Kim Tserkezie (born 30 July 1973) is a British actress, producer, author and presenter. She is best known for portraying the role of Penny Pocket in BAFTA award winning children's series ''

Balamory ''Balamory'' is a British live-action children's programme on BBC One, BBC Two and CBeebies for pre-school children, about a fictional small island community off the west coast of Scotland, named ''Balamory''. Four series were produced between ...

'' and a presenter for BBC's ‘Disability Today’ and BBC2's ‘From The Edge’.

Early life and career

Born in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, Tserkezie began her television career as a presenter for BBC's ''Disability Today'' programme and BBC2's ''From The Edge'' programme. She is best known for playing the character of Penny Pocket in the BAFTA award-winning

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

'' (which ran from 2002–2005 and aired on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

, and

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 ...

). She also runs her own broadcasting production company called Scattered Pictures. In 2015, she wrote and published her first ever children’s book, titled ‘The Wheelie Wonderful Life of Millie Monroe’ in a planned series called Toys for Tomorrow. She won a John Brabourne Award in 2016 and was a board member of the Royal Television Society North East and the Borders 2017-21. In 2020, she won two Royal Television Society Awards, Best Drama Performance for her role as 'Jasmine', the lead character in the short film, Obsession. She also won a Drama Short Form award with the rest of the team, as she also directed the film. In 2021, Tserkezie was nominated for the Entrepreneur of Excellence Award for her broadcasting work at the National Diversity Awards. She has recently starred in multiple radio documentaries for the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

. The series were received well across the globe and were chosen as Pick of the Week by the Observer and The Times. In 2022, she presented and produced radio documentary series 'Hidden Sport' for the

. It was also aired on

BBC Sounds BBC Sounds is a Closed platform, walled garden streaming media and audio download service from the BBC that includes live radio broadcasts, audio on demand, and podcasts. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile pho ...

. Tserkezie has been a full BAFTA member since 2014 and is Deputy Chair of BFI’s Disability Screen Advisory Group. She has chaired industry events for RTS, BFI (including at London Film Festival) and for Netflix. She is a trustee of the North’s leading development agency for writing and reading, New Writing North.

Personal life

Tserkezie was diagnosed with a progressive neuromuscular disorder

spinal muscular atrophy Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a rare neuromuscular disorder that results in the loss of motor neurons and progressive muscle wasting. It is usually diagnosed in infancy or early childhood and if left untreated it is the most common genetic ...

as a child and has been a wheelchair user for most of her life. Her website was voted "best representation of a wheelchair user" by children's organisation Whizz Kidz in 2005. In 2020, she was named as one of the UK's 100 most influential disabled people. She married schoolteacher Daniel Tunnicliffe in 2008 and they have two children together.

References

External links

Kim Tserkezie official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tserkezie, Kim 1973 births Living people 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses Actresses from Newcastle upon Tyne BBC television presenters English radio presenters English television actresses English television presenters People with spinal muscular atrophy British women radio presenters Television presenters with disabilities