Andy Pandy
Andy Pandy is a British children's television series that aired on BBC Television in 1950. Originally live, a series of 26 filmed programmes was shown until 1970, when a new series of 13 episodes was made. This series was the basis for a comic strip of the same name in the style of children's magazines Robin and Pippin.
The series was followed by a revival with 26 episodes in 2002. In total, 91 episodes were produced.
Original 1950 and 1970 versions
The original version of Andy Pandy premiered on BBC TV in 1950, on 11 July as part of the For the Children strand narrated by Maria Bird who also narrated the black & white 1950s original broadcasts of Flower Pot Men, The Woodentops and Bizzy Lizzy. 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 16 mm around 1952 and repeated continuously until 1969. In 1970, 13 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 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 said that the character's design 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:
- Producer: Freda Lingstrom.
- Narrator: Maria Bird and later in the 1970 remakes Vera McKechnie.
- Writer/composer: Freda Lingstrom and Maria Bird.
- Singers: Gladys Whitred, Julia Williams and Maria Bird.
- Puppeteers: Audrey Atterbury, Molly Gibson, Martin Grainger, The Stavordales and Christopher Leith.
The series was parodied by Des O'Connor in his Dandy Sandy sketches with Harry Secombe and Britt Ekland.
2002 revival
In 2002, BBC produced a revival of 52 episodes with the use of stop-motion animation instead of string puppets: the original nursery and garden were expanded to an entire village, with Andy, Teddy and Looby Loo now owning individual houses, as well as four new characters that were introduced in the series: Missy Hissy a red-and-yellow snake; Tiffo, a teal-and-purple dog ; Bilbo, a sailor; and Orbie, a yellow-and-blue ball. Tom Conti narrated the new series.Though 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 and Ben Productions.