This series was based upon a comic strip of the same name (made in the style of children's magazines Robin and Pippin).

The original version of Andy Pandy premiered on BBC TV in 1950, on either 11 July[3][4] or 20 June,[5] as part of the For the Children strand (later Watch with Mother) narrated by Maria Bird who also narrated the black & white 1950s original broadcasts of Flower Pot Men, The Woodentops and Bizzy Lizzie.

[citation needed] Initially it was broadcast live, but it was realised that if the programmes were filmed, they could be repeated.

[11][12] The 13 episodes are: The series was parodied by Des O'Connor in his Dandy Sandy sketches with Harry Secombe and Britt Ekland.

[citation needed] 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 (now voiced by Maria Darling), Teddy (now voiced by Jimmy Hibbert) and Looby Loo (now voiced by Joanna Ruiz) now owning individual houses, as well as four new characters that were introduced in the series: Missy Hissy (voiced by Maria Darling; who has an unseen brother, also a snake); Tiffo, a teal-and-purple dog (vocals performed by David Holt); Bilbo (also voiced by David Holt), a sailor; and Orbie (vocals performed by Joanna Ruiz), a yellow-and-blue ball.