‘I love her to bits!’
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.
- Laura Rutkowski
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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!”
Wilson Nimmo now with RT’s Laura Rutkowski. Laura Rutkowski
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.”
Julie Wilson Nimmo with her husband Greg Hemphill and their son Benny as a baby. Courtesy of Julie Wilson Nimmo
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.”
Julie Wilson Nimmo as Miss Hoolie in Balamory. BBC/Lion TV Media Scotland/Anne Binckebanck
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.
The original Balamory cast from 2002. BBC PHOTOSALES
“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.’”
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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.
Authors
Laura Rutkowski
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