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BALAMORY REVIEW

WHAT IS BALAMORY?

(Cbeebies / BBC1/ BBC2) BAFTA award winning ‘Balamory’ is a live action, daily programme for pre-school children, set around the adventures of the small island community of Balamory, in Scotland.

The cast is a mixture of children and adults - the young children of the local nursery and their teacher, Miss Hoolie – along with PC Plum, Archie the Inventor, Spencer the Painter, Edie McCredie the bus driver, Josie Jump the fitness instructor, and Susie Sweet and Penny Pocket who run the local sweet shop.

Each programme blends drama and documentary to provide an entertaining and informative experience for viewers. Each day's stories are set in the picturesque village of Balamory, where pretty, coloured houses nestle around a charming harbour. As well as the narrative of the day's events, each programme contains colour, songs, puzzles, poems, dances and a Story of the Day, all revolving around Balamory life.

KLING-ON TIGHT - IT'S THE BALAMORY BUNCH

Every so often you get a chance to mix business and pleasure. So it was at the weekend when I put on my reporting hat to go and chat to the cast of Balamory at the Christmas lights switch on.

The pleasure part came in being able to have my chum and her two-year-old daughter - a Balamory fanatic - tag along. The wee one's face was a picture when she walked into a room and saw Archie, Edie McCredie, Spencer and Penny Pocket. Right there, in real life - and every bit as friendly and smiling as they are on the TV show. She looked completely gob-smacked and overawed, especially when Penny Pocket held her hand while some photos were taken. But it really made her day.

Mind you, thinking about it afterwards it must be confusing when you're two and folk on the telly are suddenly there and chatting to you for real. It would be like me walking into the Marine one day and finding the crew of the Enterprise waiting to have a pint and a blether.

"So tell me Worf, how come you Klingons don't look anything like the ones from Captain Kirk's days?

"Oh, by the way ... is it okay if Seven of Nine holds my hand for the photos?"

Now that would make my day. I'd even wear my best anorak.

Why I Love Balamory Paul May Wednesday November 26, 2003

What's the story with Balamory? Wouldn't you like to know. It's a pre-school soap opera where songs take the place of fights. Dennis Potter, what have you done?

Balamory is stuffed with recognisable Scottish characters such as camp copper PC Plum, fitness instructor Josie Jump, Spencer the decorator, and Suzie Sweet and Penny Pocket, who run the wee shop. Sweet and Pocket are easily the most compelling screen presences on daytime TV. Though they manage the often strange requests of their customers with good humour, I fear they bawl each other out in private. Like the best soap characters, we can imagine their lives existing outside the snippets we are privileged to see. Miss Hoolie runs the seaside town's nursery with fierce enthusiasm and implausible hair. A live-action Olive Oyl, Miss Hoolie is the high-energy role model I needed to shape my character at age four. I got a nun instead and it shows. And then there's posh, crazed inventor Archie, who lives in a pink castle, which is actually Fenton Tower, near North Berwick.

The tower's location must cause a few problems for the tourists at Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, where the rest of Balamory is to be found. They already have to deal with the fact that most right-thinking people think Tobermory is a womble. The best thing about Balamory is that it's inhabited by people, rather than the mutant gonks that infest most children's TV. Behind one of those brightly painted houses, there's a Fimble wriggling in a giant steel trap. You won't find a bus called Daisy, driven by Edie McCredie, anywhere else but Balamory. Except possibly in Glenbogle, home of Sunday night feel-bad drama Monarch of the Glen. Start taping Bally now, because in 10 years' time it might be shunted to the doldrums of the CBeebies schedule to die a lonely death like Brookie.

Children's TV role for 'Nasty Nick' Saturday March 26, 12:14 PM

John Altman hasn't been seen in EastEnders since 2001, but the man who became famous playing Nasty Nick Cotton is now making an unlikely TV return - guesting on a children's show. Although other high-profile acting roles have proven thin on the ground, the thespian has been keeping his hand in with a string of appearances on TV game shows and documentaries. Now the actor, who had an unaccredited role in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, is putting in a guest appearance in the pre-school children's programme, Balamory. Destined to be a far cry from his drug-peddling days in Albert Square, he'll show up for one edition, where he'll meet some of the colourful characters on the famous island.

Terry Wogan lands Balamory role

TERRY WOGAN is to appear in hit Scots kids' programme Balamory. The Radio 2 breakfast show host was asked after complaining the BBC show was losing him listeners - as older people switched him off to watch it with their grandchildren. Julie Wilson Nimmo, 32, who plays Miss Hoolie, said: 'Terry was delighted to be asked and it was great he could spare the time. 'We just hope he doesn't manage to grab any of our viewers back to his radio show.' Terry will play a TV director in a episode in which Miss Hoolie goes to London to be in a game show. The episode also features Julie's husband, Still Game star Greg Hemphill.