Big City Park is a live-action puppet show, aimed at preschoolers and shot on location in

Ormeau Park Ormeau Park is the oldest municipal park in Belfast, Northern Ireland, having been officially opened to the public in 1871. It is owned and run by Belfast City Council and is one of the largest and busiest parks in the city and contains a variet ...

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. Big City Park is an original property created, written and produced by

Sixteen South Sixteen South is a Northern Irish production and distribution company that specialises in creating children's television programmes. Founded in Belfast in 2007 by Colin Williams, Sixteen South has partnered with major names in children's enter ...

in co-production with

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

Premise and production

Big City Park is a 26 x 14 minute preschool show that aims to get children outdoors and rediscover the awe and wonder of nature. The show features Billy, a badger, Dara, a fox and a troll called Ruairi, who all live in the park - along with their human friend, May the park keeper. It was a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

featured show for August 2010 and rated very highly with over 24% of the audience. It peaked with an audience share of 341,000 on 20 August with an average of 244,000 across the series. It was the second most watched show in its slot on

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content targeted for children aged six year ...

during August 2010 and the first show attracted 19,000 viewers on

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available Over-the-top media service, over-the-top on a wide range of devices, including Mobile phone, mobile phones and Tablet computer ...

alone.

Cast and characters

May (played by

Sarah McCardie Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch, prophet, and major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a pious woma ...

), a kind-hearted and beautiful young lady who works as the park keeper at the Big City Park and acts as a host throughout the episodes. She lives in a house and likes to smell the flowers. So far, she's the only human character alongside the little boys and girls who varied across the nature settings. She also has a habit of falling asleep whenever she gives Billy a taste of her own medicine and wherever she's first to wake up thanks to her animal friends, mainly Dara. Billy (voiced and performed by Josh Elwell), a mischievous but friendly and cheerful seven-year-old badger and Ruairi's best friend who loves animals and having fun in the park where he lives. He enjoys playing jokes on everyone he meets and sometimes tries to outsmart Dara only to be foiled every time. Dara (voiced by Alana Kerr Colins and performed by Lesa Gilespie), a plucky eight-year-old fox who is tomboyish and streetwise and likes to make friends with a lot of people. She enjoys outsmarting Billy the table is turned and is a good friend of May. Ruairi (voiced and performed by Paul Corrie), a fun-loving and wise troll who speaks with a Norwegian accent and is a gentle giant due to a fact he's a biggest puppet character you've ever met. He resides in a garden hut at the park where he's also Billy's best friend and is good at telling stories about many different creatures from across the world and other Norwegian mythology.

Episodes

Awards

BAFTA Scotland BAFTA in Scotland is the Scottish branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Formed in 1986, the branch holds two annual awards ceremonies recognising the achievement by performers and production staff in Scottish film, televis ...

for Best Children's Series - 2011 *

IFTA Award The Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) is an all-Ireland organisation focused on film and television. It has about 1000 members, and is based in Dublin, with branches in London and Los Angeles. The IFTA now holds separate ceremonies for the ...

for Best Youth/Children's programme, Ireland - 2011 * Silver Plaque -

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

, Chicago - 2011 * CINE Golden Eagle - 2011 * Commended -

Celtic Media Festival The Celtic Media Festival, formerly known as the Celtic Film and Television Festival, aims to promote the languages and cultures of the Celtic nations in film, on television, radio and new media. The festival is an annual three-day celebration ...

– 2011

External links

* 2010 British television series debuts 2010 British television series endings 2010s British children's television series BBC children's television shows British preschool education television series British television shows featuring puppetry British English-language television shows CBeebies {{Puppet-stub