About the Stories

HERE'S A WEE BIT ABOUT EACH EPISODE OF THE FIRST BLOCK OF KATIE MORAG STORIES.

Mairi Hedderwick has written a good number of Katie Morag adventure stories and we have adapted 8 of them for this series.

Which left us the task of trying to think up other kind of things that Katie Morag would get up to on her beloved island.

Lindy had written a kind of bible of the world that Mairi had created, along with a kind of character breakdown of all of the people who appear in the stories - one of the characters was even the Island itself , with all the detail of what generally happens as a rule on Struay. This bible was for everyone to follow, so we all knew the Katie Morag rules and the timeline of events in Katie Morag's life.

We assembled a large group of people: the producers, some talented writers, some trainee writers too, the director, the script editor and Mairi herself, we spent a few days in Cromarty having great fun inventing story lines and thrashing out the narrative arc of each tale. Then each of these worked up stories was given to one of the writers and they went away and wrote it up.

After the different drafts went round the producers and executive producers for their thoughts, and their tweaks, the final drafts were produced, and Sergio took each story and polished it so that there was some uniformity about the voice and style, which was neccessary or all of the episodes would have been very diverse.

So on the whole it was a very collaborative, team-writing process.

And then of course when the scripts went out to the crew they tweaked and changed and trimmed here and there as they needed to, to make them work for expediency, schedule, budget, and so forth, and then finally the cast took them and sprinkled on their magic.

In that way, we suppose that the Katie Morag stories were written by an awful lot of people, in big and little ways.

The First Block

1. Katie Morag Delivers The Mail

In this episode, Katie Morag tries to help her busy parents by delivering the mail to everyone on the island. In a moment’s distraction, her plans go awry and in trying to make things better, she actually makes things worse! But with the help of her beloved Grannie Island, she eventually sorts everything out, and learns something too along the way.

2. Katie Morag and the Two Grandmothers

In which we meet Katie Morag's other Grandmother, Granma Mainland. The two grannies are as different as different can be. It’s the day of the Isle of Struay Show with its main attraction, the Grand Struay Sheep Contest and Grannie Island is trying to win the prize with her beloved sheep Alecina for the eighth year in a row. Neilly Beag, however, has high hopes that his own lovely ewe will take the cup.

3. Katie Morag and the Old Teacher

Struay Primary School is so small that it only has one teacher in one big mixed-aged classroom. Today’s adventure sees Katie Morag's school-teacher announcing her retirement and her plans to leave the island. Katie Morag doesn’t like change at the best of times but this news, coming on top of her Mum and Dad having another baby…. well, it’s all a bit much!

4. Grannie Island’s Ceilidh–The Big Smelly Goat

Today’s story is the Big Smelly Goat, a tale of a woman who has rather a lot of children and a very messy house. With the help of a wise old woman she sorts out the chaos in rather an unusual way.

5. Katie Morag and the New Boy

The new teacher arrives at Struay Primary school, bringing with him his son John, whom Katie Morag rather takes against to begin with, although she is secretly impressed by his many stories of the marvellous place he used to live in. So much so that Katie Morag begins to see Struay in quite a different light.

6. Katie Morag and the Halloween Pirate

It's Halloween and Katie Morag has dressed up as a Pirate to go round the neighbours’ houses to do a wee turn and collect a few treats. But it's a stormy night and she becomes unwell, seeking refuge at Grannie Island's house.

7. Katie Morag and Izzy

Katie Morag is looking forward to playing a game of Poohsticks with her mum. It’s her favourite game. But Mrs McColl is too busy to play so Katie Morag stomps off to Grannie Island’s and gets soaking wet on the way. At Grannie Island's she learns of a girl on the island she has never met and so she sets out to find her.

8. Grannie Island’s Ceilidh – Stone Soup

Today’s story is Stone Soup. There is something wrong with the potato crop and everyone is hungry. A young man sets out from his village to try and find work and food, and he succeeds in rather an unusual way!

9. Katie Morag and the Special Delivery

This is the day Mr and Mrs McColl are going on the Ferry to the Mainland to await the delivery of the new baby. They leave Katie Morag and her brother Liam in the care of Grannie Island, and Katie Morag is left in charge of the family cat, Fabbydoo. But Fabbydoo has mysteriously disappeared…..

10. Katie Morag and the Tiresome Ted

When Mr and Mrs McColl come home with Katie Morag's new sister, Flora, everyone is so interested in the new baby that Katie Morag feels ignored. This makes her storm out of the house feeling left out and angry with everyone. She’s even angry with her dearest and oldest friend - her teddy bear.

11. Katie Morag and the Mysteries

Struay has become a place of mysteries suddenly! Neilly Beag is acting strangely and Grandma Mainland makes an unannounced visit to the island! Katie Morag loves a good mystery and she determines to discover what is going on, enlisting the help of Grannie Island of course!

12. Grannie Island’s Ceilidh – Little Izzy

Today’s story is ‘Little Izzy’ - the story of a young girl who is afflicted with big red spots as the result of an illness. Being a shy girl, she feels too embarrassed to go outside to get the fresh air she needs to help her mend.

13. Katie Morag and the Two Peas

Katie Morag’s Uncle Matthew lives over on the other side of the Island and is a bit of a hermit. Mr McColl goes over to check up on him every now and again, and for the first time ever Katie Morag is allowed to accompany him. She is delighted, because she’s been feeling rather grumpy towards her little brother Liam and also she is curious to see Uncle Matthew.

