Olga da Polga - 2022

Olga da Polga

Series Overview

For the first time, a live­action TV adaptation of Michael Bond’s (creator of Paddington) beloved Olga da Polga books was broadcast on CBeebies from the 14th November. Produced by Glasgow­based production company Maramedia, it tells the adventurous, funny and imaginative tales of Olga the guinea pig and features an eclectic cast of loveable animal and human characters.

PR Overview

From the Observer and the Mirror to Radio 4’s Today Programme and BBC Breakfast, the PR campaign for Olga da Polga met and exceeded the goals set in our original campaign strategy. There was a total of 36 online and print pieces and major TV and radio slots. Olga da Polga featured in CBeebies top ten performing brands list, with significantly and consistently higher than average viewing figures and percentage share for its slot. It proved especially popular with certain demographic groups, with a very high percentage of the audience coming from adverse urban or financially stretched areas of the country, reaching a more diverse audience and drawing them to the BBC.

Following an initial meeting with Maramedia co­founders Jackie Savery and Nigel Pope, we began working on the launch of their new CBeebies series, Olga da Polga, at the beginning of October 2022. This allowed us a comfortable 6­7 week lead in time before transmission to work on the campaign. Our main aims were to raise awareness and drive a wide audience (of children and adults) to watch the series, tapping into the increased public appetite for ‘feel good’ shows. In turn, we aimed to reinforce the reputation of Maramedia and its offshoot Marakids, as experts in both wildlife filmmaking and children’s TV.

The campaign began with a strong news­feature in the Observer by arts and media correspondent Vanessa Thorpe, the story had a full page spread based on an interview with Karen Jankel and a selection of photos, this ran in print and online in late October. The Mirror ran a feature following an interview with Jackie and Karen which included a selection of archived photos and stills from the show, this ran in print and online. Other print coverage included an article on Julie Wilson Nimmo in the Daily Mirror on her comeback to children’s television. A similar story was shared in the Sun, OK! and the Daily Star in the following days which all included mentions and photos from the Olga da Polga series.

There was particularly strong TV and radio coverage for the project; BBC Breakfast interviewed Jackie Savery and Karen Jankel live in a ‘feel good’ interview that was nearly ten minutes long. The average daily reach is 6.8 million viewers. In the same week, Jackie and Karen were interviewed on Radio 4’s flagship current affairs Today programme live in the studio, which has an average daily 5.9 ­ 6.5 million listeners. BBC Scotland’s The Nine, a news and entertainment TV programme also interviewed actors Julie Wilson Nimmo and Greg Hemphill, the show has a weekly reach of around 160,000.

With the leads being big Scottish names and with Maramedia based in Glasgow, we targeted the Scottish press and coverage included a feature in Scotland’s paper the Sunday Post, following an interview with Jackie and cast members Greg and Julie. The story was also picked up by the Glasgow Times and Glasgow Live. Trade press included a Behind the Scenes feature in Broadcast magazine by production team members Jackie and Fiona as well as a C21 media piece and a piece in The Agency. TV previewers and reviewers do not cover children’s TV so this avenue was unavailable to us.

Michael Bond’s (Paddington Bear) status as a renowned children’s author piqued considerable interest in the Olga da Polga series. The support of his daughter, Karen Jankel, in the campaign added a warmth and personal element to the story. Karen generously provided us with a number of archive photographs from Michael as well as an original pilot version of the programme Michael had filmed in the 70s.

10th November 2022­ BBC Breakfast ­ Jackie and Karen interviewed live in the studio at the BBC Breakfast studio in Salford for approximately 10­minutes.

19th November 2022 ­ BBC Radio 4’s TodayJackie and Karen interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme for approx 10 minutes live in the studio.

10th February 2023 ­ Times RadioJackie interviewed remotely on Times Radio's Ed Vaizey Show.

BBC Scotland’s The Nine ­ TV interview on BBC Scotland’s evening show with lead cast members, Julie Wilson Nimmo and Greg Hemphill.

23rd October 2022 ­ The Observer/Guardian Online ­ Feature by Vanessa ThorpePrint (PDF) and Online ­ “Olga da Polga: Paddington Bear author’s much­loved guinea pig comes to the small screen”

l Reposted across Yahoo! News and MSN news

Move over, Paddington… why Olga the guinea pig was

creator’s

favourite

Michael Bond’s Olga da Polga has long been outshone by the bear from Peru. A new TV series will change that, the author’s daughter tells Vanessa Thorpe

Paddington Bear ranks among the best-loved characters in British children’s literature, a status confirmed by the two hit films made about his adventures and by his recent screen appearance with the late Queen.

But in the heart of his creator, the writer Michael Bond, there was room enough for another favourite: a guinea pig called Olga da Polga. The star of a popular series of children’s books, this wildly inventive furry creature will now feature in a children’s television series, just as the author had always hoped.

“Olga’s moment has finally come ,” said Bond’s daughter Karen Jankel, whose childhood pet was the inspiration for her father’s books. “They were really wonderful stories and he always believed they would work well on TV, filmed in just this way, with a combination of live

he iled is en o r, as a he l y ey st ve action and animation.” The series, Olga da Polga, comes to CBeebies this autumn and will use real actors and animals, switching to animation to tell Olga’s elaborate, and not entirely reliable, stories. The books, which came out from 1971, were equally as loved as Bond’s tales about the famous bear from Peru.

“It all began when my father came home with a guinea pig for my

eighth birthday in 1966,” Jankel recalls. “I named it Olga da Polga, an idea that might well have been suggested by my father because she was a tri-coloured Abyssinian, hence of Russian descent.” Bond had already enjoyed success with his Paddington books, as well as with his animated television series The Herbs, which ran on the BBC in the late 1960s and 70s. The arrival of the new pet set his imagination running once more.

