Balamory


Balamory is a British educational live-action children's programme on BBC One, BBC Two and CBeebies for pre-school children, about a fictional small island community off the west coast of Scotland, named Balamory. Four series were produced between 2002 and 2005 by BBC Scotland, with 254 episodes made. The programme 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 in East Lothian, and other scenes such as the nursery and park, which were filmed in Glasgow.

Characters

There are eight central characters in Balamory. Each character wears a distinctive colour of clothing like pink or yellow, and lives in a house of the same colour. For example, Archie lives in a pink castle and wears a pink jumper. Exceptions are Penny Pocket and PC Plum. Each character also has one or more individual songs.
CharacterActorJobHouseSong
Miss HoolieJulie Wilson NimmoNursery teacherGreen house
General:Everybody Everyone
Play day:Everyone's at Home Today
Strike Up the Band
Archie the InventorMiles JuppInventorPink castle
I'm Archie the Inventor
Great Inventions, Groovy Solutions
Josie JumpBuki Akib
Kasia Haddad
Fitness instructorYellow house
Josie Jump is My Name
Cheer You Up
Edie McCredieJuliet CadzowBus driverBlue garage/house
When I Honk My Horn
Let Me Take You on a Journey
PC PlumAndrew AgnewPolicemanBlack and white police station
I'm PC Plum
Follow the Clue
Spencer the PainterRodd ChristensenPainter/MusicianOrange house
Climbing Up My Musical Ladder
If You Need a Little Rhythm
Suzie SweetMary RiggansShop and café workersRed shop
I'm Suzie Sweet, I'm Penny Pocket
Suzie's Cooking
Penny PocketKim TserkezieShop and café workersRed shopI'm Suzie Sweet, I'm Penny Pocket
Sort It

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 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. Spencer is also the only American to reside in Balamory
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. On a "play day" she visits Pocket & Sweet, the shop-cum-cafe.
One of the other characters 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:
The programme was aimed at preschoolers. 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 September 2004, new songs were introduced. These songs are longer and take up more time in the episode, so the old songs were still often used.
In addition to the character specific songs mentioned in the "Characters" section, there are two general songs:
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 as a television director. This episode also featured Greg Hemphill 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'".

International airings

In the United States, the series aired on TLC and Discovery Kids, as part of the Ready, Set, Learn! block from 2005 until 2007.

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, all the cast performed a farewell touring show called "Balamory Live: Strike up the Band", a follow up to the "Balamory Live: What's The Story" tour from 2004.
By the time the programme was retired, many of the cast were also keen to move on. Miles Jupp, who played Archie, 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. Mary Riggans, who played Suzie Sweet, died in 2013, having suffered a stroke the year before.

Awards