Departures of note

Ronnie Le Drew was a Canadian-British puppeteer and television presenter whose career spanned more than five decades. He rose to prominence in 1973 when he began performing the character Zippy on the beloved ITV children's series Rainbow, a role he maintained for 20 years alongside Roy Skelton. The show became the UK's answer to Sesame Street and made Zippy one of British television's most recognizable puppet characters.

Beyond Rainbow, Le Drew appeared on numerous children's programmes including Playdays, Utterly Brilliant with Timmy Mallett, and The Sooty Show, where he primarily puppeteered Sweep. His film work included puppeteering roles in Labyrinth starring David Bowie, The Little Shop of Horrors, and The Muppet Christmas Carol, all released in the 1980s and early 1990s. He expressed particular pride in his work on Little Shop of Horrors, where his puppeteering of a plant dialling a phone received a close-up in the final edit.

Le Drew served as president of the British Puppet Guild for 10 years and taught at London's Little Angel theatre for three decades. His association with the theatre led to an appearance in director Joe Wright's film Pan in 2015. He continued working into his later years, playing background characters in the 2019 Netflix series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.