“My own Olga lived to seven-anda-half years old; not bad for a guinea pig. My father built a hutch for her as well as a run so that she could go out in the garden,” said Jankel, who ran Bond’s literary estate for 30 years until the company the family had formed was sold in 2016.

Programme makers from Maramedia, a Glasgow-based production company which specialises in filming animals, approached Jankel with the idea of making a show based on the books. Some of the characters in the new 13-part series are drawn from her childhood, just as they were in her father’s original stories.

“T had grow wer

“There is Noel the cat, who we also had at home, and then there are the grownups, Mr and Mrs Sawdust, who were based on my parents, and of

course Karen Sawdust, who I suppose was me. That was where the similarities with us ended. But the stories also have Graham the tortoise and Fangio the hedgehog.” Greg Hemphill, star of the Scottish sitcom Still Game, will play Mr Sawdust opposite Balamory star Julie Wilson Nimmo ’s Mrs Sawdust.

Jankel was close to her celebrated father, who had formerly worked as a television cameraman for the BBC and who died five years ago at 91. “My father had always felt that Olga should be on telly, and he wanted to do it with live action combined with animation for her fantasies,” she remembers. “So much so, in fact, that he acquired another pet Olga

cour was w have the th sta r Saw Ja fa t h later, in 1989, and started to make a pilot show himself. A friend helped him get a tortoise from London Zoo, and our new cat played Noel. But Fangio the hedgehog was missing. Even though I lived in Pimlico, not the country, one day I found a hedgehog curled up by the bins.

“I called Dad and he put him inside a cardboard box where he hibernated for a while. My father eventually filmed them all in my stepmother’s garden, where we discovered that filming with real animals is a lot harder than we thought.”

Bond wrote scripts for a who le series, and when Jankel was shown the adaptations put together by Maramedia she was struck by the similarity. “It was remarkable. The whole thing is exactly as my father imagined, although Olga is not a tri-coloured guinea pig. She is now sandy, for continuity purposes, because they had to use four different animals. She does have rosettes though.”

Jankel said her father’s writing always included animals, from his books about Thursday the mouse, to his adult detective series about Monsieur Pamplemousse and his faithful bloodhound Pommes Frites: “Somehow he could see an animal’s character coming through.”

But Bond would be amazed, she believes, by the close association his bear now has with royalty: “The timing with the platinum jubilee meant that the last time many people saw the Queen close up was in the lovely teatime film she made. But there are people who love Olga, rather than Paddington, because she really meant something to them as children.”

Maramedia co-founder Jackie Savery is one such long-time fan. “After years of working in kids’ TV and with animals, I wondered whether it might be possible to portray Olga’s funny and irrepressible spirit,” she said, adding that making the series, in consultation with animal welfare experts, “has been a total labour of love”.

Michael Bond (left) with Paddington. Olga (right) as drawn by Catherine Rayner; the cast

of the new series, below; Olga with Isla Mercer as Karen Sawdust. Eamonn McCabe/ the Observer;

Oxford University Press

‘There are people who love Olga because she really meant something to them as children’

Karen Jankel

29th November 2022: Daily Mirror ­ Online and Print feature ­ article by Emily Retter ­ “EXCLUSIVE: How Hugh Bonneville helped Paddington Bear writer’s muchloved guinea pig take on small screen”

WRITER’S GUINEA PIG OBSESSION BEHIND NEW SERIES

Pet project o man who gav Paddington of the ve us Bear

How Michael Bond’s Tales

of

Olga

da

Polga got to

our screens

EXCLUSIVE

BY EMILY RETTER Senior Feature Writer

It must have looked like a madcap scene straight out of Paddington Bear – and one the nation’s favourite duffle-coated Peruvian would have enjoyed immensely.

Hollywood star Hugh Bonneville was down on the carpet with Michael Bond at the Paddington author’s home in Little Venice, London – near Paddington station – making a cardboard castle for guinea pigs with scissors and glue (Paddington would certainly have brought marmalade into the proceedings with only helpful intentions...).

Hugh became a friend after starring as Mr Brown in the fiPddifildhhi

first Paddington film and he, his wife and son were over for lunch.

While he was a bear enthusiast to his core, Michael was also a life-long fan of guinea pigs and since the mid-60s he regularly kept two as pets –one of them always called Olga.

Olga was, of course, the inspiration for another of his children’s books, The Tales of Olga da Polga, published in 1971.

By the time of Hugh’s visit, he was on his seventh Olga.

His hope had always been that a TV series based on his Olga books would be made – so much so that in 1989 he wrote a script and spent months filming his pet rodent, along with the family cat, a tortoise and even a hedgehog, to make a pilot episode in his own garden.

Sadly, nothing was ever done with his amusing and painskifB30

taking footage. But some 30 years on, a 13-part liveaction series, Olga da Polga, filmed with real animals, is finally appearing on CBeebies to charm a new generation of children.

“The television episodes are beautiful, I’m so proud and my father would be thrilled,” says Michael’s daughter Karen Jankel, who got the family’s first Olga as a pet for her eighth birthday in 1966.

The character Karen Sawdust, in both the books and TV series, is based on her, while Mr and Mrs Sawdust are based on her father and her mother, Brenda.

“For months on end, he was on his hands and knees making the pilot! He got very stuck into it,” she recalls, remembering how she would find him chasing an aloof cat or coaxing a hungry Olga to communicate with an uninterested tortoise.

“It was very difficult. My father discovered filming animals is not an easy thing,” she goes on. “He always thought it would be lovely but it got put away and nothing was done with it. It was a kind of hobby project.

