Robo Richard is the 1st episode of Series 2 of Sooty. It is the 14th episode overall.
Characters
Plot
The episode starts with Miki entering Sooty and Sweep's room, unaware of what they're up to. They tell her they are building a robot so it could help out the hotel. Miki wonders if Richard will be fine with it, and to no surprise, Richard is displeased with its presence. He tells them to get rid of it because the hotel is expecting an important guest. Sooty refuses, continuing work on the robot.
Meanwhile, Soo wants to buy a copy of Pony Wars 3, but Richard can't because he needs the money to pay for the hotel sign. Soo asked very nicely but Richard refuses. She gets upset, but soon thinks up an idea that involves her working on the sign herself and using the money to buy the pony videos.
In the kitchen, Sooty is programming the robot to perform its tasks. Richard sees it and tells them to take it away again, but is soon then knocked out by the robot. Vicki walks in and takes Richard to the hospital, leaving Sooty, Sweep, and Miki in charge of handling the guest. It turns out the special guest is Mr. Baynes, a hotel inspector for a magazine. He asks to see the manager, who is "out for a nap." The gang then disguises the robot to look like Richard, and they bring him in to meet Mr. Baynes. During all this, Soo has bought the videos with Richard's money and works on the hotel sign. Butch shows up and asks if she needs any help. He then finds out Soo's plan and remarks that buying videos wasn't Richard's plan.
While Mr. Baynes has a conversation with "the robot," it malfunctions due to the three all wanting a turn, causing it to power down. Meanwhile, Butch hangs around Soo wanting to help paint the sign, as he believes it looks rubbish, causing Soo to get angry and throw paint on him. The robot continues to malfunction in front of Mr. Baynes, while at the same time Soo starts to worry about the quality of the sign. Butch convinces her he will perfect the sign only if she asks nicely and not throw paint. She then agrees to get paint thrown on her (as sort of karma) and the two finally work together on the sign. After Baynes takes the robot outside for a break, it goes even more crazy and takes Baynes back to the kitchen to have him all messy. While the gang figures out what went wrong with the robot and Soo and Butch put the sign up, Richard and Vicki return from the hospital. He then sees the pony videos, the sign, and a pair of pants from one of the robot's outburst. He is furious and wants to know what has been going on.
All of them come clean and admit what they done, including Soo, who told him she bought the videos, but would give them back to get the money back to him and has since made an apology letter. Before Richard could read it though, they hear a scream and discover the madness the robot is causing. Richard and Vicki demand to know why Sooty made the robot anyway. Sooty says his robot wanted to help him so Richard can have more time playing with his friends. Richard was very grateful but tells him that the only help Sooty gave him was giving him a lot of work cleaning up the mess he made.
They then brainstorm on how to get rid of it. Sweep lures the robot away from the kitchen and Sooty uses his water pistol to squirt it at the robot, causing it to explode. Mr. Baynes rushes over to the front desk, angry and demanding what has happened. Vicki quickly thought of an event for the day called "Special Messy Fun day." He is then pleased and tells them he will surely recommend the hotel to all his friends.
End Credit sequence
Richard looks at the hotel sign and is happy to have it neatly done. Vicki then rushes over to the front desk and tells them the robot has returned, only to have Mr. Baynes in a robot costume pulling a prank on them.
Songs
- Robot Number 1
- Gently Bentley
- Robo Richard Song
Trivia
- This is first episode to feature many changes:
- Richard Coombs takes over as Sooty
- Francis Wright takes over as Sweep
- Sheila Clark takes over as Soo
- Debby Cummings takes over as Miki
- and Sarah Wright takes over as Scampi.
- The writer is uncredited in this episode.