Balamory

Did You Know?

• The show was first confirmed to be in production on 20 November 2001 under the working title Apple Cross before the title Balamory was announced in August 2002.
• Balamory was filmed mostly in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, with Archie's castle scenes filmed at Fenton Tower in East Lothian.
• Mary Riggans, who played Suzie Sweet, died in 2013.

Synopsis

The show is structured like a bridge, with Miss Hoolie serving as the link between segments. A key feature is that the characters are usually a step behind the audience in solving problems, letting young viewers figure out the story for themselves. Miss Hoolie speaks directly to the children watching, reminding them of the episode's lesson and how the characters will achieve it. The opening sequence shows the colorful town of Balamory and its residents. Miss Hoolie starts the day at the nursery, greeting the children and discussing the weather. On a play day, she goes to the village shop and café called Pocket & Sweet, where Penny Pocket and Suzie Sweet live. A different character then tells Miss Hoolie about a problem and sings a song asking viewers to guess which character will help. From series five onward, this song is slightly different. The main character visits several others until the problem is solved. Miss Hoolie and the main character give a summary after each visit and a final recap at the end. Each episode has at least four songs: the theme song, Miss Hoolie's opening song, the colored house song, and songs for each character visited.

Characters

There were eight central characters from 2002 to 2005; from 2026 onwards there are seven central characters. Each character wears a distinctive colour of clothing and lives in a house of the same colour. Miss Hoolie (Julie Wilson Nimmo, 2002–present) is the nursery teacher, main character, presenter and narrator; her colour is green and she lives in a green cottage. PC Plum (Andrew Agnew, 2002–present) is the local police officer who aspires to be a master detective but spends most of his time watching wildlife; his colour is white and he lives in a white police station. Penny Pocket (Kim Tserkezie, 2002–present) originally co-owned the café-shop Pocket and Sweet with Suzie Sweet; in the revival her colour is red and she runs the shop alone, renamed Penny's. Suzie Sweet (Mary Riggans, 2002–2005) was the other part-owner, a grandmother figure who loved to tell customers about items in her shop and had a talent for cooking and baking; her colour was red. Josie Jump (Buki Akib 2002–2003, Kasia Haddad 2004–2005) was a fitness instructor talented in gymnastics, sports, dance and storytelling through movement; her colour was yellow and she lived in a yellow towered house. Edie McCredie (Juliet Cadzow, 2002–present) is the bus driver who has travelled the world and is an expert driver and motor mechanic; her colour is blue and she lives in a blue garage; in the revival she runs a delivery service and captains her boat, the Sea Dasher.

Songs

Each episode of Balamory features a set of songs that vary depending on which character is on screen. Starting with the third series, a fresh batch of songs was added, though these were used alongside the older ones, with the exception of the "play day" tune from the first two series. Penny Pocket and Suzie Sweet, who once shared a single song, each received their own individual numbers. Josie Jump's original song was re-recorded with Kasia Haddad after she replaced Buki Akib in the role. Every character except Miss Hoolie performs the Coloured House song one at a time per episode; Penny and Suzie have sung it both alone and together, while Miss Hoolie only sang it once, as a duet with Josie. The music was written by Foster Paterson and Paul Wilson. Tracks marked for series five onward are new compositions by Matt Katz. The opening theme is "What's the Story in Balamory?" used from series one through four and again from series five. The transition theme was "Which Coloured House Are We Going To?" for the first four series, then shortened to "Which Coloured House?" from series five. Miss Hoolie's nursery theme is "Everybody, Everyone," heard across all series, while her play day themes are "Everyone's at Home Today" for series one and two, and "Strike Up the Band" for series three and four. Character themes include Archie's "I'm Archie, the Inventor" and "Great Inventions, Groovy Solutions"; Josie's "Jump Up a Little Higher" and "Cheer You Up"; Edie's "When I Honk My Horn" and "Let Me Take You on a Journey"; PC Plum's "I'm PC Plum" and "Follow the Clue"; Spencer's "Climbing Up My Musical Ladder" and "If You Need a Little Rhythm"; Suzie and Penny's shared "I'm Suzie Sweet, I'm Penny Pocket," plus Suzie's "Suzie's Cookin'," Penny's "Sort It," and Penny's later "Busy, Busy, Busy"; Ava Potts' "I'm Ava Potts"; Dr Ollie's "Dr Ollie!"; and Miss Hoolie's closing theme "What was the Story in Balamory?" from series five onward.

Merchandising

By 2005, BBC Worldwide had signed over twenty-one companies to make Balamory merchandise. Vivid Imaginations handled the main toy line, Ravensburger made wooden puzzles, Flair produced wooden toys, Character World created bedding, and Trumark made tableware. In the UK, BBC Worldwide and later 2 Entertain put out VHS and DVD releases, often built around a single character or theme. The first DVD, "Mysteries with PC Plum," came out on 17 November 2003, sold 21,000 copies in its first week, and became the BBC's top-selling new children's title that year. Another DVD, "Seeking Santa," arrived on 7 November 2005, featuring a direct-to-video Christmas special and an extended version of the Series 2 episode "The Snowflake Fairy." Other releases included "Archie's Inventions," "Dancing Party," "Panto and Other Stories," "Jump with Josie," "Daisy Bus Days," "Games and Fun with Everyone," and a compilation that paired "Seeking Santa" with the "Panto" DVD. For the show's 20th anniversary, 25 episodes from Series 4 were added to BBC iPlayer on 30 August 2022, with another 20 episodes added about two years later. A PC CD-ROM game, released on 27 February 2004, contained minigames tied to each character. Two live arena tours were staged: "Balamory Live: What's the Story?" toured Aberdeen, Cardiff, and Glasgow during the 2004 Christmas season, and "Balamory Live: Strike Up the Band" toured the UK in autumn 2005 as a farewell. For the second tour, Julie Wilson Nimmo was on maternity leave, so Michele Gallagher took over as Miss Hoolie.