Andy Pandy was a British children's television series that premiered on BBC TV in summer 1950. Originally live, a series of 26 filmed programmes was shown until 1970, when a new series of 13 episodes was made. A revival of the show was made in 2002. The show was the basis for a comic strip of the same name in the children's magazines Robin and Pippin.
Original 1950 and 1970 versions
The original version of Andy Pandy premiered on BBC TV in 1950, on either 11 July or 20 June, as part of the For the Childrenstrand narrated by Maria Bird. Initially the programmes were transmitted live, but it was realised that if the programmes were filmed, they could be repeated. Twenty-six episodes of fifteen minutes duration were filmed on 16mm, and were produced around 1952; they were repeated continuously until 1969. In 1970, thirteen new episodes were made in colour with Vera McKechnie as narrator. A marionette who lived in a picnic basket, Andy was later joined by Teddy, a teddy bear, and Looby Loo, a rag doll, who would appear/come to life when Andy and Teddy were not around. Looby Loo would sing the song Here we go Looby Loo. All three lived in the same picnic basket. Each episode ended with a variation on the song: "Time to go home, Time to go home, Andy is waving goodbye." It is claimed that the design for the character was based on Paul Atterbury, the then young son of puppeteer Audrey Atterbury. A comic-strip version was published in Robin. The production staff for the original series were:
Puppeteers: Audrey Atterbury, Molly Gibson, Martin Grainger, The Stavordales and Christopher Leith.
Episode list
The 27 episodes were:
"Tea Party"
"Presents"
"Music"
"Hand Bells"
"ABC"
"Bricks"
"Playing School"
"Play Shops"
"Leaning House"
"Pram"
"Farm"
"Garden"
"Wall and Tortoise"
"Turtles"
"Boats"
"Paddling Pool"
"Horse and Fish"
"Bird and Butterfly"
"Rabbits"
"Kittens"
"Kings and Queens"
"Jack in the Box"
"The Cart"
"Swing"
1970 series
By 1970, as BBC1 was by then transmitted in colour, 13 new episodes were produced and shown from 5 January 1970. The 13 episodes of the 1970 series are:
"Andy Pandy's House"
"Hobby Horses"
"Scooters"
"Trampoline"
"Jack-in-a-Box"
"A Wall and a Hedgehog"
"Cleaning the House"
"Tricycle"
"Looby Loo Has a Cold"
"The Jeep"
"Tea Party"
"Red Engine"
"Sailing Boats"
2002 revival
Another set of 52 episodes was made in 2002, using the stop-motion technique instead of string puppeteering. The original nursery and garden were expanded to an entire village, with Andy, Teddy and Looby Loo now owning individual houses, and four new characters were introduced into the series: Missy Hissy; and her brother,a another snake who is never seen Tiffo; a teal-and-purple dog, Bilbo ; a sailor, and Orbie ; a yellow-and-blue ball. The new series was narrated by actor Tom Conti. While the emphasis of the original series was on music and movement, the emphasis of the 2002 series was on making and doing. Listed are the episodes in each series, along with their songs :
