Andy Pandy facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Andy Pandy
From the 1952 Andy Pandy opening titles. The blocks turned to reveal the title one letter at a time.
Created by	Freda Lingstrom & Maria Bird
Starring	Maria Bird Vera McKechnie Tom Conti
Opening theme	Andy Pandy Theme (2002)
Ending theme	Andy Pandy Theme (instrumental; 2002)
Country of origin	United Kingdom United States (2002 revival)
No. of series	4
No. of episodes	91
Production
Producer(s)	David Boisseau Peter Thompson
Running time	15–16 minutes (Watch with Mother) 5 minutes (revival)
Production company(s)	Original series BBC 2002 revival Cosgrove Hall Films BBC Worldwide Ben Productions LLC
Release
Original network	BBC Television Service 1950, 1970 CBeebies 2002–2008
Original release	20 June 1950 (1950-06-20) – 27 September 2002 (2002-09-27)

Andy Pandy was a British children's television series that first appeared 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 Children strand (later Watch with Mother) 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:

• Producer: Freda Lingstrom.
• Narrator: Maria Bird and later Vera McKechnie.
• Writer/composer: Freda Lingstrom and Maria Bird.
• Singers: Gladys Whitred, Julia Williams and Maria Bird (in the 1970 colour series).
• Puppeteers: Audrey Atterbury, Molly Gibson, Martin Grainger, The Stavordales and Christopher Leith (in the 1970 colour series).

Episode list

The 27 episodes were:

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:

2002 revival

Stop motion set on display at the National Science and Media Museum, with Andy Pandy, Looby Loo and Teddy

Another set of 52 episodes was made in 2002, using the stop-mo 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, 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. 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 (if any):

Series 1

Series 2

UK VHS and DVD releases

• Andy Pandy at BBC Programmes