Andy Pandy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Andy Pandy | |
|---|---|
 The 1952 Andy Pandy title card. The card was not actually a card as the blocks turned to reveal the title one block at a time. |
|
| Format | Childrens |
| Created by | Freda Lingstrom |
| Starring | 1950 Maria Bird Gladys Whitred 2002 Tom Conti Vera McKechnie |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | David Boisseau Peter Thompson |
| Running time | 30mins |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC One 1950 CBeebies 2002 |
| Original run | 1950-1970 – 2002-2005 |
Andy Pandy is a British children's television series, the original version of which premiered on BBC TV on 11 July 1950,[1] as part of the For the Children strand (later Watch with Mother). 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 when Andy and Teddy weren't around. All three lived in the same picnic basket.
In one episode Andy Pandy sees how high he can go on a swing. This episode was released on the 1987 compilation by BBC Video.
- Producer: Freda Lingstrom.
- Writer/composer: Maria Bird.
- Singer: Gladys Whitred.
- Puppeteers: Audrey Atterbury, Molly Gibson.
Though only twenty-six 12-minute films were made, they were repeated continuously until 1970.
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 The Robin.
By 1970 the black and white films were almost worn out and so 13 new episodes were filmed in colour and transmitted from 5th January 1970.[3][4]
Another set of 52 episodes were made in 2002, now using the stop-motion 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 - Missy Hissy, a snake, Tiffo, a dog, Bilbo, a sailor, and Orbie, a yellow-and-blue ball. Whereas the emphasis of the original series was on music and movement, the emphasis of the 2002 series was on making and doing.
