Sooty apologises for Paul Daniels pizza-throwing injury
The puppet master behind Sooty has apologised for injuring Paul Daniels with a flying pizza.
10:02AM BST 04 Aug 2011
73-year-old Daniels was filming a scene for ITV's The Sooty Show when he was struck by the pizza, leaving him dazed.
Daniels suffered a black eye and was taken to hospital for treatment, The Sun reported.
Now Richard Cadell, who operates the puppet, has apologised for the incident.
"Sooty's very sorry for what happened. He never intended to knock Paul out, but he hopes Paul enjoyed the pizza.
"He didn't know his own strength - but no one can accuse Sooty of having a limp wrist.
"Sweep said Sooty was so shocked by it all that he was speechless afterwards."
It was claimed the incident happened after Daniels complained that in a first take of the scene, the pizza had not been thrown hard enough.
But as the puppet - operated by co-star Cadell - hurled the Italian dish a second time, Daniels was injured.
Chris Davis, Daniels's agent, said: "It damaged his eye. We had to go to hospital and cancelled a gig, but he's made a full recovery."
Speaking on a radio show about the pizza incident, Daniels said: "I got pizza in my eye, it stung, so on the way home that evening I called into a local village hospital. I am fine."
Daniels, who was appearing on the show as a special guest alongside his wife and assistant Debbie McGee, 52, apparently insisted that producers use the take in which he was injured.
A source added: "Paul was such a good sport and so professional. He's insisted they use the scene where he got injured, not the first one."
The episode will be screened later this year.