“The idea pitched for this TV series after he died is so similar, it was such a coincidence. He would have loved it, it’s exactly what he had in mind.”

And what of any similarity to Olga’s celebrity cousin, Paddington – a national treasure, not to mention a favourite of our late Queen?

Karen chuckles. She still finds Paddington’s new tier of stardom, following his appearance in a sketch with Elizabeth II for her Platinum Jubilee, hard to fathom.

“It’s pretty hard to reach Paddington’s fame,” she laughs. “Olga is quite different from Paddington, she’s quite a feisty character and tells tall stories. Paddington is a character we would all love to have in our lives, whereas Olga is a bit more of a madam!

“Paddington is probably the kinder character, but my father enjoyed writing the Olga stories every bit as much.”

Karen recalls how even before his death in 2017, aged 91, Michael would still sit with his two guinea pigs on his lap, feeding them baby sweetcorn or French beans – because each pig preferred a different snack.

I was lucky enough to meet them, and admire Hugh Bonneville’s handiwork, when Iiidhhhf

I i nterv i ewe d t h e auth or at h ome a few months before he died. Roaming free, the guinea pigs had ma a variety of chewed Michael scooped introduced them w

ade the dining room – and wine boxes – their home. d them up playfully and with delight.

Movingly, Karen died literally a coup

n reveals: “The final Olga ple of days after he did.”

ichael had pigs as Pipsquea When surprised her by ta first Olga in a cardb

Md owned his first two pet a boy, calling them ak and Wilfred.

Karen was eight, he aking her to pick up their board box. hutch and a run himself, his pilot. The hutch in the xactly like that my father al Olga,” says Karen, who attention to detail. ased his books on Olga’s like the time she escaped den. too far, luckily. She was She liked her food, so she atch!” says Karen.

He made Olga a which appeared in h new TV series is “ex built for the origina is touched by the a And Michael b a real-life exploits – l her run in the gard “She didn’t get t quite a greedy pig. S was fairly easy to c Then there wa s guinea pig, who wo

“We thought th e then we discovered

Boris, the neighbour’s ould regularly visit. ey would have babies but d he wasn’t a boy after all!”

laughs Karen. “Artistic licence went into the stories.”

It was much later, after Karen had grown up and Michael was living with his second wife, Sue, that he tried to make the Olga pilot – with a later Olga as its star.

His whimsical, grainy footage shows the little guinea pig snuffling in his garden, nibbling grass, staring at the blue summer sky and eyeing up her playmates: Karen’s cat, who played her original childhood cat, Noel; Graham the tortoise, who Michael claimed as a pet via a friend who worked at the London Zoo; and Fangio the hedgehog. Fangio stumbled into the thespian life after Karen found him beside the bins outside her house one morning in Pimlico, Central London.

“It was sitting in the bottom of the basement well curled up, a little prickly ball,” recalls Karen. “This hedgehog in the middle of Pimlico had just arrived! A baby hedgehog.

“SIhiibdfh

FUN T Michae Olga at

“So I put him in a box and rang my father and said, ‘I’ve got you a hedgehog’. He was let loose in the garden, they fed him and he chose to stay for several years. He was very amenable to the filming.”

After seeing Paddington reach new heights in the world’s affections in recent years and becoming a key fixture in tributes after the late Queen’s passing – with Paddington toys and marmalade sandwiches left alongside all the floral tributes – Karen is now thrilled to be seeing her father’s TV ambition for Olga realised.

She’s also delighted that it’s so true to the books and that the Sawdust family – with Mr and Mrs Sawdust played by real-life husband and wife Greg Hemphill and Julie Wilson-Nimmo and her own character, Karen, played by Isla Mercer – are so true to her family.

The only difference is the accents, as the animals all have regional ones – and Olga sounds like a proud Lancastrian. “But it only adds to her character!” Karen says.

■ Olga da Polga, CBeebies, 5.35pm Saturdays and Sundays. Also on BBC iPlayer. emily.retter@mirror.co.uk

@emily_retter

DAD-INGTON With his bear

BEAR THRILLS Hugh with Paddington 2 cast

FUN TYPE Michael’s Olga at work

MOTION PIGTURE

Isla Mercer plays Karen in new show

PIG HIT Book was out 1971

11th November 2022: Daily Mirror ­ Article on Julie Wilson Nimmo ­ “Balamory’s Miss Hoolie looks completely different 17 years on as she stars in new show”

Balamory’s Miss Hoolie looks completely different 17 years on as she stars in new show

Julie Wilson Nimmo has made a comeback to acting as she takes on a new role in a CBeebies programme

Video Loading

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Balamory: Opening credits for classic BBC children's show

Balamory ’s Miss Hoolie looks completely different 17 years on as she stars in new show.

Julie Wilson Nimmo has made a return to acting as she takes on a new role in a CBeebies programme.

The actress, who played the iconic character of Miss Hoolie in Balamory, is set to star alongside her husband, Greg Hemphill in the new series.

They feature in Olga Da Polga where the duo will play Mr and Mrs Sawdust.

In promotional pictures for the show, Julie looks completely unrecognisable almost two decades on from Balamory.

She was known for her famous flicked bob but she has now grown her hair into a long hairstyle.

The Miss Hoolie actress looks completely different (

Image:

BBC / CBeebies)

A photo of the cast showed Julie with her red hair tucked behind her ears while wearing a bright green jumper.

She stood by her partner Greg who wore a red and black shirt, and their on-screen daughter Karen Jankel.

The new series is an adaptation of Paddington creator Michael Bond’s children’s books based on a guinea pig protagonist.

