What's the story in Balamory? Behind the scenes of iconic show reboot

“What could we do with...?” she starts to ask two small children sitting at a table in the iconic Balamory nursery. But the youngsters are ahead of her.

“Steering wheel!” they shout, before she has a chance to finish her sentence. Their line is too early.

She laughs.

“You’re too quick for me, Miss Hoolie is too old to remember her lines,” she tells the children - among more than 100 local nursery-aged youngsters involved in the production - giving her a high five.

The clapperboard comes down. “10.43. Take three,” says the producer in my headphones.

Miss Hoolie, in full-on nursery teacher mode, tries to encourage the children to go again.

“Do you think you could say it again, just one more time, after I’ve asked the question?” she cajoles.

While she is beloved as Miss Hoolie to most of Scotland - and to the children, although today’s under fives who were nowhere near born when Balamory was taken off air in 2005 - Miss Hoolie is of course, actor Julie Wilson Nimmo.

She is now reprising her role as the nation’s most beloved nursery teacher, when Balamory returns to our screens after 20 years on Monday.

We are in Glasgow at BBC Studios’ base in Kelvinhall, during the last week of filming of the reboot of the show, which films exterior scenes on the isle of Mull.

On set, the children know the actors only by their characters’ names, sparking complicated questions about whether they sleep on set, or if they have another home.

“At the end of the day, they shout ‘Goodbye Miss Hoolie, goodbye PC Plum,” says Pauline Boyle, head of development at Lion Productions, which is behind the reboot. The original show ran for four series released between 2002 and 2005.

The vast space has been divided into different areas representing individual interior sets of the characters homes and workplaces - including the nursery which has been given an updated outdoor space to reflect modern day trends for forest school activity.

Set designer Moley Campbell - a self confessed “method” operator who has worked on productions including Outlander and The Princess Switch - gets inside the heads of the characters he is creating spaces for, imagining how they would have wanted the sets to look.

He has expanded Penny Pocket’s store, with the exterior filmed in a different premises in on Mull to that used in 2002. Meanwhile, PC Plum’s police station remains fairly similar to the original, while Miss Hoolie’s house - in real life having gone on the market during filming - has been painted a slightly updated shade of green by a local painter and decorator who had done the work the first time around.

“He remembered the name of the exact shade of paint he’d used,” says Mr Campbell. “We decided to give it a modern update, so it’s a little bit different, but it was incredible.”

Both characters are being played by the original actors - Kim Tserkezie and Andrew Agnew.

Former bus driver Edie McCreadie is now running a supplies delivery service with her own boat, while Penny has become a successful businesswoman in her own right, having originally run the store with Susie Sweet, portrayed by Mary Riggans, who died in 2013.

Actor Miles Jupp, who played Archie in the original series, was not available for the reboot, leading to the creation of the character’s daughter, Ava, an inventor and all-round “girl in STEM”.

“If he had been available, we absolutely would have had him,” says Ms Boyle. “But when one door closes, another opens - and what a wonderful opportunity to give a young actress to take up the reins of a character where her dad left off.”

Ava’s set is colourful and packed full of gadgets and inventions, as well as a painting of Archie with Ava herself- played by Danielle Jam, star of CBeebies show Molly and Mack - as a young girl.

“She is a bit more technological than Archie,” says Mr Campbell. “She’s taken it up a notch from her dad. He was more into arts and crafts, while she’s a girl in STEM.”

At the police station, PC Plum’s original bike sits outside, having been discovered in a “treasure trove” of Balamory props owned by a props rental company outside of Glasgow run by Eddie McDaid. As well as the bike were items of Miss Hoolie’s original wardrobe.

When the cast filmed in the Mull capital of Tobermory, the locals welcomed them back with open arms.

Subscribe to the arts and culture newsletter here

“It’s amazing, most people didn’t realise Balamory was going to be filming, even though the island is so connected with the show - then they saw Julie dressed as Miss Hoolie walking about,” says Ms Boyle.

Other new characters include a harbourmaster, played by Will Andrews and Dr Ollie, played by Carl Spencer, a theatrical veterinary surgeon, who lives in Balamory with his two children.

Dr Ollie’s surgery is also the brainchild of Mr Campbell, who created an examination table shaped and painted to look like a whale and x-rays showing animals’ bones shaped like flowers to avoid being too scary for young viewers.

Mr Andrews, who has performed in children’s series before, including CBBC comedy show Sorry, I've Got No Head and Pixelface, admits he has previously not experienced the level of fame that Balamory is likely to bring.

A running gag is that his character is soaked with water in every episode - not through his job at the harbour, but in any other way, such as a hosepipe accident, or washing up spillage.

“What’s funny is, if you were to get soaked every day, you’d be cross,” he says. “But in children’s TV, that negative emotion does not exist, so it’s just funny.”

He acknowledges the possibility that he could be soaked by young fans who spot him during his normal life.

“I’m up for that,” he adds.