Candy, Andy & the Bearandas was a 1960s project by Century 21 Productions, a company remembered today for a run of successful puppet-driven ('Supermarionation') television shows that included Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Joe 90.
Alas, Candy, Andy & the Bearandas are not in that pantheon. Devised for the 1960s comic book market, this was a photo-story tale of two panda bears, Mr and Mrs Bearanda, who are raising their plastic children, Candy and Andy, in a picture-perfect English village.
Launched just one month after the final episode of Thunderbirds, the images created for the photo-strips provide a unique and – there's no other word for it – bizarre look at domesticity, the family and childhood. The unusual and slightly unsettling nature of these characters meant they never reached the popularity of other Anderson creations and the photo story comics were abandoned after a year.
This book incarnation of Candy, Andy & the Bearandas assembles the best of the surviving original transparencies from a brilliantly off-kilter project, presenting the characters driving their striped mini, preparing for Bonfire Night, going for a boat ride and other normal activities in a dreamlike mid-century world.
The book features a foreword by Gerry Anderson's son Jamie Anderson and an introduction detailing the history of the project by historian and broadcaster Alan Dein.
Four Corners, 92pp, 23cm x 16 cm, faux-leather hardcover, 2023