Olga the guinea pig comes to life with the help of voice actress Lesley Harcourt.

Greg spoke to The Sunday Post about the couple's first job together.

He said: "After all the years we’ve been together, this is the first time Jules and I have actually had the opportunity to act together as a couple, and it’s been an absolute delight. Mr Sawdust is a very hands-on dad who looks after Karen as Mrs Sawdust is out working.

"With Jules and I both acting, I’ve spent a lot of time making the tea and looking after our boys when she was out working, so it wasn’t a great leap to portray Mr Sawdust. Little Isla who plays Karen was wonderful, and as we all love animals, working with guinea pigs, cats and tortoises was a dream job."

He said he enjoyed the role as it was 'a joy to just be himself' and he got multiple 'compliments telling him how young he looked'.

Greg said he also loved working with children and animals as 'it is very different and very sweet' and the 'animals were incredibly expressive'.

Julie has starred in other shows

The Miss Hoolie actress went on to add: "Everyone knows and loves Paddington, so it was a wonderful compliment to be asked to bring the Olga da Polga books to life."

Balamory first hit our screens back in 2002 and ran up until 2005.

Julie starred in all four seasons of the show.

Following this, she carried on her acting career in shows such as taking on the role of DC Megan Squire in the BBC Scotland comedy show Scot Squad.

Olga Da Polga is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

15th November 2022­ The Sun ­ Article on Julie Wilson Nimmo ­ “WHAT'S THE STORY Balamory’s Miss Hoolie almost unrecognisable as she fronts new CBeebies show 17 years on from TV debut”

WHAT'S THE STORY Balamory’s Miss Hoolie almost unrecognisable as she fronts new CBeebies show 17 years on from TV debut

Alex Doyle

15 Nov 2022 09:35:29

BALAMORY’S Miss Hoolie looks completely unrecognisable as she fronts a brand new kids TV show.

Julie Wilson Nimmo, who played the beloved school teacher, looks worlds away from her character. The pre-school series, which aired on CBeebies between 2002 and 2005, featured characters wearing distinctive colours that matched their houses.

Now, 17 years on from her role, Julie will front a brand new children’s TV series with her partner Greg Hemphill. The pair will play the role of on screen couple of Mr and Mrs Sawdust.

And the 50-year-old actress has debuted a new look as she revealed her red long hair.

During her time on Balamory Julie sported a flipped bob haircut with a green jacket, scarf and hat. Her new TV series, Olga da Polga, is based on Paddington creator Michael Bond’s children’s books based on a guinea pig. The much-loved pet guinea pig lives with her owners, eight year-old Karen and her mum and dad.

Julie recently appeared on ITV’s This Morning alongside her co-star Andrew Angew who played PC Plum. Speaking about the beloved show, Nimmo said: “There was no-one on our show cutting about, thinking look, we’ve arrived on this show. We were one of the first shows on Cbeebies channel, which wasn’t even a thing at the time. “We just loved the script and we were just so excited. It sounds really cheesy but we all just fell in love with each other and all just got on like a house on fire.”

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Julie played the role of beloved school teacher Miss Hoolie in the CBeebies series BBC

Now, 17 years on from her role, Julie will front a brand new children’s TV series with her partner Greg Hemphill BBC

During her time on Balamory Julie sported a flipped bob haircut with a green jacket, scarf and hat

16th January 2023 ­ Mail Online ­ Article on Julie Wilson Nimmo ­ “Kids TV star looks unrecognisable 21 years after her debut as she returns to front new TV series ­ but can you guess who it is?”

15th November 2022­ OK! ­ Article on Julie Wilson Nimmo ­ “Balamory's Miss Hoolie looks barely recognisable as she fronts new kids show”

Balamory's Miss Hoolie looks barely recognisable as she fronts new kids show

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Balamory star Julie Wilson Nimmo is worlds away from her beloved kids TV character Miss Hoolie, who she played for three years up until 2005.

Alongside real-life husband Greg Hemphill, the 50 year old will soon front a new series for CBeebies titled Olga da Polga, adapted from books written by Paddington author Michael Bond between 1971 and 2002.

And in a new promotional photo, Julie is almost unrecognisable from her days as Miss Hoolie in Balamory, where she used to have a flicked out bob.

In Olga da Polga, the married couple are playing Mr and Mrs Sawdust, who live with their young daughter Karen and the eponymous, talking pet guinea pig.

Balamory star Julie Wilson Nimmo is worlds away from her beloved kids TV character Miss Hoolie

"Olga da Polga is a guinea pig who is going places. She spends her days dreaming of getting her own family of 'sawdust people' until Karen arrives and takes her home to a grand new hutch specially built by Mr Sawdust," teases a synopsis.

The character of Karen, who's brought to life by 8 year old newcomer Isla Mercer, is based on the aforementioned writer's own daughter Karen Jankel.

Meanwhile, the voice of Olga will be provided by actress Lesley Harcourt in the series - known for her roles as Agent Owen in Apple TV+ spy drama Slow Horses and Gemma Kerr in Taggart.

Julie as Miss Hoolie in CBeebies favourite Balamory

Recently reflecting on the enormous success of Balamory with PC Plum's Andrew Agnew, Miss Hoolie star Julie told This Morning: "There was no-one on our show cutting about, thinking, 'Look, we've arrived on this show'.

"We were one of the first shows on CBeebies channel, which wasn't even a thing at the time.

"We just loved the script and we were just so excited. It sounds really cheesy but we all just fell in love with each other and all just got on like a house on fire," she added.

