BBC Antiques Roadshow expert revealed as man behind legendary kids TV show

It’s been 75 years since a much loved kids TV character made his television debut on 11 July 1950 – hailing the start of puppetry as a popular medium on kids’ TV. The Mirror track down the real life inspiration – and antiques expert

With his blue and white striped romper suit and odd little hat, Andy Pandy is familiar to generations of youngsters. Together with friends Looby Loo and Teddy, the baby clown puppet was arguably the first real ‘star’ of children’s television.

Now, 75 years since he first appeared on our screens – visible strings and all – the marionette holds a very special place in tv history. And the man who was the inspiration behind Andy Pandy couldn’t be more proud.

Paul Atterbury is an antiques expert and for the last 30 years has been a familiar face on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow. At the age of five he became the model for Andy Pandy after his mum, Audrey Atterbury, began working as a puppeteer on the show.

“She came to puppetry by chance after meeting with Freda Lingstrom, first Head of BBC Children’s TV who lived near us in Kent,” Paul tells The Mirror.

“She was trained by other puppeteers then launched her career with Andy Pandy. She was a natural, very talented, and it became a major part of her life – and mine.”

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It was only years later that his mum revealed he had been the model for the show’s main character. “Andy Pandy was created by a local craftsman, Kim Allen, who must have seen the 5 year old me as a convenient model – there are certainly likenesses. I am very proud of the connection and it’s a chapter of my life full of great memories.”

Paul recalls going to watch the programmes – then all broadcast live – at Alexandra Palace in London. “It was very exciting for a small child. I think my mother thought it the highlight of her working life; it was fun and friendly, though I don’t think she ever realised how talented she was.”

Paul retains another very personal link to the programme, being the proud owner of Andy Pandy’s friend, Teddy – or at least one of them! “My Teddy is one of the reserves, he never performed, but he was played with by my children when they were small. Now he lives in a comfortable retirement in my treasure cabinet.”

As iconic as Andy Pandy is today, when he first wobbled onto our screens on July 11 1950, his arrival was an experiment to try to provide tailor-made programmes for the very young. After a break during the war, children’s TV had resumed, but was limited to just an hour a week – a slot taken by Muffin the Mule.

Freda and her close friend Maria Bird knew they could do more. Having both lost a fiance to war, the pair met in the 1940s at the BBC and formed their own production company, Westerham Arts, to make Andy Pandy.

Freda wrote the scripts, while Maria penned the music and performed the narration.Toys ‘coming to life’ and interacting with the viewer through the screen are nothing new to us today, but in 1950 their ideas were innovative.

“In terms of concept, Andy Pandy was revolutionary,” says Tim Worthington, a TV expert and author of The Golden Age of Children’s TV.

“Andy Pandy might look very simple, but the episodes were carefully designed and planned. A huge amount of thought went into a concerted effort to reach, entertain and educate children who, don’t forget, were living in the aftermath of six years of war.”

The decision to make the central character a child and, therefore, relatable to a young audience, was also fresh.

With Audrey Atterbury operating Andy and songs sung by Janet Ferber – every programme ended with the tune Time to go Home – viewers loved it.

“These women were pioneers of their day,” explains Tim, who is also a broadcaster and presents a podcast, Looks Unfamiliar.

“Don’t forget, there wasn’t a lot of tv around then, so everyone consumed the same thing and what you saw was unifying. There’s a reason, for instance, that episodes of Steptoe and Son attracted twenty million viewers.

“Andy Pandy was a weekly ritual for children and their parents.”

The Flower Pot Men, Rag Tag and Bobtail and The Woodentops followed as a result of the success of Andy Pandy – all under the Watch With Mother banner – with Freda creating the first daily scheduling of programming for the very young.

But change was in the air.

Joy Whitby, now almost 95, started at the BBC as a studio manager and went on to become one of the biggest names in children’s television, creating and producing Play School and Jackanory, as well as a slew of other programmes for LWT and Yorkshire TV – including Catweazle and The Book Tower.

But in 1955 she was asked to produce a document examining all the Watch With Mother output.

“I remember Freda was a fairly fierce woman, so I’m not sure how she took to me writing this report,” says Joy, who lives in London and is grandmother of eight and great-gran of two.

“What she had done with Andy Pandy was groundbreaking, but nothing had moved on; there was no new thinking. I thought there should be a different approach to children’s television, with presenters talking to viewers as if they were in a one on one situation.

“I wanted it to be less formal.”

Joy also advocated bringing in a team of presenters to programmes such as Blue Peter, as well as introducing diverse faces including Paul Danquah, thought to have been the first black presenter of a children’s programme in the UK, when he worked on Play School.

What both she and Andy Pandy’s makers had in common, though, was a skill for storytelling. It was a skill Joy honed when, before she arrived at the BBC and as a young secretary at a London clinic which treated ‘delinquency’, she entertained the children whose parents were being seen.

Little wonder she looks back on her time as the creator of Jackanory with fondness, her favourite ‘celebrity reader’ being Margaret Rutherford.

“She was an eccentric lady,” says Joy.

“She came to the recording in her wrinkled stockings and buttoned shoes. As she read she inadvertently turned over two pages of the Beatrix Potter book, so she stopped and said: ‘oh dear’.

“We didn’t cut that out, though. I thought it important that children see adults make mistakes too.”

Despite the new telly kids on the block, Andy Pandy episodes were repeated until 1969 and the following year more were made in colour.

In 2002 Andy got a reboot as a stop motion animation and was given a voice, courtesy of actor Tom Conti. Today, episodes and excerpts can be found across social media, with lively fan site discussions about the programme – testament to the long nostalgic shadow Andy and his pals still cast.

“These shows were made seventy five years ago and they’re still in a showable form – I think that’s incredible,” says Tim, who lives in Merseyside.

“They’re a window into our past and we shouldn’t discard that.”

Although she doesn’t watch children’s TV now, Joy says she would love to see a channel dedicated to the classics.

“All children love stories, especially when they are being told to them. Imagination is the key to everything.

Source: Mirror