Katie Morag's Island Stories (Katie Morag, 8)

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I really liked going to hair, make-up and costume every morning. My favourite costume was my wedding dress costume. That was really nice. I wore my wellies with it though! If you do manage to find some of the locations we filmed in, please be aware of your safety and also that there are people who live and work very close by , who were very kind and patient with us, and we don't want their lives to be disrupted in any way so please be sensitive. Also parking is not easy, as we found when we were planning how our cast and crew would arrive on set! Where-ever you go, we know that if you go to the Highlands and Islands with an open heart you will most certainly find what you are looking for... We recommend the area as an ideal family holiday, Just like the Katie Morag character in the books, and on the screen, everything is there for YOU to make what you will of it. There are wild beaches with all their sea life to be found, ancient history in the standing stones, incredible bird life, wild moors, unbelieveable flowering machair in the summer time, boat trips, old ruins, little secret coves, strange legends, ceilidhs and summer shows, and of course delicious local produce to sample - it's all there .

The biggest difference is that there are more episodes than there were stories. The scriptwriters have taken the characters, the locations and the relationships and created six brand new stories and six special episodes. They have come up with new original ideas while still being very faithful to the original stories. I have written one script myself which was a very different process because I had no illustrations to rely on. This book is brilliant to read to children as it contains humour which both adults and children will enjoy(such as Katie and Grandma Island using Grandma Mainland's hair tint and rollers on the sheep!) It also has beautiful large illustrations with a lot going on to discuss. Hepburn, Stuart (25 April 2013). "The Search for Katie Morag is Over". The Creative Space . Retrieved 13 July 2014.Filming is brilliant! I really like my own bedroom in the studio. It's not real though. I get to run up the stairs and flash my torch to Grannie Island. Her house is a different set in the studio. You might also be interested in our differentiated reading comprehension exercise on the Scottish islands, which comes in an interactive PDF format.

There are definitely some characters in the first book that were based on people living on the island at the time. There are also some family members who have provided inspiration too. Granma Mainland is based on my own mother a little bit. My mother was urban based and I remember when she would come to visit us on the island, and she would get off the boat wearing her good court shoes. Grannie Island is the Grannie I always wanted to be.

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Another brilliant way of teaching younger learners about Scottish Islands, such as the Shetland or Orkney Islands, is through the stories of Katie Morag. Although the island of Struay, on which the stories are set, is fictional, there are many parts of the stories that ring very true to island life. A great resource to explore is the Island and Mainland Snapshots to Support Teaching on Katie Morag. This comparison worksheet lets your little learners find the similarities and differences between mainland and island life! Casting for the series included a casting call in Stornoway in March 2013, [21] for filming on Lewis in May 2013, [22] some of which took place in the remote village of Tolsta Chaolais.