Greg Hemphill and Julie Wilson Nimmo pictured together

14th November 2022 ­ Daily Star ­ Article on Julie Wilson Nimmo ­ “Balamory’s Miss Hoolie unrecognisable 17 years on as she stars in new CBeebies show”

Balamory’s Miss Hoolie unrecognisable 17 years on as she stars in new CBeebies show

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CBeebies star Julie Wilson Nimmo, who played Miss Hoolie on Balamory, is set to star in a new programme with her husband.

The beloved actress will return to CBeebies in her new show Olga Da Polga alongside partner Greg Hemphill where the duo will play Mr and Mrs Sawdust.

As stunning as ever, Julie looks completely unrecognisable in new promotional pictures from the show.

READ MORE: BBC Breakfast turns awkward after Jon Kay asks guest if they have 'strong thighs'

Many will know Nimmo for her iconic flipped bob hair cut, but nowadays the actress prefers to wear her hair long.

A new picture of the cast showed Julie with her red hair tucked behind her ears while wearing a bright green jumper as she beamed for the camera.

Fans know and love Julie as the iconic Miss Hoolie (Image: BBC)

She stood alongside her partner Greg, who wore a red and black lumberjack style shirt, and their on-screen daughter Karen Jankel.

The actress’ new series is an adaptation of Paddington creator Michael Bond’s children’s books based on a guinea pig protagonist.

Olga, Karen’s furry friend, will come to life with the help of voice actress Lesley Harcourt.

Greg spoke to The Sunday Post about the couple’s new venture and is excited to be working with his wife.

The real life couple are also married on screen (Image: BBC / CBeebies)

He said: “After all the years we’ve been together, this is the first time Jules and I have actually had the opportunity to act together as a couple, and it’s been an absolute delight. Mr Sawdust is a very hands-on dad who looks after Karen as Mrs Sawdust is out working.”

Greg continued: “With Jules and I both acting, I’ve spent a lot of time making the tea and looking after our boys when she was out working, so it wasn’t a great leap to portray Mr Sawdust. Little Isla who plays Karen was wonderful, and as we all love animals, working with guinea pigs, cats and tortoises was a dream job.”

This will be eight-year-old Isla Mercer's debut role (Image: BBC / CBeebies)

The actor appreciated the role as it was “a joy to just be himself” and he received “compliments telling him how young he looked”.

He also loved working with children and animals as “it is very different and very sweet” and the “animals were incredibly expressive”.

The Miss Hoolie actress also added: “Everyone knows and loves Paddington, so it was a wonderful compliment to be asked to bring the Olga da Polga books to life.”

Olga Da Polga is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

16th January 2023 ­ Heart Radio London “Balamory's Miss Hoolie is unrecognisable as she returns to TV”

Balamory's Miss Hoolie is unrecognisable as she returns to TV

16 January 2023, 16:50

Julie Wilson Nimmo will star in a new BBC series alongside her partner, Greg Hemphill.

Picture: BBC

Julie Wilson Nimmo played Miss Hoolie in CBeebies' hit kids show Balamory.

Julie Wilson Nimmo, who played school teacher Miss Hoolie on Balamory, looks unrecognisable as she makes her long-awaited return to television 20 years later.

The actress, 51, will be returning to kids' TV alongside her partner, Greg Hemphill, in a new BBC series titled Olga da Polga

Julie and Greg will play Mr and Mrs Sawdust in the new series, which is based on Michael Bond's children's books, The Tales of Olga Da Polga

In pictures from the new series, Julie looks worlds away from her previous role of Miss Hoolie, who sported an iconic short bob.

Balamory first aired back in 2002 and ran for 253 episodes before ending in 2005.

The show became an instant hit with kids and families, and still remains an iconic classic to this day.

Julie Wilson Nimmo and Greg Hemphill as Mr and Mrs Sawdust in Olga Da Polga. Picture: BBC

Julie Wilson Nimmo as Miss Hoolie in an episode of Balamory. Picture: BBC tpr media consultants – January 2023

Last year, Julie appeared on This Morning alongside her former co-star Andrew Angew, who played PC Plum on the hit series.

While on This Morning, Julie said about Balamory: "We were one of the first shows on Cbeebies channel, which wasn't even a thing at the time.

"We just loved the script and we were just so excited. It sounds really cheesy but we all just fell in love with each other and all just got on like a house on fire."

Related video:

Talking about why the show worked so well, Andrew said on This Morning: "We as characters always got there slightly after the kids, the idea was that the kids would work out what was happening before we did."

They also spoke about the diversity and inclusivity of the show, with Julie explaining: "Brian Jameson, who created the show, it was never really discussed, that was what was happening, and it was like this is an inclusive show for everybody."

She added: "What was brilliant is that the kids just went along with it, they never questioned any of it."

Julie Wilson Nimmo on This Morning in 2022. Picture: ITV

Scottish Print and Online

6th November ­ The Sunday Post ­ ‘Olga da Fabulous’ feature by Marion ScottPrint and Online. Full­page feature following interviews with lead Scottish cast members, Julie Wilson Nimmo and Greg Hemphill.

19th November ­ Glasgow Evening Times ­ Feature by Ann Fotheringham following interviews with Julie Wilson Nimmo and Greg Hemphil ­ “Still Game and Scot Squad couple team up for first TV show together”

COUPLE TEAM UP FOR SHOW Still Game and Scot Squad stars on working together for new series

BY ANN FOTHERINGHAM

FOR a long while after her legendary role as cheery Miss Hoolie in the CBeebies hit show Balamory, Julie Wilson Nimmo was not offered parts in kids’ telly.

“People definitely acted a bit weird about it,” she says, thoughtfully.

“I’d not get roles, or even be considered, and afterwards I’d ask, ‘why on earth would you think I wouldn’t want to do kids’ telly?’ They’d say ‘oh, we just thought you’d be sick of it’.

