens. The overall change involved the use of black dust (or 'soot') upon the ears and nose, which inspired Corbett to change the puppet's name from Teddy to Sooty. The design proved a success and the addition of other elements furthered improve the popularity of Sooty. These included him using a magic wand - with Corbett creating the catchphrase "Izzy wizzy, let's get busy!", which would be used regularly in performances, alongside the wand being tapped to "Shave and a Haircut" - and providing the puppet with a water pistol, which became a television icon of the character due to it being regularly used to soak people Sooty met, whether in his programme or as a guest on other programmes.

Characters
Although the franchise focuses primarily on Sooty, it also features several other characters that appear in performances. The most notable that were created by Corbett included Sweep - a dim-witted dog, who loves bones and is Sooty's best friend - and Soo - a shy but sweet panda bear, who is portrayed as Sooty's girlfriend. Sweep's creation involved

The franchise is primarily focused upon the fictional puppet character of Sooty - per Corbett's design, the character is portrayed as a small "magical" yellow bear with black ears and nose, who is, and who is also .. As part of Sooty's design, Corbett arranged for him to possess both a magic wand, for performing magic tricks, and a water pistol, used for practical jokes, both of which became iconic for the character - his water pistol in particular is often used to squirt both his handler (main puppeteer) and other people, such as hosts of programmes whom the pair meet with or our guests of on their. The use of the wand also generated the catchphrase of.

cheekiness and naughtiness. In his appearances in television, he is often professed to have skills in various areas, but is also a gifted magician who performs spells with his magic wand, and sometimes the use of a special powder called "offle dust" (in reality, simple glitter dust), to the words of - a catchphrase regularly used in Sooty performances, alongside the tapping of his wand to  He also enjoys performing practical jokes on others, the most iconic being the use of his water pistol to squirt others, including his handler - his main puppeteer.

A notable element to the franchise is the character's inability to speak normally - a result of being Sooty is thus only capable of communicating with others by 'whispering' in their ear, to which the recipient often repeats what was said for the audience to understand. On television programmes up until 2002, Sooty's owner and puppeteer, acting as narrator for scenes involving the character and other puppets, would sometimes provide a 'voice' for Sooty during their narration when he speaks normally. Comedic routines involving Sooty mostly involve slapstick humour - such as the use of a fake hammer and hitting their handler often by accident or from a misunderstanding - and the use of cream pies, gunge and water. One element used until the 1980s invoved Sooty performing music on a xylophone - in reality, a toy glockenspiel. All performances often conclude with Sooty waving to his audience, to the line of "Bye bye everybody, bye bye", a catchphrase coined by Harry Corbett.

Other characters were later added to the franchise, the most prominent being Sweep and Soo.

In 1957, Corbett created the puppet of Sweep, a dog whom he had portrayed with several dog traits, including a love of bones, as well as being dim-witted but good-natured, and Sooty's best friend. The character's design included having Sweep being able to speak, but in the manner of a high pitched squeak that would be translated by Sooty's handler - the sound was devised by Sweep's original puppeteer and Corbett's brother Leslie, who made use of a saxophone reed for the puppet's performances. In 1964, Corbett introduced Soo, a shy and sweetly spoken panda. The character was voiced by his wife Marjorie, to provide ease with episode production, and was designed to be portrayed as being Sooty's girlfriend.

The Big Four (Television Adaptation)

The Big Four is an television adaptation of the novel of the same name, written by Agatha Christie, and formed part of the second episode of the final series of ITV's serial, Agatha Christie's Poirot. The screenplay was devised by, who loosely based it on the novel, opting to change the story to something easier to adapt, due to his belief that the complexity of the original story made it impossible to be properly adapted to television. It starred David Suchet in his role as Hercule Poirot, and featured the return of his co-stars, , , in their original roles before the beginning of the series.

Synopsis
Hercule Poirot finds himself reunited with his old friend James Japp, now a Superintendent, while both are attending a charity chess match arranged by the Peace Party - founded by Li Chang Yen - between Dr Savaranoff, a retired Russian chess grandmaster, and Abe Ryland, a member of the Peace Party and an American industrialist. Amongst the audience attending the match include Madame Olivier, another Peace Party member and a French chemist, Stephen Paynter and his wife, and Paynter's physician Dr Quentin. Shortly after the match begins, Savaranoff suddenly dies during his third move. Natural causes are ruled out by Poirot after Mike Tysoe, a journalist who gatecrashed the event, claims he was murdered by a group called "The Big Four". Re-examining the scene, he discovers that Savaranoff was electrocuted with a rigged chess set and table. Ryland denies any involvement in his death, but mysteriously disappears soon afterwards.

Poirot, Japp and Tysoe soon find themselves dealing with three more murders. The first involves John Ingles, a biographer of Yen's work, who is brutally butchered in his own home. The second involves a smartly dressed, but unkempt man, whom Tysoe suspects was his informant based on his possessions. The third involves Paynter, who had been given a paralytic drug that Olivier was researching, and then left to be fried to death on an electric heater. Oliver suddenly disappears after his death, shortly after she is found to have been having an affair with Paynter. Japp is convinced that the Peace Party are the Big Four, but Poirot is suspicious of this. Returning to the second murder, he finds that Ingles had a nephew, whom he bullied for his love of the theatre. Through the nephew's possessions, he comes into contact with Flossie Monro, who worked with Albert several years ago and who has since received mysterious gifts from an anonymous admirer.

Following the interview, Poirot is contacted by Ingles' nephew for a meeting, whereupon the detective is seemingly killed in an explosion. Japp contacts Poirot's closest allies, Captain Arthur Hastings and Felicity Lemon, to attend the funeral and to discuss the case. Shortly after Hastings leaves to resume the investigation, Japp receives a telegram, asking him and Tysoe to come a run-down theatre. When they arrive, they find Flossie tied up in one of the seats, in the presence of Quentin, who claims to be the fourth member of the Big Four, and the one behind the murders; the other members are claimed by him to be Ryland, Olivier and Yen. However, Poirot emerges, still alive, who denounces the group as fictitious, and that Quentin is in reality Ingles' nephew, Albert Whalley.

In his denouncement, Poirot reveals that Albert, mentally unstable from his uncle's bullying, committed the crimes to become infamous and thus win Flossie's affection after she rejected him years ago. Albert employed his skill as an actor to commit each murder and abduct Ryland and Olivier, using the same paralytic drug in Paynter's murder to subdue them. Exposed, Albert breaks down and attempts to kill Poirot, until Tysoe intercedes by killing him with a lighting rig. Later that day, Poirot explains to all that he discovered the truth of the crime from the fact that Albert was keeping a close watch on Flossie and thus panicked when he met her, and that the third victim was merely a tramp dressed in theatrical costume; Albert failed to remove a tag from the clothing, thus exposing his past. As Tysoe and Flossie head out to enjoy a meal together, Poirot questions Hastings' absence, until he finally returns to learn of what happened.

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