No. of series 6 | No. of episodes 185 (74 missing) | |
 | ||
Created by Freda Lingstrom & Maria Bird Starring 1950
Maria Bird
1970 ?
Gladys Whitred
2002
Tom Conti Opening theme Andy Pandy Theme (2001) Ending theme Andy Pandy Theme (instrumental; 2001) | ||
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.
Contents
Original 1950 version
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 Vera McKechnie. 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 1970. This version had narration by Maria Bird. 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". 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:
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.
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
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. Whereas the emphasis of the original series was on music and movement, the emphasis of the 2001 series was on making and doing.
Here are the episodes and songs in order. The numbers means it's an episode and the word 'song' means it's a song.
Series 1
1. Hide and Seek (2 April 2002)
SONG: Hopscotch
2. The Balloon (2 April 2002)
3. The Puddle (9 April 2002)
SONG: Honey
4. The Picnic (9 April 2002)
5. The Man From The Moon (16 April 2002)
SONG: Musical Chairs
6. Andy Pandy's Band (16 April 2002)
7. Tiffo and his Stick (23 April 2002)
SONG: Painting
8. A Lick Of Paint (23 April 2002)
9. A Flying Feather (30 April 2002)
SONG: Boxes
10. Puppeteer Pandy (30 April 2002)
11. The Birthday Cake (7 May 2002)
SONG: Gardening
12. A String in the Tale (7 May 2002)
13. Andy Pandy's Musical Box (14 May 2002)
SONG: Looby Loo
14. The Big Spring Clean (14 May 2002)
15. The Bubble (21 May 2002)
SONG: Playground
16. Teddy Gets The Wind Up (21 May 2002)
17. A Noisy Supper (28 May 2002)
SONG: Tickle
18. Potato Prints (28 May 2002)
19. Teddy's Sunglasses (4 June 2002)
SONG: Camping
20. Growing Pains (4 June 2002)
21. The Nest (11 June 2002)
SONG: Coming to Play
22. The Box That Chimed (11 June 2002)
23. A Model Bear (18 June 2002)
SONG: Picnic
24. Hubble Bubble (18 June 2002)
25. Bell Ringers (25 June 2002)
SONG: Tiffo
26. Rub-A-Dub (25 June 2002)
Series 2
1. Quick on the Straw (6 August 2002)
SONG: Say Hello
2. The Tent (6 August 2002)
3. Chocolate Eggstravaganza (13 August 2002)
SONG: Skittles
4. The Big Sneeze (13 August 2002)
5. Beetle Mania (20 August 2002)
SONG: Peek-A-Boo
6. The Noisy Ball (20 August 2002)
7. Easy Beady (27 August 2002)
SONG: Andy's Cupboard
8. Andy Pandy's Odd Ink (27 August 2002)
9. Teddy's Long – Legs (3 September 2002)
SONG: Playing With Tiffo
10. The Three Bears (3 September 2002)
11. Scaredy Bear (10 September 2002)
SONG: Racing
12. The Missing Whistle (10 September 2002)
13. A Tale of Two Spoons (17 September 2002)
SONG: Dressing Up
14. Tiffo Gets A Car (17 September 2002)
15. Blowing In The Wind (24 September 2002)
SONG: Mud Pies
16. The Old Sea Chest (24 September 2002)
17. Cereal Number (1 October 2002)
SONG: Kites
18. Birdsong (1 October 2002)
19. Get Your Skates On (8 October 2002)
SONG: Keeping Fit
20. Cheer up Andy (8 October 2002)
21. Orbie's Game (15 October 2002)
SONG: Pass the Parcel
22. Hiccups (15 October 2002)
23. Teddy's Treasure Hunt (22 October 2002)
SONG: Let's Have A Party
24. A Puzzle for Andy Pandy (22 October 2002)
25. Under the Spreading Newspaper Tree (29 October 2002)
SONG: Making A Noise
26. Market Day (29 October 2002)