“I was a bit hurt by that, to be honest.”

Julie, who also stars in Scot Squad, adds: “But I think it was partly because the character was so recognisable, that I wouldn’t get a high profile role because I’d always just be Miss Hoolie to the kids watching. I suppose that’s just the price you have to pay for having a role like that for so long.

“But I never said I’d never do it again.”

She laughs: “It’s weird, because the old cliché is that you should never work with children or animals, but whenever I have done that, I’ve absolutely loved it.”

Children and animals, and Julie’s husband Greg

Hemphill – actor, writer and one half of Still Game’s Jack and Victor – all feature in her return to children’s telly this weekend.

The couple, who live in the West End, are appearing together in Olga da Polga, the first-ever TV adaptation of Paddington creator Michael Bond’s beloved books.

The new 13-part, live-action and animation series is produced by Glasgow-based production company Marakids, and it has been made with the full support of the Bond family.

Karen Jankel, Michael’s daughter, said: “My father would have been absolutely delighted with this because it was exactly how he envisaged a TV show about Olga.”

The show tells the adventurous, funny and imaginative tales of Olga the guinea pig and features a stellar cast of loveable animals and humans.

Michael started writing the stories after he gave his daughter Karen her first guinea pig and Julie and Greg’s characters, Mr and Mrs Sawdust, are loosely based on the author and his first wife, Brenda.

Isla Mercer plays Karen, the Sawdusts’ daughter.

“We are definitely not the stars of the show, Isla, is,” says Julie.

“She is adorable and a wee grafter. Telly can be quite nervewracking for kids, but she is absolutely brilliant. The whole thing has been lots of fun.

“I knew the Paddington books, of course, but I’d never heard of the Olga da Polga stories. I went out and bought them and absolutely loved them. I mean, anything with talking animals, I’m in.”

Julie admits to having had “absolutely no experience” with guinea pigs.

“It was always hamsters we had when we were at school,” she says.

“After Olga da Polga though, I’m like, seriously, get me a guinea pig now. I want one so much. They are cute as anything and just snuggle into you.

“Honestly, everyone will want one after watching this show. We’re going to be responsible for a guinea pig revival.”

Julie and Greg, who met while working together on 90s sketch show Pulp Video, had no qualms about sharing the screen once more.

“It’s been great working with Greg. We have done a couple of things together recently and it has been nice to finally have the time to do that,” says Julie.

“For a long while, it’s always been one of us holding the fort with the kids at home while the other one works.”

Greg agrees with a smile: “Working with Jools has been really nice. She is the queen of

kids’ telly, after all, so I feel like I am stepping into her realm

“We met on sketch shows, and we always laughed a lot. We still do. There are lots of laughs, lots of carry on when we work together.”

The couple’s next joint project is a documentary about wild swimming, which Julie took up in lockdown in 2020.

“Most people who don’t do it think people who do it are crazy,” says Greg, adding with a laugh: “As did I, when Jools started doing it. I’d say to her ‘come on, it’s Scotland, you’re swimming outside. We just don’t do that’.

“But once I went along and tried it I really loved it. And the documentary is not just about us, we talk to people who tell their stories and look at the science behind the benefits of wild swimming.

“It’s a deep dive – no pun intended – into how it has changed people’s mindset about the outdoors.”

Greg and co-writer Ford Kiernan called time on Still Game, the hit comedy series about a couple of lovable rogue pensioners in 2019, after nine seasons, multiple awards and a live version.

“It is really strange not to have Still Game part of my life. So much of the year was spent doing it,” acknowledges Greg.

“But that is why Ford and I stopped it. We could easily have become lifers, and while we loved it, we wanted to tell other stories, have a bash at other scripts.

“Jools and I are working on a sitcom script with Louise. It’s just at the script stage but hopefully something will come of that. And I have a film script on the go, and I’m looking at other things. It’s nice, finally to have the time to do that.”

He adds: “I feel like Still Game was a significant body of work for all of us in the cast, and we remain immensely proud of it. But it was

time to do other things.”

Olga da Polga will be on CBeebies every Saturday and Sunday at 5.35pm from Saturday, and the first five episodes are now available on BBC iPlayer.

Working with Jools has been really nice

Greg Hemphill and Julie Wilson Nimmo, and above right, with Isla Mercer who plays Karen, and Olga the guinea pig, and right, Julie and Louise McCarthy on Scot Squad

14th November ­ Glasgow Live ­ Still Game legend to star in new CBeebies show alongside wife Julie Wilson Nimmo

Still Game legend to star in new CBeebies show alongside wife Julie Wilson Nimmo

News

Still Game icon Greg Hemphill will star alongside partner Julie Wilson Nimmo in a brand new CBeebies show called Olga Da Polga, in their first time acting together as a couple.

News

By Abbie MeehanTrainee TV and Showbiz Writer

16:16, 14 NOV 2022

The pair will act as a couple on screen for the first time ever. (Image: BBC)

Still Game legend Greg Hemphill will take up a new role in a CBeebies show alongside his partner Julie Wilson Nimmo, famous for her role in Balamory.

The couple will play ‘Mr & Mrs Sawdust’, with Greg playing a very modern stay-at-home dad alongside the talking furry star, Olga da Polga - in the first ever television series of Michael Bond’s hugely successful children’s books.

The adventures of Michael Bond’s loveable guinea pig heroine Olga da Polga and her animal friends come to life in this heart-warming live action series. The Balamory and Still Game couple will play parents to Karen Sawdust, based on the Paddington creator’s own daughter Karen Jankel.

She will be played by Glasgow schoolgirl Isla Mercer, eight, in her debut role - Lesley Harcourt is set to voice Olga.

