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Matthew Corbett

SOOTY may have stepped out of the limelight, but the other part of the television double act is keeping himself busy.

For Matthew Corbett, a former writer and presenter of the Sooty Show, has been lured back onto the television screens by one of his great passions - a love of canals.

He said: "The curious thing is that when I retired, I said I would only ever do TV again if it was about salmon fishing or canal boating and low and behold, by pure fate, this series comes knocking at my door.

"I had no reason to say no' so I agreed to do it out of enthusiasm for the subject more than anything."

Locks & Quays was a 10-part series following the Lymm man on his epic 197-mile long voyage from the North Sea to the Irish Sea.

Despite keeping a low profile for the past decade, Matthew, who has starred in Doctor Who and whose real name is Peter, took to the task like a duck to water.

"It is strange being back in the public eye. I did Sooty for 25 years so I was used to being recognised in the street, but then I left and got unused to it and now it's started up again," he said.

"And my wife isn't too impressed. Obviously she's thrilled for me doing what I love, but not so about being recognised again."

A far cry from talking to a glove puppet in a warm studio, filming left Matthew - son of Sooty creator Harry Corbett - completely open to the elements.

"The weather was horrendous, the camera doesn't lie," he said. "To watch the series it doesn't seem that bad but we were sat while it was absolutely siling down just waiting for it to pass.

"One critic of the previous series said boating isn't like that because there were no clouds in the sky so at least people will get the full picture this time. And the visuals turned out incredibly well, they look so dramatic on camera."

A keen boat enthusiast for more than 30 years, Matthew was thrilled to have the chance to traverse canals he had never before encountered.

"It was amazing because I saw a lot of sights and covered a lot of virgin territory. Like the straight mile in Burnley - it's a monumental piece of engineering, to have moved all the material by hand is just staggering and the view from up there is wonderful.

"The weather was horrendous, the camera doesn’t lie. To watch this series it doesn’t seem that bad, but we were sat while it was absolutely siling it down just waiting for it to pass." Matthew Corbett

"I've been into boating for many years so it's almost as if I know what I am talking about," he said. "The series was scripted but a lot of the observations were mine."

It was Coronation Street actor-turned TV producer, and fellow Lymm resident Chris Bisson that first approached Matthew on behalf of his production company Centini.

They had already made two previous series of Locks & Quays with weatherman Fred Talbot presenting before convincing the puppet master to get back in front of the camera.

So has making a series about his true passion been enough to draw him out of retirement permanently?

"I would like to do another series but there are so many factors influencing that, plus I'd have to check with my wife.

"The thing is that you never know what will happen with regional programming. It's the weakest child in the class and a whole load of big bullies are kicking it around, fighting over money and politics so they won't say until the last second whether we have got another series.

"The way it is done is unfair really because if we get the go-ahead, you have literally a matter of days to get everyone together including camera men."

Nonetheless, the popularity of the show has been staggering for what was supposed to be a low-key series targeted at a specialist audience.

"People in this area like to hear about this area," he said. "The reaction from people has been amazing, it's been enormous for a regional programme and people have been stopping me in the street to tell me how much they love it."

Now aged 60, Matthew and his wife Sallie enjoy a quiet life but he can often be found indulging his other passion, namely rock music, in pubs around Cheshire.

Singing and playing guitar alongside musical partner John Gray, the duo - billed as Corbett and Gray - can often be found playing everything from the Beatles and Chuck Berry hits to popular favourites such as Hi-ho Silver Lining at pubs like The Bulls Head in Lymm and The Letters Inn in Tattenhall.

He said: "We cover all types of music but I describe it as anything you want to sing along with after two pints of bitter. It's now a very, very important part of my life, I just love playing."

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