Inside Balamory's return as Miss Hoolie icon Julie Wilson Nimmo reveals "really emotional" moment of revival series
Kids' classic Balamory is back and Julie Wilson Nimmo, everyone’s favourite nursery teacher Miss Hoolie, is thrilled to be bringing the show to a new young audience.
This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.
Julie Wilson Nimmo is reminiscing about the very first scene she filmed in Tobermory, Mull, the real-life town with its rows of colourful waterfront houses that acts as Balamory. She had to wave to the camera in front of Miss Hoolie’s green cottage for the opening credits of the Scottish children’s series that first aired in 2002.
She was 29 and a new mum to her seven-month-old son Benny, who went to Mull with her, along with her parents. “I could see them out of the corner of my eye – my mum and dad and my wee boy just across the road,” she remembers.
More than 20 years later, at the age of 53, Wilson Nimmo got “really emotional” filming the same exact scene for Balamory’s reboot on CBeebies, something she thought was never going to happen.
“I was worried about being old and feeling old, but then I got a good talking to from one of the producers, who said, ‘That’s the end of that.’ She’s right. It’s great to be represented on screen. I’ve grown so much as an actor and as a person in that time.”
Benny, who Wilson Nimmo shares with her husband, actor Greg Hemphill, is now 24. Their youngest son, Chevy, is 20. “He was the one I was worried about with it coming back, whether people didn’t know that Miss Hoolie is his mum. But I think he’s dining out on it a little bit now. He said he was telling people at uni that it’s returning and all his pals remember it!”
Plus, Balamory’s very own PC Plum, Andrew Agnew, is Chevy’s godfather. As for Wilson Nimmo’s parents, “I’ve done other things, but it’s the only thing that my mum and dad ever really cared about. It was always, ‘What about Balamory? Is it coming back?’ Their faces light up about it. It means a lot to my family and me. It was a lovely time in our lives – and now it is again.”
With its imminent return to our screens on 20 April, a whole new generation of children are going to get the chance to find out “What’s the story in Balamory”, across two new series with 10 episodes each, filmed in Tobermory and in a Glasgow studio. “I’m crossing my fingers that there is room in the children’s television landscape for it. The kids will decide,” says Wilson Nimmo.
“There’s plenty of CGI out there and amazing animation, but how lovely would it be if we can capture the kids’ attention for 14 or 15 minutes and for them to see humans talking to each other. It’s all the stuff you want to instil in them – bringing them up to be kind and live in a world where everybody’s a bit different, but we all get on.”
Attention spans are, of course, difficult to capture with technology an ever-present distraction. “I worry about that as a parent. My boys are on their phones all the time. It’s a struggle. When we have dinner, one of them’s on their phone, and the other goes, ‘I’ve got a really important call’.” It’s like, ‘This is an important call, sitting down with us and letting us know you’re all right.’”
Wilson Nimmo also hopes that the new Balamory will appeal to the people who grew up with it. “I’m really excited for that age group to go back to it. It’s like giving them a little gift. I think Balamory lands at a time where nostalgia seems to be at the forefront.”
Today, Wilson Nimmo and her husband are empty nesters who live in the Balamory-esque fishing village of Elie in Fife, where she teaches yoga and cold-water therapy in her spare time.
When she was 17, she attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland). “I went to drama school to be an actor’s actor,” she says. “I didn’t go to get famous. I wanted to be a jobbing actor, and that was that. Balamory totally changed my life.”
When she was deciding which role to audition for in Balamory, Miss Hoolie was the character she most connected with. “I just loved her to bits.” She based her on her English teacher Miss White, channelling the idea that kids could ask or tell her anything, and be fun.
Miss White always watched Wilson Nimmo in her school plays. After seeing her in the musical Annie, she said, “You could be on stage one day”. “I’d never thought I could do this as a job until I met her. I used to have trouble reading and she gave me so much confidence with that. I hope everybody has a teacher like that, or someone in their life that’s meant so much to them.”
The pair are still in touch (“I’m going to send her a card to tell her when the show is on”) and Miss White said she was honoured to be the inspiration behind the nursery teacher.
Miss Hoolie might have a new outfit (including practical trainers and trousers – which replace the A-line skirt that Wilson Nimmo “wasn’t fond of” – and waves instead of flicked locks), but apart from that, it feels like she never left.