Speaking to The Sunday post about the role, Greg said: “After all the years we’ve been together, this is the first time Jules and I have actually had the opportunity to act together as a couple, and it’s been an absolute delight.

"Mr Sawdust is a very hands-on dad who looks after Karen as Mrs Sawdust is out working. With Jules and I both acting, I’ve spent a lot of time making the tea and looking after our boys when she was out working, so it wasn’t a

great leap to portray Mr Sawdust.

“Little Isla who play Karen was wonderful, and as we all love animals, working with guinea pigs, cats and tortoises was a dream job.”

Julie, who played Miss Hoolie in Balamory, added: “Everyone knows and loves Paddington, so it was a wonderful compliment to be asked to bring the Olga da Polga books to life.”

Olga Da Polga will air from today (November 14) on CBeebies from 11am. It will also be shown on Saturday, November 19 and Sunday, November 20 at 5:35pm.

Trade Press

15th November ­ Broadcast Magazine ­ Behind the Scenes Feature by Jackie and Fiona

Olga da Polga, CBeebies

15 November 2022

Executive producer Jackie Savery explains how to bring out the comedic talents of guinea pig

Production company: Maramedia

Commissioner: Michael Towner, commissioning editor, CBeebies

Distributed by: Beyond

Length: 13 x 11 minutes

TX: Saturday and Sundays 5.35pm from 19th November on CBeebies (available from 14 November on BBC iPlayer)

Executive producers: Jackie Savery and Nigel Pope

Director: Michael Hines

Producers: Uzma Mir and Fiona Donaldson

Head of production: Jackie Dorman

Writers: Sara Daddy, Nigel Pope and Jackie Savery

2D animation and titles / VFX work: Interference patten / Doghouse

tpr media consultants – January 2023

Given that the team at Glasgow-based Maramedia has a background in wildlife documentaries and children’s TV, a show featuring talking animals seemed an ideal project for them. Although as they say, working with children and animals always comes with a warning.

Adapted from the Olga da Polga books written by Michael Bond (of Paddington fame) the stories are about a very chatty and imaginative guinea pig, her animal friends and the human family with which she lives – named the ‘Sawdust Family’ by Olga herself.

The series was filmed primarily as a live-action drama with 2D animation inserts for Olga’s tall tales. During the offline edit, special effects were also added to the animal’s mouths to give them the ability to talk.

Working to a children’s drama budget, costing out and scheduling the various elements was a real challenge. But the team certainly had time to mull things over. Commissioned in 2019, the filming was postponed for two full years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The series was finally created in quite an unconventional way (with each aspect of production running separately before being assembled as a whole) and began with an extensive period of script development and writing which ended with the creation of trial animatics and storyboards. Once the scripts were locked, the narration and animal voices which form the backbone of each story were the first to be recorded.

To give each animal a really distinct character, we chose a range of regional accents for each animal from the warm and chatty Lancashire accent of Olga herself (played by Lesley Harcourt) to the aloof Edinburgh-accented Noel the cat (played by Susheel Kumar) to Brummie tortoise Graham (played by Mark McDonnell).

Filming of the series was spread across the Spring of 2022 beginning with the animal close-up filming which featured two black cats, three toads, four identical ‘Olga’ guinea pigs, plus a rescue-centre hedgehog and a pet tortoise.

It was spread across four months requiring both patience and important animal welfare considerations . A completely identical mini animal set and filming hutch was designed to give a range of different animal perspectives and camera angles whilst keeping the animals happy and secure whilst filming.

We assembled an award-winning team from Scotland to lead the drama shoot including director Michael Hines and series producer Uzma Mir. Both Uzma and Michael were undaunted by the “animals and children” tag and have a great pedigree including working on sitcoms like Still Game and CBeebies favourites like Molly and Mack, so their flair for comedy was key.

However, it’s fair to say that working with guinea pigs and tor toises means that the usual drama filming conventions required some creative thinking once you factor in the different animal behaviours and welfare.

Patience is really important and luckily our three human stars displayed that in abundance. Real-life husband and wife pair Greg Hemphill (Victor in Still Game) and Julie Wilson-Nimmo (Miss Hoolie in Balamory) gave warm and funny performances in the central human roles of Mr and Mrs Sawdust and soon bonded with eight-year-old Isla Mercer in the key central role of Karen Sawdust (a portrayal of Michael Bond’s real-life daughter).

For essential economy in the drama shoot, all locations were selected to be within 3 miles of the core garden location. In fact, more than 70% of filming was set in the garden, something of a gamble when factoring the well-known unpredictability of the Scottish weather.

Once filming was completed, the drama scenes were assembled in the edit while a second editor painstakingly assembled the very best animal shots using the pre-recorded narration as a guide. These two workflows were combined to create the full story and the ‘talking’ animal shots passed to the special effects team at Doghouse to add the mouth effects.

My tricks of the trade - Jackie Savery

Keep an open mind and be ready to adapt – there was constant modification of the creative progress as we learnt more about how all the aspects worked together.

Have a sense of humour – this was easy with this project, the stories are so funny, as were all the little nuances of animal behaviour once given a voice and the mood on set was fun and brilliantly directed.

Always remember the vision – many of the aspects had to be worked on separately so always keeping an eye on how they would combine was key.

Never forget to be inspired and enjoy the project – it was a great honour to adapt such a wellloved author’s stories. And as Olga herself says in the books: “If you really want something in this world,’ said Olga simply, ’you’ll never get it by sitting down and waiting. But if you go out and do things there’s no knowing where you’ll end up.”

