Balamory

Balamory is a British live action television series on British television (BBC One, BBC Two and CBeebies) for pre-school children, about a fictional small island community called Balamory in Scotland. It was produced between 10 February 2002 and 14 April 2005 by Balamory Ltd. for BBC Scotland, with 254 episodes made (including a DVD-exclusive Christmas episode). The series was created by Brian Jameson.

Balamory was filmed mostly in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, with the exception of scenes at Archie's castle filmed at Fenton Tower in North Berwick and other scenes like the park and nursery filmed in Glasgow

A select series of episodes was shown for two brief seasons in the United States on the Discovery Kids channel. It was also shown on TLC. In Ireland, episodes were shown until recently on weekdays on RTÉ Two's The Den and continue to be shown on The Den's replacement, RTÉjr.

Tobermory, Mull, the setting for the fictional town of Balamory

Edie McCredie's bus (LDV Convoy) in the Glasgow Museum of Transport

Characters

There are eight central characters in Balamory. Each character wears a distinctive colour of clothing and lives in a house of the same colour, with the exception of Penny Pocket (who shares the red house/shop with Suzie Sweet, and wears blue) and PC Plum (who lives in the white house but wears a police uniform). Each character also has one or more individual songs.

The nursery teacher Miss Hoolie is the framing character and narrator for each episode. She introduces the programme and the problem which needs to be solved, provides a recap in the middle, and summarises the story at the end of the episode.

Archie the inventor builds zany creations from household objects such as boxes, bottles, yoghurt pots, string, and similar items that young children might typically use in craft projects. His inventions are intended to be useful but sometimes backfire.

Josie Jump is the fitness instructor at the primary school next door to Miss Hoolie's nursery school. She plays and coaches all types of gymnastics, sports, and dance, and encourages the young viewers to exercise. She is also talented at storytelling through expressive movement and dance.

Edie McCredie drives the nursery school bus. 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.

Police officer PC Plum aspires to be a master detective, but Balamory is a crime-free village. He spends most of his time watching wildlife and using his detective skills to figure out what the animals have been doing. He is also particularly interested in rules, regulations, and safety.

Spencer is officially responsible for painting the coloured houses of Balamory, but also paints pictures and creates music. His painter's ladder is musical, each rung sounding a different note.

Suzie Sweet and Penny Pocket together run the village shop and cafe. Suzie Sweet is an older, grandmotherly figure who loves to tell customers about the items in the shop. Penny Pocket is a young woman who uses a wheelchair; she has a talent for mathematics.

Episodes

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. 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.

An alternative storyline takes place on a day off. Miss Hoolie visits Pocket and Sweet's cafe and talks about the weather.

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. 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.

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 "day off" 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

Episode guide

• Series One & Two
• Series Three
• Series Four

Audience

The programme is aimed at pre-schoolers. The programme's creator had intended it as a "soap opera for children".^[1] The show can also be seen in a humorous light. The characters in Balamory are somewhat naive and light-hearted, often appearing to be children trapped in adult bodies with adult roles. The storyline revolves around simple problems designed to challenge pre-schoolers' minds.

Songs

There are many songs in Balamory, mainly sung by the actors. These songs are used consistently throughout the series when corresponding characters or circumstances are introduced. In the run starting from October 2004, new songs were introduced. These songs are longer and take up more time in the episode, so the old versions were still often used.

In addition to the character-specific songs mentioned in the "Characters" section, there are two general songs:

• "What's the Story in Balamory?" is the show's theme song, sung over the opening titles and played as an instrumental over the closing credits.
• "Which Coloured House Are We Going To?" is sung by the main character of each episode after introducing that episode's problem.

Production

Very few episodes feature actors other than 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 Nasty Nick Cotton in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Celebrity chef Keith Floyd appears in Suzie Sweet's song "Suzie's Cookin'".

Occasionally, the shots of children entering the nursery are cut down for repeats for time reasons.

Cancellation

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. In that year, the cast performed a touring show called "The Balamory Tour".

By the time the programme was cancelled, many of the cast were also keen to move on. Miles Jupp, who played Archie, has stated that his role caused some problems when he was performing stand-up on the Edinburgh Fringe, due to parents assuming his show was child-friendly, and bringing their children to see it. Julie Wilson Nimmo, who played Miss Hoolie, complained that she could not take her children to the local play area without being mobbed.

Awards

• Nominated for Best Pre-school Live Action Series at the 2003 BAFTA Children's Awards.^[2]
• Awarded Best Pre-school Live Action Series at the 2004 BAFTA Children's Awards.^[3]
• Nominated for Best Pre-school Live Action Series at the 2005 BAFTA Children's Awards.^[4]

References

External links

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/balamory Press release at the launch of Balamory] at bbc.co.uk
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2002/08_august/30/balamory.shtml CBeebies - Balamory] at bbc.co.uk
• Balamory at the Internet Movie Database
• Balamory at TV.com
• General information (including population figures) for the Isle of Mull, including Tobermory - Filming location of Balamory