A String in the Tail

Title card.

**A String in the Tail** is the twelfth episode of the first season and is narrated by Tom Conti.

## Plot

One morning, Andy Pandy is busy making a chair for his cousin. When he finishes making it, Andy puts the chair in a box which he is going to use to pack it in and send off. Andy now needs some string to tie up the box so he goes into house, walks over to his special cupboard and takes out a big ball of blue string. Andy doesn't realise the ball of string hasn't been wound up tightly and because of that, he trips over it. Andy hasn't hurt himself but he realises that the string has gone. The ball of string rolls to a stop in front of Tiffo who thinks someone is playing a game with him.

When Andy gets back onto his feet, he sees the trail of string and decides to follow it so he starts doing that. Teddy is going to visit Andy if he wants to play when he sees the big box outside his house. Teddy hasn't seen a box that big before so he goes to ask Andy what it is for but Andy isn't at home. Teddy opens the box to see what it is inside and when he sees the chair, he thinks it's a new chair for Andy so he decides to helpful and put it in his house for him.

Meanwhile, Tiffo is still playing with the string which has gone all over and inside Missy Hissy's pipes. Tiffo runs off just as Missy Hissy appears and is surprised to find her pipes full of string. Andy is still following the string but he still has a long way to go to find the rest of it. Back at Andy's house, Teddy is still waiting for Andy to come home, he has been waiting for a while and he wants to play. Teddy then has an idea, he will play by himself in the box while he waits for Andy. First, Teddy pretends to be an astronaut and the box is his space rocket but when he gets to the 'moon', he thinks it looks like home. Then, Teddy pretends to be a race driver and the box is his race car, but he goes too fast and crashes his 'car'. Teddy decides to pretend the box is something slower this time like a submarine so he pretends he is sailing peacefully beneath the sea watching all the fish swim past.

Meanwhile, Andy is still following the trail of string and Missy Hissy thinks it was him who has put the string in her pipes so Andy tells him that he hasn't and that it had rolled away from him. Andy follows the string through the green, past Orbie's house and over Bilbo's house. At last, Andy gets to the end of the string which is in Tiffo's mouth. Andy asks Tiffo if he can have the string back but Tiffo thinks he is playing and starts tugging at the string. Andy explains that he doesn't have time for games and needs to tie up a parcel so Tiffo lets go of the string and Andy thanks him.

Andy soon has the box tied up and it is ready to send to his cousin. Andy tries to lift up the box but it is very heavy, heavier than it was before. then the box starts making banging noises and wriggling about. Andy thinks something strange is going on so he unties the box, opens it up and sees Teddy is inside the box instead of the chair he had made. Teddy explains to Andy he has been playing in the box while he waited for him to come home but got tired and had fallen asleep. Andy decides he would like to play in the box, he says the chair can wait and so Andy and Teddy pretend they are train drivers and the box is a train, the two friends are now having great fun.

## Characters

* Andy Pandy
* Teddy
* Tiffo
* Missy Hissy
* Orbie (does not speak)
* Bilbo (does not speak)
* Andy Pandy's cousin (mentioned)

## Compilations

### VHS/DVD

* Meet Andy Pandy and his Friends
* The Birthday Cake

### YouTube

* Oscar Barnett's Favourite Memory Characters: Volume 1
* Fun In The Sun
* The Complete Series 1