''Andy Pandy'' is a British

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

that first appeared on

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

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 A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...

of the same name in the children's magazines ''

Robin Robin may refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including: **European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'') ** Bush-robin **Forest r ...

'' and ''

Pippin Pippin or Pepin may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Pippin (comics), ''Pippin'' (comics), a children's comic produced from 1966 to 1986 * Pippin (musical), ''Pippin'' (musical), a Broadway musical by Stephen Schwartz loosely based on the life ...

''.

Original 1950 and 1970 versions

The original version of ''Andy Pandy'' premiered on BBC TV in 1950, on either 11 JulyWatch with Mother
/ref> or 20 June, as part of the ''

For the Children ''For the Children'' is a British television programme targeted at children of school age. First broadcast on the BBC Television Service in 1937 at 3pm as the opening programme for afternoon viewing (as television would generally be broadcast f ...

'' strand (later ''

Watch with Mother ''Watch with Mother'' was a cycle of children's programmes created by Freda Lingstrom and Maria Bird. Broadcast by BBC Television from 1952 until 1975, it was the first BBC television series aimed specifically at pre-school children, a developme ...

'') narrated by

Maria Bird Maria Bird was born Mary Edith Bird (pronounced Marie) on 24 August 1891 in Pietermaritzburg, Colony of Natal and died in the village where she lived for most of her life, Westerham, Kent, England on 25 August 1979, aged 88. She was a descendant ...

who also narrated the black & white 1950s original broadcasts of Flower Pot Men, The Woodentops and Bizzy Lizzie. Initially it was broadcast live, but it was realised that if the programmes were filmed, they could be repeated. 26 fifteen-minute episodes were filmed on

16mm 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, edu ...

TV studio history Lime Grove
around 1952 and repeated continuously until 1969. In 1970, 13 new episodes were made in colour with

Vera McKechnie Vera McKechnie (born 1927) is a retired British presenter who was one of the first presenters at the start of BBC Children's Television in the early 1950s. Television career McKechnie began her career when the BBC resumed TV broadcasts after the S ...

as narrator. A

marionette A marionette (; french: marionnette, ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed ...

who lived in a picnic basket, Andy was later joined by Teddy, a

teddy bear A teddy bear is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff under his aunt Margarete Steiff's company in Germany in the early 20th century, the teddy b ...

, and Looby Loo, a rag doll, who came to life when Andy and Teddy were not around. Looby Loo sang ''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 character's design was based on

Paul Atterbury Paul Rowley Atterbury, FRSA (born 8 April 1945) is a British antiques expert, known for his many appearances since 1979 on the BBC TV programme ''Antiques Roadshow.'' He specialises in the art, architecture, design and decorative arts of the 19 ...

, the then young son of puppeteer

Audrey Atterbury Audrey Selma Atterbury (19 April 1921 – 8 April 1997) was a British puppeteer best known for her work on the 1950s pioneering BBC's children's series ''Andy Pandy''. Biography Born in London in 1921 as Audrey Holman, during World War II ...

.Audrey Atterbury on Telegoons.org
A comic-strip version was published in ''

''. The production staff for the original series were: * Producer: Freda Lingstrom. * Narrator:

and later in the 1970 remakes

. * Writer/composer: Freda Lingstrom and Maria Bird. * Singers: Gladys Whitred, Julia Williams oiced the 'Little Weed'and

(in the 1970 colour series). * Puppeteers:

, Molly Gibson, Martin Grainger, The Stavordales and Christopher Leith (in the 1970 colour series).

Episode list

The 26 episodes were: # "Tea Party" (20 June 1950) # "Presents" (27 June 1950) # "Music" (4 July 1950) # "Hand Bells" (11 July 1950) # "ABC" (18 July 1950) # "Bricks" (25 July 1950) # "Playing School" (1 August 1950) # "Play Shops" (8 August 1950) # "Leaning House" (15 August 1950) # "Pram" (22 August 1950) # "Farm" (29 August 1950) # "Garden" (5 September 1950) # "Wall and Tortoise" (12 September 1950) # "Turtles" (19 September 1950) # "Boats" (26 September 1950) # "Paddling Pool" (3 October 1950) # "Horse and Fish" (10 October 1950) # "Bird and Butterfly" (17 October 1950) # "Rabbits" (24 October 1950) # "Kittens" (31 October 1950) # "Kings and Queens" (7 November 1950) # "Jack in the Box" (14 November 1950) # "The Cart" (21 November 1950) # "Swing" (28 November 1950) # ? (5 December 1950) # ? (12 December 1950)

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 are: # "Andy Pandy's House" (5 January 1970) # "Hobby Horses" (12 January 1970) # "Scooters" (19 January 1970) # "Trampoline" (26 January 1970) # "Jack-in-the-Box" (2 February 1970) # "A Wall and a Hedgehog" (9 February 1970) # "Cleaning the House" (16 February 1970) # "Tricycle" (23 February 1970) # "Looby Loo Has a Cold" (2 March 1970) # "The Jeep" (9 March 1970) # "Tea Party" (16 March 1970) # "Red Engine" (23 March 1970) # "Sailing Boats" (30 March 1970) The series was

parodied A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

Des O'Connor Desmond Bernard O'Connor (12 January 1932 – 14 November 2020) was an English comedian, singer and television presenter. He was a long-time TV chat-show host, beginning with '' The Des O'Connor Show'' in 1963, which ran for ten years. He ...

in his ''Dandy Sandy'' sketches with

Harry Seacombe Sir Harold Donald Secombe (8 September 1921 – 11 April 2001) was a Welsh comedian, actor, singer and television presenter. Secombe was a member of the British radio comedy programme ''The Goon Show'' (1951–1960), playing many characters, m ...

and

Britt Eckland Britt Ekland (; born Britt-Marie Eklund; 6 October 1942) is a Swedish actress, model and singer. She appeared in numerous films in her heyday throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including roles in '' The Double Man'' (1967), ''The Night They Raided ...

2002 revival

A sequence of 52 episodes was made in 2002, using the

stop-motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames ...

technique instead of using string puppets. 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, another snake who is never seen; Tiffo; a teal-and-purple dog, Bilbo (vocals performed by David Holt); a sailor, and Orbie (vocals performed by Maria Darling); a yellow-and-blue ball. The new series was narrated by actor

Tom Conti Tommaso Antonio Conti (born 22 November 1941) is a Scottish actor, theatre director, and novelist. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1979 for his performance in '' Whose Life Is It Anyway?'' and was nominated for the Academy Aw ...

. While the emphasis of the original series was on music and movement, the emphasis of the 2002 series was on making and doing. The series was animated and produced by

Cosgrove Hall Films Cosgrove Hall Films (also known as Cosgrove Hall Productions) was an English animation studio founded by Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall; its headquarters was in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. Cosgrove Hall was once a major producer of childr ...

and Ben Productions who also worked on the 2001 remake of Bill and Ben. Listed are the episodes in each series, along with their songs (if any):

Series 1

Series 2

UK VHS and DVD releases

References

External links