Andy Pandy

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 1950
Maria Bird
1970
Vera McKechine
2002
Tom Conti
Opening theme Andy Pandy Theme (2001)
Ending theme Andy Pandy Theme (instrumental; 2001)
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 (reboot)
Release
Original network BBC Television Service 1950, 1970
CBeebies 2002–2008
Original release Original series: 20 June 1950 – 12 December 1950,
5 January 1970 – 30 March 1970,
Revived series: 25 March 2002 – 27 September 2002
Chronology
Related shows Bill & Ben

Andy Pandy is a British children's television series that premiered on BBC TV in summer 1950. Originally live, a series of 13 filmed programmes was shown in 1970, when a new series was made. A reboot of the show was made in 2001. The show was the basis for a comic strip of the same name in the children's magazines Robin and Pippin.

Original 1950 version

The original version of Andy Pandy premiered on BBC TV in 1950, on either 11 July[1][2] or 20 June,[3] 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,[3] and were produced around 1952; they were repeated continuously until 1969 [4]. In 1970, thirteen new episodes were made in colour with Vera McKechnie as narrator. In one episode Andy Pandy sees how high he can go on a swing, an episode featured in the 1987 compilation by BBC Video. Under the umbrella title Watch With Mother as well as the Andy Pandy episodes, there were also The Woodentops, 'Bill and Ben', all having a similar format-filmed marionettes, there was also an animated drawn character called 'Busy Lizzy' incorporated into the Picture book series. All the filmed black and white 1950s original transmissions were narrated by Maria Bird, who was to become a co-producer, with Freda Lingstrom, who worked for the BBC. Bird was a prolific writer of books for the very young, notably Andy Pandy, but it was for her distinct BBC English" enunciation that she is best remembered.

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 weren't around. Looby Loo had her own special song "Here we go Looby Loo".[5] 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."[6]

It is claimed that the design for the character was based on Paul Atterbury, the then young son of puppeteer Audrey Atterbury.[2] A comic-strip version was published in Robin.

The production staff for the original series were:

Episode list

The 26 episodes were:

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

1970 series

By 1970, the black and white films were almost worn out, and as BBC1 was by then transmitted in colour, 13 new episodes were produced and shown from 5 January 1970.[8][9]

The 13 episodes of the 1970 series are:

  1. "Andy Pandy's House" (5 January 1970)
  2. "Hobby Horses" (12 January 1970)
  3. "Scooters" (19 January 1970)
  4. "Trampoline" (26 January 1970)
  5. "Jack-In-A-Box" (2 February 1970)
  6. "A Wall And A Hedgehog" (9 February 1970)
  7. "Cleaning The House" (16 February 1970)
  8. "Tricycle" (23 February 1970)
  9. "Looby Loo Has A Cold" (2 March 1970)
  10. "The Jeep" (9 March 1970)
  11. "Tea Party" (16 March 1970)
  12. "Red Engine" (23 March 1970)
  13. "Sailing Boats" (30 March 1970)

2001 reboot

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 2001, using the stop-motion technique instead of string puppeteering. The original nursery and garden were expanded to an entire village, with Andy (vocals performed by Maria Darling), Teddy (vocals performed by Jimmy Hibbert) and Looby Loo (vocals performed by Joanna Ruiz) now owning individual houses, and four new characters were introduced into the series: Missy Hissy; a snake, 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. While the emphasis of the original series was on music and movement, the emphasis of the 2001 series was on making and doing.

Listed are the episodes in each series, along with their songs (if any):

Series 1

  1. "Hide and Seek" (25 March 2002)
    Song: "Hopscotch"
  2. "The Balloon" (26 March 2002)
  3. "The Puddle" (27 March 2002)
    Song: "Honey"
  4. "The Picnic" (28 March 2002)
  5. "The Man From The Moon" (29 March 2002)
    Song: "Musical Chairs"
  6. "Andy Pandy's Band" (30 March 2002)
  7. "Tiffo and his Stick" (31 March 2002)
    Song: "Painting"
  8. "A Lick Of Paint" (1 April 2002)
  9. "A Flying Feather" (2 April 2002)
    Song: "Boxes"
  10. "Puppeteer Pandy" (3 April 2002)
  11. "The Birthday Cake" (4 April 2002)
    Song: "Gardening"
  12. "A String in the Tale" (5 April 2002)
  13. "Andy Pandy's Musical Box" (6 April 2002)
    Song: "Looby Loo"
  14. "The Big Spring Clean" (7 April 2002)
  15. "The Bubble" (8 April 2002)
    Song: "Playground"
  16. "Teddy Gets The Wind Up" (9 April 2002)
  17. "A Noisy Supper" (10 April 2002)
    Song: "Tickle"
  18. "Potato Prints" (11 April 2002)
  19. "Teddy's Sunglasses" (12 April 2002)
    Song: "Camping"
  20. "Growing Pains" (13 April 2002)
  21. "The Nest" (14 April 2002)
    Song: "Coming to Play"
  22. "The Box That Chimed" (15 April 2002)
  23. "A Model Bear" (16 April 2002)
    Song: "Picnic"
  24. "Hubble Bubble" (17 April 2002)
  25. "Bell Ringers" (18 April 2002)
    Song: "Tiffo"
  26. "Rub-A-Dub" (19 April 2002)

