Longest-running children's TV programme - non-consecutive years

The glove puppet Sooty has been seen on TV since 1952, when puppeteer Harry Corbett (UK) appeared with him on Talent Night on BBC TV (UK), and continues to appear in his own show, Sooty, on the CITV channel (ITV, UK). He appeared on television in consecutive years from 1952 until 2004, before returning to TV screens in 2011. Barring the hiatus, Sooty has been on air for 63 years as of 2015. Corbett bought the puppet to entertain his children while on holiday on 19 July 1948 (paying 7s 6d – equivalent to 37.5 p – and naming the bear Teddy) and later blackened the ears with soot to make the puppet stand out more clearly on black-and-white TV, hence renaming him Sooty. After winning the BBC Talent Night series, Sooty was given a regular slot on Saturday Special from 1952 to 1955, and finally received his own BBC show, The Sooty Show, on 24 July 1955. This ran on the BBC until 1967 and in 1968 was secured by Thames Television (UK), where it ran until 1992. In 1993, it returned as Sooty & Co. on Granada Television (6 September 1993 to 14 December 1998), and was revamped as Sooty Heights on ITV from 27 September 1999 to 11 December 2000. In 2001, this show was renamed Sooty and ran from 5 November 2001 to 6 January 2004. After a hiatus of seven years, the latest series of Sooty debuted on 5 September 2011 and is still on air as of March 2015. Sooty has been controlled by Harry Corbett (from 1952 to 1976), his son Matthew Corbett (1976–98) and Richard Cadell (1998–present).