Julie Wilson Nimmo: 'Nobody expected to get the Balamory phone call'

The actor, who plays Miss Hoolie in the popular series, which originally ran from 2002 to 2005, said she had been teaching a yoga class when the call came in.

The new series of the show, which will launch on CBeebies and BBC iPlayer on Monday, is to be premiered at a special screening on Mull - where the fictional town is located - today.

She said that while there had been rumours of a new series, the original cast did not necessarily expect to be involved.

“You're not cutting about waiting for that phone call for that show, you’re away off having a career and having your life, then you get that call,” she said. “But it was a lovely call to receive, and how it all played out.

“Nobody expected that at all, or that we were even going to be in it.”

Ms Wilson Nimmo said the show has a “certain nostalgia” for the Scottish audience.

“I feel really protective about Balamory,” she said. “In these sad times, people love the nostalgia of it. Everybody has a connection to it. It’s the Scottishness as well, there are not enough things on the telly that lets kids see real people like them in it. It's just a lovely world, and there was something special about being on an island. It's simple.

“There’s a lot of animation [on children’s TV]. But for them to see a show set in Scotland, which is beautiful, with all the colours - it just cheers everybody up. Balamory is like a big warm blanket.”

Andrew Agnew, who plays PC Plum, also said he had been surprised and delighted to receive the phone call.

“The fact they were bringing the programme back to begin with was a massive thing,” he said.

“We didn’t know whether we would be in it, we were just delighted it was coming back at all. When I found out I would be coming back to be in it, that was when the excitement started.”

The new series features a number of new characters, as well as Miss Hoolie and PC Plum.

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Ms Wilson Nimmo hopes more series will be made after the initial reboot and said she believed writers could develop the series further and add more new characters.

“I've always said about Balamory, that it was such a special thing in my life,” she said. “I would hope [more episodes would be made].”

She said: “If they [the producers] get good energy and good vibes off of the first series, I would love for them to do it again, because they could add to it things that especially the kids will respond to, that the audience will respond to.”

Ms Wilson Nimmo revealed that producers had historically planned for an American version of the original series - which saw the Scottish cast film a pilot speaking in American accents.

“There was one time [during the first series] we made an American pilot, with an American accent and I hope that never gets seen,” she said. “If anyone ever was to get a hold of that...honestly, every single time, everyone wet themselves. That was a plan to take it there, but then it went on its own [ as the original series]. They absolutely love it in America.”