Andy Cunningham

Cunningham died of duodenal cancer on 5 June 2017 at Royal Sussex County Hospital with his former partner and his family around him. He didn't regain consciousness after undergoing emergency stomach surgery, related to his cancer.

Cunningham studied at the University of Cambridge, where he read English. He dropped out of this course at the end of the second of its three years, citing academic pressures as the reason for doing so, but later completed his degree at the University of Reading. By the mid-1990s, he was in a long-term relationship with co-star Jane Bassett who played Mousey in Bodger & Badger. They later separated but remained good friends. He also had a daughter, Phoebe, to a relationship prior to his one with Jane Bassett.

Early in 1989, Andy received a call back from Chris giving the approval for a full series of programmes of Andy's act. However, Christopher had decided to change the idea from a series of 5-minute comedy cookery programmes into a fully-fledged sitcom with supporting characters and to make the episodes of the series 15-minutes in length. It was Chris who also suggested the idea of the setting for the first series, the kitchen of a "greasy spoon" cafe-cum-restaurant called "Troff's Nosherama" which, due to Badger's love of it, served themed meals all based around mashed potato and also specialised in cakes (a remaining feature of the two Saturday morning TV appearances the year before, which was to cease with the end of the first series). Andy wrote all the scripts for the first series based on this premise and the episodes were recorded in studio 7 of BBC Television Centre during the summer of 1989.

In 1988, Andy received a phone call from Chris inviting him to make two pre-recorded appearances on the BBC's current Saturday morning BBC1 children's magazine programme On the Waterfront, both to test Andy out on broadcast television (as many stars who have performed in front of real audiences for many years have struggled to transfer to film or broadcast media) and to test how the act as it was at that time would fare with a children's TV audience. The results from both were encouraging for both Chris and Andy. However, Andy heard nothing again from Chris for months after this, continuing the routine of occasional phone calls to Chris with encouragement being received back.

After seeing the success of a badly behaved rodent puppet on television, around 1987 Andy began to explore the idea of adopting an act for TV himself. After wanting to have an act where both characters shared similar names, with one of those names being Bodger (and the other, by default through a lack of any other similar-sounding animal name, Badger), he commissioned his friend Deirdre McArdle, who had made Magritte, to make a puppet badger for him, wearing similarly eccentric clothing as Magritte. Badger would adopt a low, booming, voice similar to that of Magritte (and of boxer Frank Bruno) and would enjoy throwing food around. With a next-door neighbour he made two audition videotapes with him and Badger presenting a faux cookery programme where they made a recipe that coincidentally included mashed potato. The first performance was straight-laced and not very funny but the second, with Badger misbehaving and getting out of control throwing food everywhere, was much funnier. It is from here that Andy got the inspiration for Badger loving mashed potato, as he realised its potential for use in slapstick comedy (adapted from the traditional custard pie routine) while still being a very original and left-of-field idea. It was this second performance that he sent off to the BBC and several ITV regional franchisees. The ITV companies all gave him written appraisals but turned him down, however he received more positive news from Christopher Pilkington, an executive producer at the BBC within their Children's Programmes department. After this, he received no more positive news for months, occasionally calling up Chris Pilkington who would reply with encouragement.

In 1986, Andy wrote a children's book featuring Mr Bodger and Magritte the rat entitled "Mr Bodger's Jumping Hat". Also during this time, Roland Rat became popular on TV-am's breakfast television ITV franchise and many people in London who knew Andy because of his work with Magritte either began thinking that Andy had stolen the idea of a badly behaving talking rat puppet from Roland Rat or confused Magritte with Roland, thinking Andy was Roland's puppeteer. It was also during this period when Andy made his only (uncredited) big-screen film performances in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi when someone from the casting team saw him perform an act in a pub show when he was wearing a very cumbersome costume that gave the impression of one person giving another a piggyback. It was from here that he was cast in two roles in that Star Wars film, one as Ephant Mon and another in an unnamed alien costume.

By the early 1980s, Andy had a regular income to supplement his magician and Community Theatre Group work as a handyman at a West London school, a job which he admitted himself he was entirely unsuitable for. This was to become the inspiration for the character of Mr Bodger and, in turn, the setting for the second and third series of Bodger and Badger. He began to adapt the Mighty Sardini act for touring shows and children's parties to that of a hapless Charlie Chaplin-esque character called Mr Bodger, including dropping the cod-Italian accent.

Before entering the acting profession and entertainment industry, he was an English teacher, then a social worker before, in the early 1970s, he decided to become a comedy magician. Andy had a lifelong interest in puppetry and magic that started when he was a child, watching such TV programmes as The Sooty Show and Muffin the Mule. When he was aged 8 his younger sister, journalist Tessa Cunningham, was born and he said he enjoyed entertaining her so much when she was young that in his early 20s, he decided to become a comedy magician. He began his craft by borrowing magic trick books from libraries, visited magic shops in the London area and after he spotted an advertising card in a newsagent's shop window for a ventriloquist's dummy, he took the opportunity to try learning ventriloquism. After picking it up - an unwanted Christmas present for a young boy - he began to teach himself ventriloquism, beginning with reading books on how to practice it. He found it quite natural to split himself in two and operate the puppet while doing something else, however, he was not happy with feeling that there was something very creepy about operating a human character, instead finding an animal character much less disturbing.

Andrew Cunningham (13 May 1950 – 5 June 2017) was an English actor, puppeteer, ventriloquist and writer. He was best known as the creator and main writer of the children's BBC television series, Bodger & Badger, in which he acted as the likeable but accident prone Simon Bodger and his pet, Badger.