Balamory

Balamory is a Scottish live-action children's programme on CBeebies for pre-school children, about a fictional small island community off the west coast of Scotland, named Balamory. Four series were produced from 2002 to 2005 by BBC Scotland, with 253 episodes made (including a DVD-exclusive Christmas episode). The programme was created by Brian Jameson.

To celebrate the show's 20th anniversary, 25 episodes from Series 4 were added to BBC iPlayer on 30 August 2022. On 17 September 2024, it was announced that the show will return for two new series in 2026 on CBeebies including bringing back old characters from the past.^[2]

There are eight central characters in Balamory. Each character wears a distinctive colour of clothing and lives in a house of the same colour.

• Miss Hoolie (played by Julie Wilson Nimmo) is the Balamory Nursery teacher. She is the main character and acts as a presenter and a narrator for each episode. Her main colour is green and she lives in a green cottage.
• Archie (played by Miles Jupp) is an inventor who builds zany creations from household objects (often yoghurt pots,) which are intended to be useful, but sometimes backfire. His main colour is pink and he lives in a pink castle.
• Josie Jump (played by Buki Akib in Series 1 & 2 and Kasia Haddad in Series 3 & 4) is a fitness instructor. She plays and coaches all types of gymnastics, sports and dance and is also talented at storytelling through expressive movement and dance. Her main colour is yellow and she lives in a yellow towered house.
• Edie McCredie (played by Juliet Cadzow) is the Balamory Bus Driver. She has travelled all over the world and has a variety of photographs and souvenirs to talk about. She is also an expert driver and motor mechanic and occasionally gets exasperated with other road users. She has a video camera which has been put to use should the occasion arise, notably in "The Wedding" and "Indian Wedding". Her main colour is blue and she lives in a blue garage / house.
• PC Plum (played by Andrew Agnew) is the local police officer. He aspires to be a master detective, but as Balamory is a crime-free village, he mostly spends his time watching wildlife. His main colour is white (although he wears a mostly black police uniform) and he lives in a white police station.
• Spencer (played by Rodd Christensen) is an African-American painter. He is responsible for making Balamory as colourful as it is and is also talented with music, especially as his painter's ladder is musical; each rung sounding a different note. His main colour is orange and he lives in an orange bungalow.
• Suzie Sweet (played by Mary Riggans) and Penny Pocket (played by Kim Tserkezie). Suzie Sweet is the joint cafe and shop runner. As she's older than the other residents, she is a grandmotherly figure who loves to tell customers about the items in her shop. Her main colour is red. Penny Pocket is a young woman who uses a wheelchair and has a talent for mathematics. She and her chum Suzie together run the village shop and cafe. Her main colour is light blue and they live together in a red village cafe shop.

In every episode, a selection of songs are played, each depends on the character.

Beginning in Series 3, a new selection of songs was introduced, although the original songs were still used on occasion (except for Play Days). Also, Penny Pocket and Suzie Sweet, who originally shared a song, were given their own songs. Josie Jump's original song was redone with Kasia Haddad, who replaced Buki Akib as Josie.

All characters, with the exception of Miss Hoolie, sing the Coloured House song one at a time per episode. Penny and Suzie have sung this song both individually and together.

The songs were composed by Foster Paterson^[1] and Paul Wilson.

• What's the Story in Balamory?' – Title Theme [All 4 Series]
• Which Coloured House Are We Going To? – Transition theme [All 4 Series]
• Everybody Everyone – Miss Hoolie's Nursery theme [All 4 Series]
• Everyone's at Home Today – Miss Hoolie's Play Day theme (Series 1–2)
• Strike Up the Band – Miss Hoolie's Play Day theme (Series 3–4)
• I'm Archie the Inventor – Archie's theme [All 4 Series]
• Great Inventions, Groovy Solutions – Archie's theme (Series 3–4)
• Jump Up a Little Higher – Josie Jump's theme [All 4 Series]
• Cheer You Up – Josie Jump's theme (Series 3–4)
• When I Honk My Horn – Edie McCredie's theme [All 4 Series]
• Let Me Take You on a Journey – Edie McCredie's theme (Series 3–4)
• I'm PC Plum – PC Plum's theme [All 4 Series]
• Follow the Clue – PC Plum's theme (Series 3–4)
• Climbing Up My Musical Ladder – Spencer's theme [All 4 Series]
• If You Need a Little Rhythm – Spencer's theme (Series 3–4)
• I'm Suzie Sweet, I'm Penny Pocket – Suzie and Penny's theme [All 4 Series]
• Suzie's Cookin' – Suzie's theme (Series 3–4)
• Sort It – Penny's theme (Series 3–4)
• What's the Story in Balamory?' (Instrumental) – End Credits Theme [All 4 Series]

A typical episode follows this general plan:

The opening credits show the town of "Balamory" with its brightly coloured houses. Miss Hoolie opens the nursery school, greets the nursery children, and talks about that day's weather. On a "play day" she visits Pocket & Sweet, the shop-and-cafe.

Miss Hoolie breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience directly down the camera lens in every episode. A creative aspect of the programme involves the characters often being "one step behind" the audience when it comes to problem solving. This allows for young inquisitive viewers to figure out "what the story is" in Balamory based on their own individual interpretations.

