WITH his blue and white striped romper suit, Andy Pandy was a familiar sight for generations of children. Along with Teddy, every week he would jerkily emerge from the wicker basket he called home, and spend his life trying to persuade the reclusive Looby Loo to come out and play.

For more than 30 years he has been consigned to television limbo, but now he is to follow in the wooden footsteps of fellow puppets Bill and Ben in making a comeback to the small screen. The BBC confirmed yesterday that it is to revive the Watch With Mother stalwart, with former Oscar nominee Tom Conti narrating the new version, due to be aired next year.

The original show was the creation of school teacher Maria Bird, who also composed the music and became the programme's first narrator. Aimed at pre-school toddlers, it ran in the Watch With Mother slot on Tuesdays from 1950 to 1957, with the 15-minute episodes repeated regularly over the following years.

Another 13 colour episodes were made in 1970, written and produced by Freda Lingstrom, who had commissioned the first series as the BBC's head of TV's children's programmes.

Theresa Plummer-Andrews, executive producer of the 2002 version, says that, despite speculation, Andy Pandy will not be going solo. "As in the original series, Looby Loo and Teddy are key characters in the new series of Andy Pandy," she says. "This playful trio are sure to be as popular with today's audience as the original characters once were."

But Dr Michael Anderson, of Newcastle University's Centre for Family Studies, says the return of an old favourite may be more to do with the people who make children's programmes now than with the children themselves.

"It is adults who think these things up and what they remember are these programmes," he says. "They remember Andy Pandy and Bill and Ben from their own childhood. My cynicism would say it is probably adults trying to force things on children."

But the playful adventures of a baby clown may not strike a chord with youngsters who are used to more action-orientated programmes, says Dr Anderson. "I would be interested in how they market it, which is as important as the content itself.

"As to whether children are going to watch it, I don't know. We have now got what the people in children's marketing would say is a much more sophisticated customer than in the past."

But in some respects, the revival of Andy Pandy, along with the earlier re-potting for the Flowerpot Men, may be part of a wider trend, with nostalgia very much in fashion. "There are all these documentaries about going back in time, they have become commodities for contemporary television," says Dr Anderson. "It may be we have reached a point where creative imaginations have run out and we're having to draw on the past."

And with former Watch With Mother stablemates The Flowerpot Men having already returned to the screen, it may be only a matter of time before the remaining three programmes in the genre - Picture Book, Rag, Tag and Bobtail, and The Woodentops - follow suit.