In fact, she’s been there at the nursery this whole time, says Wilson Nimmo. “She is married to her job. The nursery is the love of her life. I think that’s amazing, because so many women don’t have children, and they are married to their jobs. I’m surrounded by many brilliant women who excel in their careers. She lives for the nursery and for the kids.”
Wilson Nimmo is only ever referred to as Miss Hoolie, not Jules, on set so it doesn’t confuse the three-to-five-year-old children who come in for filming and who believe they’re going to nursery. That also means that when she meets young fans, she finds it important to stay in character. “It’s easy, because that’s how they know me.”
When Balamory finished after four series in 2005, Wilson Nimmo threw herself into theatre. “I was the complete opposite to Miss Hoolie. I’d be crying a lot. I love to cry on stage. I went down a bit of a heavy route for a little while.” She then went on to play a dry and sarcastic detective in a comedy series called Scot Squad.
But she never left Miss Hoolie far behind. She was often asked to open nurseries, but politely declined. “I had to explain that I don’t own Miss Hoolie, I can’t go around dressed as her, but I can hear the disappointment in their voice when they go, ‘Oh, that’s fine’. They hate that I can’t come as her. I did a few readings in bookshops, and on the signs, they’d put me as Miss Hoolie, and I’d have to say, ‘I’m called Jules.’”
She pauses, then adds, “But it’s a nice thing when you think about it, because that means I’ve done my job right, doesn’t it? Hoolie’s opened so many doors for me, I’m nothing but grateful to her.” Wilson Nimmo might not be Miss Hoolie, but at the same time, there is no one else who could play her – and now a new generation will experience the joy she brings to the screen, and those old enough to remember can welcome her back to Balamory.
Miss Hoolie’s nursery has had a big upgrade for the new series in a larger studio in Glasgow. Art on the wall changes to match each episode, and as an avid gardener now, Miss Hoolie has an outdoor space. If you look closely, you’ll even see her original green striped cardigan in the see-through cupboard. “It’s just sitting there, a little nod to the gal she was,” says Julie Wilson Nimmo.
You only notice you’re in a studio when you look up to see the gigantic lights, which the kids often stare at, with Wilson Nimmo vaguely answering their smart questions of: “You don’t live here, do you?”, “Why aren’t you getting the ferry back to Balamory?” and “Whose jackets and bags are those?”
Andrew Agnew also returns as PC Plum, Kim Tserkezie as Penny Pocket and Juliet Cadzow as Edie McCredie. The original cast have kept in touch since the first series and have a WhatsApp group. Penny now runs the village shop and café, which is called Penny’s, formerly known as Pocket and Sweet. She also has a new colour: red.
“I can’t say I was too sad to ditch the turquoise velour tracksuit and the visor,” she says. “Red is a lovely tribute to Suzie Sweet and [the late] Mary Riggans, who we miss a lot. Penny will have learned so much from Suzie about running a business, so it feels like a genuine step forward that she would take over.”
In Balamory’s police station, I pick up a copy of the rainbow-hued Balamory Times and scan PC Plum’s meticulously labelled boxes. There’s “hopes”, “dreams”, “police pencils (of all kinds)”, and “padlocks (large)”.
His trusty bike from two decades ago is also here after spending some time in Riverside Museum, Glasgow’s transport museum, so Agnew could ride it once again. “We go way back, it’s probably had a wee service,” he says.
“These characters have lived with us for so long. When I was asked to be involved, I was nervous, but it feels right – fresh but familiar.”
As well as the revamped wardrobes, there are some new faces in the cast, including the Harbour Master (William Andrews), vet Dr Ollie (Carl Spencer) who lives with his two children, and scientist and inventor Ava Potts (Danielle Jam). She’s following in her father Archie’s (Miles Jupp) footsteps. There’s even a painting of them on the wall in her workshop, where planets hang from the ceiling and her giant blackboard shows she’s working away on a custard-powered biscuit-dunking machine.
“It’s really exciting to inspire kids who are interested in science, maths and engineering, especially little girls, and for them to see that there could be a future for them in this field,” says Jam. “It’s all about imagination at the end of the day. You can create anything you want.”
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Balamory returns on Monday 20 April on CBeebies and iPlayer.
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