diff --git a/py/test/runner.py b/py/test/runner.py
index 25f0f8483..b30805495 100644
--- a/py/test/runner.py
+++ b/py/test/runner.py
@@ -72,11 +72,14 @@ class ItemRunner(RobustRun):
     def makereport(self, res, when, excinfo, outerr):
         if excinfo: 
             kw = self.getkw(when, excinfo, outerr)
-            if self.pdb and kw.get('failed', 0):
-                self.pdb(excinfo)
         else:
             kw = {'passed': OutcomeRepr(when, '.', "")}
-        return event.ItemTestReport(self.colitem, **kw)
+        testrep = event.ItemTestReport(self.colitem, **kw)
+        if self.pdb and testrep.failed:
+            tw = py.io.TerminalWriter()
+            testrep.toterminal(tw)
+            self.pdb(excinfo)
+        return testrep
 
 class CollectorRunner(RobustRun):
     def setup(self):
diff --git a/py/test/testing/acceptance_test.py b/py/test/testing/acceptance_test.py
index e3fdec714..3d234712a 100644
--- a/py/test/testing/acceptance_test.py
+++ b/py/test/testing/acceptance_test.py
@@ -403,15 +403,16 @@ class TestInteractive(AcceptBase):
         spawn = self.getspawn()
         self.makepyfile(test_one="""
             def test_1():
+                #hello
                 assert 1 == 0 
         """)
        
         child = spawn("%s %s --pdb test_one.py" % (py.std.sys.executable, 
                       pytestpath))
         child.timeout = EXPECTTIMEOUT
-        child.expect("(Pdb)")
-        child.sendline("l")
         child.expect(".*def test_1.*")
+        child.expect(".*hello.*")
+        child.expect("(Pdb)")
         child.sendeof()
         child.expect("failures: 1")
         if child.isalive():