Series 2

  1. "Quick on the Straw" (2 September 2002)
    Song: "Say Hello"
  2. "The Tent" (3 September 2002)
  3. "Chocolate Eggstravaganza" (4 September 2002)
    Song: "Skittles"
  4. "The Big Sneeze" (5 September 2002)
  5. "Beetle Mania" (6 September 2002)
    Song: "Peek-A-Boo"
  6. "The Noisy Ball" (7 September 2002)
  7. "Easy Beady" (8 September 2002)
    Song: "Andy's Cupboard"
  8. "Andy Pandy's Odd Ink" (9 September 2002)
  9. "Teddy's Long – Legs" (10 September 2002)
    Song: "Playing With Tiffo"
  10. "The Three Bears" (11 September 2002)
  11. "Scaredy Bear" (12 September 2002)
    Song: "Racing"
  12. "The Missing Whistle" (13 September 2002)
  13. "A Tale of Two Spoons" (14 September 2002)
    Song: "Dressing Up"
  14. "Tiffo Gets A Car" (15 September 2002)
  15. "Blowing In The Wind" (16 September 2002)
    Song: "Mud Pies"
  16. "The Old Sea Chest" (17 September 2002)
  17. "Cereal Number" (18 September 2002)
    Song: "Kites"
  18. "Birdsong" (19 September 2002)
  19. "Get Your Skates On" (20 September 2002)
    Song: "Keeping Fit"
  20. "Cheer up Andy" (21 September 2002)
  21. "Orbie's Game" (22 September 2002)
    Song: "Pass the Parcel"
  22. "Hiccups" (23 September 2002)
  23. "Teddy's Treasure Hunt" (24 September 2002)
    Song: "Let's Have A Party"
  24. "A Puzzle for Andy Pandy" (25 September 2002)
  25. "Under the Spreading Newspaper Tree" (26 September 2002)
    Song: "Making A Noise"
  26. "Market Day" (27 September 2002)

UK VHS and DVD releases

VHS or DVD Title Release Date Episodes
Andy Pandy (BBCV 4205) 7 November 1988 Red Engine, Sailing Boats, Trampoline, Hobby Horses
Andy Pandy 2: Tales from the Toybox (BBCV 4361) 4 June 1990 Jack in a Box, Looby Loo has a Cold, Tea Party, Tricycle
The Very Best of Andy Pandy (BBCV 5107) 6 September 1993 Trampoline, Jack in a Box, Red Engine, Tea Party, Hobby Horses
Andy Pandy: Meet Andy Pandy and his Friends (BBCV 7341) 30 September 2002 The Balloon, The Man From The Moon, Andy Pandy's Band, A Flying Feather, The Birthday Cake, A String in the Tail, The Bubble, Teddy Gets The Wind Up, A Noisy Supper, The Box That Chimed
Andy Pandy: Charming Stories (BBCV 7399) 21 April 2003 Hide and Seek, Tiffo and his Stick, A Lick of Paint, Puppeteer Pandy, Andy Pandy's Musical Box, The Big Spring Clean, Teddy's Sunglasses, The Nest, Hubble Bubble, Bell Ringers
Andy Pandy: Teddy's Sunglasses and Other Stories 2006 Bell Ringers, The Bubble, The Nest, Teddy's Sunglasses, The Big Spring Clean, A Lick of Paint
Andy Pandy: Hide and Seek 8 September 2008 Hide and Seek, Song: Hopscotch, The Balloon, The Puddle, Song: Honey, The Picnic, The Man from the Moon, Song: Musical Chairs, Andy Pandy's Band, Tiffo and his Stick, Song: Painting, A Lick Of Paint, A Flying Feather, Song: Boxes, Puppeteer Pandy
Andy Pandy: The Birthday Cake 8 September 2008 The Birthday Cake, Song: Gardening, A String in the Tale, Andy Pandy's Musical Box, Song: Looby Loo, The Big Spring Clean, The Bubble, Song: Playground, Teddy Gets The Wind Up, A Noisy Supper, Song: Tickle, Potato Prints,Teddy's Sunglasses, Song: Camping, Growing Pains

References

  1. 1 2 Watch with Mother
  2. 1 2 Audrey Atterbury on Telegoons.org Archived 8 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 TV studio history Lime Grove Archived 7 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. Final airing of black and white episodes
  5. WATCH WITH MOTHER at televisionheaven.co.uk
  6. Andy Pandy : Classic Children's TV of the 20th Century at wwwk.co.uk <- this link is dead as of 3/21/17.
  7. Evans, Jeff (1995). The Guinness Television Encyclopedia. Guinness Publishing. pp. 23–24. ISBN 0-85112-744-4.
  8. Watch with Mother site reference
  9. Watch with Mother episode guide
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