Meanwhile the 2D animation scenes were created separately (working with Edinburgh-based animation company Interference Pattern) and added to the offline edit, again using the pre-recorded voices as a guide. These animations were inspired by Olga’s childlike imagination and using a range of bright ‘felt pen and crayon’ style colours for the backgrounds and characters.

With the thirteen programmes nearing completion, a score was composed for all the programmes which incorporated themes for the main characters combined with more bombastic tones for the animated sequences depicting Olga’s far-fetched and fantastical stories.

As part of the final pass, all the animal-voice actors returned to Glasgow to record pieces of dialogue which had originated from comedic opportunities in the live-action animal shots.

Graham the tortoise developed a distinctive ‘Amazing’ exclamation and Noel’s superior catty sneers were added alongside hedgehog Fangio’s humming and sniffing. Lastly all the completed talking VFX were dropped in to complete the look and the series given an extensive bright colour grade.

It was certainly a production that was a true labour of love and the entire project had some amazing serendipity to it. Unbeknown to us as the start – Michael Bond had always wanted to make Olga into a TV series himself and had written his own scripts and even begun shooting a pilot.

It wasn’t until we had laid out our vision that Karen Jankel (Michael Bond’s daughter) then showed these scripts to us and the similarity of approach was amazing. We are thrilled to bring Olga to the small screen and hope everyone will enjoy these delightful and funny stories.

Letting animals take the limelight

Fiona Donaldson, animal camera operater and producer

Filming of animals whether wild or domestic is always a challenge but specialised techniques, clever set design and patience alongside responsible animal handlers, multiple animals and model replicas were key for the Olga da Polga series, where animal welfare always came first.

When working so closely with animals and keeping their best interests at heart the team found the best approach was to sit back and allow the animals to behave completely naturally. Hours upon hours of filming was done in the comfort of the animal’s own homes with a small team of one handler, one camera operator and a camera being added into their routine.

Patience and an understanding of each species allowed us to know that with enough shootingthe animals would give us a good range of shots to fit their character narrations. We let the animals do what they do best with their charming and naturally expressive selves taking to the limelight as the camera rolled from a comfortable distance using techniques and kit from wildlife filmmaking such as long zoom lenses, usually a no-no when it comes to drama. Low angle shots of the animals and where they remained still for long enough were crucial to give the best “talking” shots to animate.

Some of the most difficult to film scenes and stories presented us with unique workarounds that resulted in a more dynamic way of telling the story. A probe lens was used to create the effect of the animal’s point of view running through the undergrowth or moving through difficult to film areas allowing us to showcase the story in the scenes without putting animals in unnatural environments.

Clever prop and set design allowing for filming within hidden set areas creates the illusion of the story without ever allowing the animal to come to any harm or stress and camera trickery created a visual that looks to be something it isn’t such as in the episode where Olga decides to explore the shrubbery.

And when our animals were not on their adventures out in the ‘wide world’, they were safely filmed using a totally purpose-built hutch to keep animals happy and secure while maximising filming opportunities as the guinea pigs went about their day-to-day lives as normal.

26th October ­ C21 Media: “CBeebies orders first TV version of Paddington creator’s Olga Da Polga books”

CBeebies orders first TV version of Paddington creator’s Olga Da Polga books

Olga

Da Polga mixes live-action, VFX and animation

UK kids’ channel CBeebies has commissioned the first TV adaptation of classic children’s book series The Tales of Olga Da Polga by Paddington creator Michael Bond.

TV series Olga Da Polga is being produced by Glasgow-based production company Maramedia subsidiary Marakids.

Maramedia usually focuses on factual wildlife series and has used its expertise in working with animals to turn the books into a series mixing live-action, VFX talking animals and animation.

The scripts, based on Bond’s novels from 1971, were developed for television by Maramedia co-founders Jackie Savery and Nigel Pope, with additional input from children’s TV writer Sara Daddy.

The 13×11’ series focuses on the adventurous and slightly hyperbolic life of Olga the guinea pig who is adopted by the Sawdust family, portrayed by husband-and-wife team Greg Hemphill (Still Game) and Julie Wilson-Nimmo (Balamory), alongside Isla Mercer in her debut role.

Olga, voiced by Lesley Harcourt, meets new friends like Fangio the hedgehog and Graham the tortoise in the Sawdust family garden and shares stories with them about her experiences.

The

Agency ­ “Michael Bond’s OLGA DA POLGA is coming to TV”

Michael Bond’s OLGA DA POLGA is coming to TV

Michael Bond’s much-loved guinea pig, Olga da Polga, is coming to the small screen, starring in a new CBeebies series due to be airing this autumn.

Michael Bond, best known for creating classic characters such as Paddington Bear, first introduced readers to the adventurous Olga da Polga in 1971, when The Tales of Olga da Polga was published. Several Olga da Polga stories have been published since, and we are delighted that this year, Olga will be coming to TV, thanks to a new adaptation from Maramedia, Scotland’s leading independent TV production company specialising in wildlife filmmaking.

The character of Olga was inspired by the real-life guinea pig Bond gave his daughter, Karen Jankel, for her eighth birthday. Karen recently spoke to The Observer about Olga’s retelling for TV: “Olga’s moment has finally come […] They were really wonderful stories and he always believed they would work well on TV, filmed in just this way, with a combination of live action and animation. […] My father had always felt that Olga should be on telly.”

As explained in The Observer article, Maramedia “approached Jankel with the idea of making a show based on the books. Some of the characters in the new 13-part series are drawn from her childhood, just as they were in her father’s original stories.”

We are also delighted that new editions of the original Olga da Polga tales, illustrated by Catherine Rayner, are publishing in mid-November from Oxford University Press.

We look forward to welcoming Olga to our screens soon!