Alana Landsberry
Andy Lee is the epitome of a modern Aussie larrikin.
Even though he’s cool, worldly and poised to marry an oh-so-chic lifestyle entrepreneur, when the 44-year-old opens his mouth, he has everyone in stitches.
His signature sense of humour has spilled from the radio airwaves and TV into children’s books – the bestselling Do Not Open This Book series – and now back onto the box again with that beloved series getting its own TV adaptation, Do Not Watch This Show.
Arriving on the ABC on July 4, 2025, the animation features the chaotic and emotionally fragile blue monster Wizz, and his pal Douglas, who, Andy explains, is “matter-of-fact, to the point and almost emotionless”. He voices both of them.
Given his success in the kids’ genre, it’s only natural to presume Andy must have fatherhood on his mind.
“Of course,” he tells WHO days before jetting off to New York with fiancée Rebecca Harding, 35, to check in on another new venture, their Aussie pub, Old Mates – located in Lower Manhattan.
But given the amount of time it has taken to bring his books to the small screen, as well as the work involved in opening his Stateside watering hole and undertaking a house renovation here in Australia, Andy admits that a wedding and kids have been on the backburner.
“At the moment, all my efforts have been going into this animation. It is my child and I’m happy to share it with everybody, which is a kind of analogy for most parents – if they love their child, they’re happy to share them around with babysitters!” he jokes, adding that he and Bec – who he popped the question to in April 2024 after a decade together – have a lot of boxes to tick before welcoming their own bub.
“Bec and I have a wedding to plan first, which again has kind of taken a backseat to this show, and so we’ll get some time to do that, but at the moment we’re just enjoying life,” he explains.
It seems Andy likes to take his time to get the job done, but only because you can’t rush perfection. “It was a race to see what gets finished first – the animation or the house,” he says, referring to the elegant heritage home in Melbourne’s east he and Bec are restoring and extending.
“The house is definitely going to lose. The animation took nearly six years from when we started the process, and I think the house is going to be close to that as well. We’ve got about 18 months to go on that.”
The show has been a labour of love for Andy, who relished the one or two programs he got to watch as a child. “We didn’t watch all that much television,” he admits. “Young Talent Time and The Comedy Company were two I was allowed to watch.
“Early days, it was Play School and Sesame Street. Then, as I got older, there was You Can’t Do That on Television. I just loved it for the same reason I love our show. It kept referring to the camera, and they kept saying, ‘You can’t do that on television.’ So you felt cheeky and naughty watching it. That’s exactly what I hope the kids will feel when they watch Do Not Watch This Show.”
Being naughty and cheeky is something the comedian knows a thing or two about. “We had a whiteboard in the kitchen, and if we misbehaved, we got a tick on the whiteboard,” he recalls of his childhood. “If we got three ticks, it meant we weren’t allowed to watch our nominated show.”
Andy admits he often lived life on the edge with two marks against his name, but tried to avoid the dreaded third tick because his TV time was so precious. And while his parents clearly knew how to run a tight ship – both were primary school teachers – it wasn’t all whiteboards and TV bans for the star and his siblings. “Dad was the kind of teacher that loved to go outside and muck around, and always created fun and stupid games,” he says.
Like father, like son, it would seem.