14. Katie Morag and the New Year Party

It’s Hogmanay in Struay, the eve of the New Year. Katie Morag and Liam are at Grannie Island's croft waiting for her parents and baby Flora to return from a quick visit to the mainland. But a storm has whipped up so the ferry-boat is delayed – will they arrive in time for the bells?

The Second Block

15 Katie Morag and the Baking Day Secret

Friday is Baking Day in Struay when everyone bakes their special treats, everyone that is except Mrs McColl who, unlike Mr McColl, is not a good cook. Today Mr Mackie, the new teacher and his wife, who is an expert baker, are coming to tea but Katie Morag's mother had written down the wrong date so there's nothing prepared, and Mr McColl is away in Glasgow!
Katie Morag tries to help her mother out of the dilemma in her inimitable way - with the help of a few others!

16 Katie Morag and The Grumpy Grannie

One night Katie Morag is a little bit worried because Grannie Island doesn't flash her torch to say goodnight like she normally does. So the next morning she and her mother go to check that all is well. They discover that far from being well, she's hurt her back and can't get out of bed, but didn’t want to trouble anyone. Katie Morag thinks that Granny Mainland will be able to help but Grannie Island doesn't agree at all!

17 Katie Morag and The Big Boy Cousins

Katie Morag is excited because her Big Boy Cousins have arrived on Struay for the holidays. Instead of finishing Grannie Island's chores and putting up their tent as they were told to, the Cousins run off to play, with Katie Morag tagging along behind. They run amok rather, looking for adventure, and young Katie Morag finds that she forgets some of the countryside rules in her attempts to be part of the big boy gang.

18 Grannie Island’s Ceilidh - Grandpa’s Bowl

Every couple of months Grannie Island has a Ceilidh in her house, with a wee bit of song, a wee bit of dance and a good old yarn. At the heart of each ceilidh is a story, and Katie Morag and her chums like to snuggle up to listen to one or other of the grown ups telling the tale. Today’s story, told by Mr McColl, is about the day Mrs Finlayson and her family had an important visitor to lunch who she is keen to impress, but Murdo, the Grandpa of the family, has a wee mishap which puts a bit of a spanner in the works!

19 Katie Morag and the Singing Seals

Katie Morag and her classmates have a lesson on the beach, and they were to be dressed in seal costumes. Mr Mackie tells them of the legend of the singing seals and all the class try to hear them but Katie Morag can't hear anything. For the next few days she does her utmost to get those seals to sing for her. Will she ever hear them?

20 Grannie Island’s Ceilidh - Annie Jessie & the Merboy

Every couple of months Grannie Island has a Ceilidh in her house, with a wee bit of song, a wee bit of dance and a good old yarn. At the heart of each ceilidh is a story, and Katie Morag and her chums like to snuggle up to listen to one or other of the grown ups telling the tale. Today’s story, told by Uncle Matthew, is about a teenage girl called Annie Jessie who lived on Struay long ago. She works hard looking after her family. One day when sheltering from a storm she meets a Merboy who has lost his comb. Annie Jessie makes him a new comb from a razor shell and soon they fall in love and with the help of the Sea King, who is in charge of all the creatures of the sea, they are able to go and live together on the island of Fuay.

21 Katie Morag and The Hill Race

It's the day of the Five Sisters Run, the annual Struay hill race. John says he can beat Katie Morag in the children's race because "boys are better than girls at sport". Katie Morag and her friends, Agnes and Sasha are enraged, and Agnes hatches a mischievous wee plan…

22 Grannie Island’s Ceilidh - Hugh Handy

Every couple of months Grannie Island has a Ceilidh in her house, with a wee bit of song, a wee bit of dance and a good old yarn. At the heart of each ceilidh is a story, and Katie Morag and her chums like to snuggle up to listen to one or other of the grown ups telling the tale. Today’s story, told by the Lady Author, is about the time some wild men from the nearby island of Bickersay came across the sea to challenge Hugh Handy, the Master Boat Builder of Struay for the title of Best Boat Builder of the Isles. Everyone on Struay was afraid of the noisy, argumentative Bickersay men but Hugh Handy had a clever plan to make them behave themselves!

23 Katie Morag and the Big Picture

Katie Morag loves doing big paintings. She and Liam are looking for a big piece of paper, to paint on, but their parents are busy in the Post Office and can’t help them find one. After asking Grannie Island without success Katie Morag calls at the Lady Artist's House - she is bound to know where they could get one from!

24 Katie Morag and The Brochan Bus

Neilly Beag used to have a wee job on Struay but he isn’t needed there any more and that has made him sad. Katie Morag tries to suggest other jobs he might get to cheer him up. And (inadvertently this time) while eating a bowl of his delicious porridge, she has another one of her brilliant ideas! And that was how Neilly Beag's Brochan Bus came to be parked on the pier selling porridge to the tourists…

25 Katie Morag and The Wedding Part One

Neilly Beag has asked Granma Mainland to marry him and she has said yes! Everyone is excited except Grannie Island who is not impressed. Katie Morag decidedphobia
that all the wedding planning must be making her miss Grandad
Island. And that was when she had one of her Big Ideas!

26 Katie Morag and The Wedding Part Two

Granma Mainland arrives just in time for the wedding and to Katie Morag's delight, Grandad Island arrives with her, but no one can explain to Katie Morag why this doesn't seem to make Grannie Island happy. But, during the wedding party, with her customary ingeniousness, Katie Morag succeeds in making Grannie Island enjoy the wedding just as much as everyone else.