What's the Story in Balamory?
Wouldn't you like to know?
More than two decades since its final episode aired, Balamory is bringing the colourful houses of Tobermory on the Isle of Mull back to our screens, much to the excitement of parents who have introduced the programme to their children since it first aired in the early 2000s.
With more than 250 episodes, those of us of a particular age remember that each episode of Balamory would ask children ‘what’s the story in Balamory?’ and viewers would be tasked with helping a character solve a problem. Original cast members including Julie Wilson Nimmo as nursery teacher Miss Hoolie, Andrew Agnew as PC Plum, and Juliet Cadzow as Edie McCredie will all return alongside Kim, with new characters added including a scientist and inventor and the harbour master.
Best known for playing Penny Pocket, Kim describes herself as a working class lass. Diagnosed with a progressive neuromuscular disorder spinal muscular atrophy as a child, Kim is a wheelchair user. ‘I was brought up in Felling and I'm very proud of my North East heritage,’ she says. ‘I feel very lucky to have lived in the North East, I really value a community that is so supportive and so brilliant and gave me lots of opportunities to develop and grow, especially as a disabled child. It gave me the space to explore and I ended up in this wonderful world of television and film.’
From a young age Kim was obsessed with TV and film. ‘The best thing ever was to go to the cinema or the theatre. I used to watch all my friends performing in the drama club because the stages weren't accessible for me in school,’ she explains. ‘I think I was interested in it, but didn't initially see it as a career option for myself because there were so few disabled people on screen in all those films and TV shows I loved to watch. I very rarely got to see another wheelchair user, if at all, as a child on screen. So I was in my early 20s when I eventually got an opportunity to do it.’
Kim auditioned for Balamory alongside lots of other actors. ‘It was quite intense,’ she admits. ‘I don't really know how I got any further to be honest because I remember for the first one I had to go in and tell a story, and I thought I'd be a little bit cleverer about it. I had a nursery school teacher friend who taught me this story which he could illustrate with a piece of paper which ended up being folded into a boat, and by the end of the story the boat was upside down and looked nothing like a boat. It was really terrible! And I was also asked to sing (and I was always a bit phobic about singing). It’s not my strength. How I got asked back to the further stages, I'll never know. But luckily I was, and I was absolutely overjoyed to get the job.’
Kim says filming for Balamory was just as fun as it seemed to viewers. ‘We obviously couldn't have anticipated the huge response to it from the start, but we did get a sense that we were working on something quite special and wonderful,’ she says. ‘We all really gelled as a cast and crew – it sounds like a bit of a cliché but we really did. I think for me, being a disabled actor, getting a chance to play a character, and not just a disability issue, was so important to me and the audience responded to that really well as well, where you had a disabled character part of the community like everyone else. I got to do such a wide range of fun things.
‘A few series on, Penny became very active. She was the football coach, then the rowing coach, and got out and about and involved in all sorts of things. It was really fun. You'd get your scripts (there was a new batch every couple of weeks) and they were always such fun storylines – and getting to work with all those lovely children in the nursery as well was just wonderful.
‘There was such a warm, enthusiastic response to Balamory from the very early days, and it just snowballed. As an actor, it's such a gift to get a chance to go to work and know people are enjoying that work. We wanted to deliver something to the audience that makes them feel things, and it's an entertaining, enjoyable experience. When you were hearing that feedback directly from the audience, it’s such a lovely feeling.’
Two decades later, the themes of Balamory remain relevant. ‘When we first did the show, technology wasn't as developed as it is now and I think now we've got social media, Balamory provides a comfortable, safe space where people can come together and have a laugh, and escape a little bit,’ Kim explains. ‘It’s a reminder about that sense of community and us helping each other and supporting each other with kindness and empathy. I just don't think we can have enough of those things in the world. Here and now, having that space feels lovely to share.’
While times have changed, Kim reassures parents that Balamory will be how we remember it. ‘I think the heart and the spirit of Balamory is still there,’ she says. ‘The format's very similar: that kind of problem-solving element, working together, helping each other, and the real community sense of the show.’
She’s excited to think that the show will have a new audience. ‘I think one of the fun things about it is hearing all the stories about people who watched it as children the first time around now getting their children to watch the show. How wonderful we've crossed so many generations! It's not often you can say that about a piece of work that you do. It feels like such a privilege and such a joy to get this opportunity to be back.’
Together with Suzie Sweet, played by Mary Riggans, Kim’s character Penny ran the village shop and cafè. Each character wears a signature colour and in the original series, Penny's was light blue, but Kim reveals in the revival she now wears red in honour of Mary, who sadly died in 2013.
In the 20 years since Balamory ended, Kim has had another child and set up her own production company, Scattered Pictures, aimed at promoting more inclusive productions. ‘At the time, when I set that up, inclusion wasn't as on the agenda as it is now. It's been exciting to develop a lot of screen projects with that in mind, and also with a very North East emphasis on a lot of my productions and developments,’ she says. ‘I’ve been doing a bit of acting and won an RTS award for a performance [in Obsession], but also I retrained in another job: I’m now a psychotherapeutic counsellor and I'm hoping to qualify as a psychotherapist next year. I’m really enjoying working in mental health. I feel like there's quite a bit of crossover as well. The core conditions of counselling and psychotherapy are compassion, empathy and authenticity – the things that Balamory values – and they sit alongside each other.’
Catch Balamory on CBeebies or stream on BBC iPlayer now.
Is there someone from the North East who inspires you?
I’m loving Sam Fender’s work. I think he’s a great lad doing great things, and I think he’s super talented. His home goes everywhere with him and I’m a big fan of that.
What’s your best advice for budding actors?
I would say to anyone thinking about doing acting: do it. Find ways to enjoy it, have fun, reach out to people, and don’t set limits on yourself. Go and knock on the door of a theatre company and see if they’ll let you in. Contact anywhere that you can get experience in drama. Don’t be scared to contact people. Don’t set limits on yourself. Follow your passion, but also follow other passions too because they all inspire and feed into your work.
Where’s your happy place in the North East?
I love to be along the coast. That’s where I need to be when I want to just relax and unwind, to just go and breathe in the sea air. There’re so many beautiful places in the North East – endless places up in the countryside. I do like a little stroll through Saltwell Park as well.