One of the other characters (who will be the main character of that episode) tells Miss Hoolie about a problem. This character then sings "Which Coloured House Are We Going To?", asking the young viewers to guess which of the Balamory characters will be most helpful in solving the problem. The main character then proceeds to visit several other characters until the problem is solved. Miss Hoolie and the main character provide a summary of the story at each point, and a final recap at the end of the episode.

For example, in one episode Josie Jump has been asked to look after a neighbour's rabbit, but does not know what it needs. She is advised to visit PC Plum, who advises her to feed it vegetables. She then goes to the shop run by Pocket and Sweet to buy rabbit food, and finally brings the rabbit to Miss Hoolie's nursery for the children to feed and pat it.

Each episode of Balamory contains at least five songs:

• "What's the Story in Balamory?", the theme song
• Miss Hoolie's opening song, either "Everybody, Everyone" if the nursery school is open, or one of the two "play day" songs otherwise
• "Which Coloured House Are We Going To?", sung by the main character after presenting his or her problem
• Character-specific songs, sung by the characters visited by the main character

• Series One
• Series Two
• Series Three
• Series Four

The programme was aimed at preschoolers although often reached an older audience.^[3] The show can also be seen in a humorous light. The characters in Balamory are somewhat naive and light hearted. The storyline revolves around simple problems designed to challenge pre-schoolers' minds.

A number of episodes feature guest actors in addition to the main characters and the nursery children. Terry Wogan made a guest appearance in one episode (The Game Show) as a television director. This episode also featured Greg Hemphill (Julie Wilson Nimmo's husband in real life) and John Altman, who plays Nick Cotton in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Celebrity chef Keith Floyd appeared in Suzie Sweet's song "Suzie's Cookin'".

The show was first confirmed to be in production on 20 November 2001, under the working title of Applecross before it was named Balamory in August 2002.^[4]

Balamory was filmed mostly in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, with the exception of scenes at Archie's castle filmed in East Lothian, and other scenes such as the nursery and the Mainland City, which were filmed in Glasgow.

The nursery was part of North Glasgow College in Barmulloch for series 1 and 2, which was then knocked down. In series 3 and 4, the nursery was a custom built set outside the BBC studios in Maryhill.

The series has been aired in many international territories. Such examples include Nickelodeon in Australia, RTÉ in Ireland, BBC Kids in Canada, and TVB in Hong Kong.^[5]

On 4 August 2005, BBC Worldwide Americas pre-sold US broadcast rights to thirty-nine episodes to Discovery Communications who also secured US merchandising rights. The series aired on Discovery Kids and TLC as part of their Ready Set Learn! strand.^[6]

The series has been aired by the Dutch broadcaster TROS.

BBC Worldwide released many VHS and DVDs of the series in United Kingdom, which each focus on a specific character or theme.

To celebrate the show's 20th anniversary, 25 episodes from Series 4 were added to BBC iPlayer on 30 August 2022.^[9]

On 30 April 2005, the BBC announced that it would not order another season of the series, citing they wanted to experiment and create more new programme ideas. The show continued to be repeated on CBeebies until 3 July 2016.^[10] By then only the first two series, series 1 and 2 (except the last episode of series 2) respectively, continued to be repeated as the last two series, series 3 and 4, as well as the last episode of Series 2 could not be repeated due to licensing issues from 22 January 2010 onwards.

By the time the programme was cancelled, many of the cast were also keen to move on. Miles Jupp, who played Archie, stated that his role caused problems with his comedy career, with parents assuming his routines were age-appropriate and permitting their children to attend. Julie Wilson Nimmo, who played Miss Hoolie, complained that she could not take her children anywhere without being "mobbed."^[11] Mary Riggans, who played Suzie Sweet, died in her sleep in 2013, having suffered a stroke the year before.^[12] Andrew Agnew, who played PC Plum, went on to work for Tattiemoon Productions, and direct the children's TV show Me Too! which shared the same similarities in concept as Balamory. Although set in Scotland, it is primarily set in a city rather than a coastal town.

On 30 August 2022, Andrew Agnew and Julie Wilson Nimmo made an appearance on ITV's This Morning for the show's 20th anniversary year and said they would love to work on a new series.^[13]

In September 2024, The BBC announced that two new series of Balamory had been recommissioned to be broadcast in 2026 for a new generation of viewers. In an interview with The Daily Record, Julie Wilson Nimmo described the prospect of this reboot to be "bigger than the Oasis Live '25 Tour." Casting details are to be confirmed, however some previous cast members are expected to return.

The show has seen two live tours that were held in Arenas across the United Kingdom, being co-productions with BBC Worldwide and DC Entertainment.

The first show, Balamory Live! What's the Story, toured Aberdeen, Cardiff, and Glasgow for the 2004 Christmas season. The follow-up show – Balamory Live: Strike Up the Band was held as a farewell tour, and was held in the Autumn of 2005. The cast of the series reprised their roles in the show except for three of them.

In August 2022, Andrew Agnew said that he would love to do a brand new live show.

• Best Pre-school Live Action Series (nominated) at the 2003 BAFTA Children's Awards.^[14]
• Best Pre-school Live Action Series (won) at the 2004 BAFTA Children's Awards.^[15]
• Best Pre-school Live Action Series (nominated) at the 2005 BAFTA Children's Awards.^[16]

• Balamory at BBC Online
• Press release at the launch of Balamory at bbc.co.uk
• Balamory at IMDb