A few changes have been made in Tobermory since the early Balamory filming, for example, Edie McCredies’ garage has now been renovated and turned into our local Chocolate shop and cafe.
Penny Pocket’s shop had been painted blue again, and problems had developed between the BBC and the owner of Josie Jumps house and so a temporary set had to be constructed at the Western Isles Hotel.
No problem to the film crew! Josie Jumps house is now the Park Lodge Hotel. The scenes outside Edie McCredies were filmed before 9 am, with new doors and signs put in place, and then removed before the shop opened (and the snow cleared). Penny’s shop was painted back to red and then back to blue again and the Western Isles had a stage set on it for a few days. All made good viewing on TV. Archie’s Castle is not on Mull but in North Berwick
One of the last filmings was known about by quite a few local people, and so more toddler tourists made their way to the town to watch the filming. The film crew clearly decided to make more provision for autographs and contact with the young visitors and had several special, ‘meet the cast’ sessions. As a local resident with a background in education, I can’t commend the cast highly enough for the wonderful way that they dealt with all of the onlooking children. More significantly, was the fact that some of the visiting, and resident children got to play in some of the scenes.
I had a nice story from one parent who told me that they had to ‘coach’ their 3 year old in ‘reality’ before returning to play group. He had talked to Miss Hoolie, and Edie and P.C. Plum in person, but who was going to believe him? Who was going to believe that they really lived here (even if only for two weeks) A three year old’s perception of reality takes some understanding but who cares! The dreams became reality for a few lucky wee visitors.
Today, the Balamory filming in Tobermory still brings in young visitors to the town, but in more manageable numbers