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 ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

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

Sixteen South Sixteen South is a company creating, producing and distributing television for children. Founded in Belfast in 2007 by Colin Williams, they currently employ over 100 people and have partnered with major names in children's entertainment, co-pr ...

in co-production with

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

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 seven-year-old badger, Dara, an eight-year-old 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 #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

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 broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older childr ...

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 on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

alone.

Cast and characters

Sarah McCardie as May, 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, televi ...

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 and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...

, Chicago - 2011 *

CINE Golden Eagle Ciné film or cine film is the term commonly used in the UK and historically in the US to refer to the 8 mm, Super 8, 9.5 mm, and 16 mm motion picture film formats used for home movies. It is not normally used to refer t ...

- 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