Kim Tserkezie – with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)

Kim Tserkezie (born 30 July 1973) is a British actress, director, producer, and television presenter. She is best known for portraying the role of Penny Pocket in the children’s series Balamory and as a presenter for BBC‘s ‘Disability Today’ and BBC Two‘s ‘From the Edge’.

Kim serkezie – Biography – Mini Bio
Kim Tserkezie is a multi-award winning Actor, Presenter, Writer and Executive Producer based in North East England. With thirty years of experience in broadcasting, Kim’s career spans comedy, drama and documentary for UK and international broadcasters and streamers.

Kim’s commitment to improve representation and inclusion which is embedded into all her work, awarded Kim a place in the Top 10 most influential disabled people in the UK and the Number 1 spot in Digital & Media (Shaw Trust Disability Power 100 2022).

Kim was one of the first cohort of disabled presenters on British TV. She began her on-screen TV career in the 1990’s as a regular presenter of several series of BBC’s Disability Today and then From The Edge which saw her reporting across the UK and Europe on a wide range of topics from children’s rights outside the Palace of Westminster to taking to the skies, micro lighting.

Kim played Penny Pocket in four series and two UK wide arena tours of BAFTA award winning, Balamory (CBeebies 2002-2005). In 2020, she won a Royal Television Society Award for best drama performance for her leading role in short film, Obsession (BFI Network). Other acting credits include Boy Meets Girl (BBC Two), Wolfblood, (CBBC), feature film, Bliss, and Lodger, a TV comedy pilot she co-wrote and performed live at BBC Salford Sitcom Showcase, as well as numerous theatre roles.

Kim set up production company, Scattered Pictures, in 2011. The company, based in Kim’s home city of Newcastle, develops productions which focus on underrepresented talent and perspectives. Scattered Pictures has co-developed TV and Film comedy and drama in collaboration with BBC Studios, Quay Street Productions, Talkback Fremantle, Ardimages UK, Seven Seas Films, Tiger Aspect Productions, Lime Pictures and IMG and has had two developments commissioned by BFI Young Audiences Content Fund. Scattered Pictures has produced numerous radio documentary commissions for BBC World Service which have been well received across the globe. These include Hidden Sport, a four-part series, presented by Kim and co-produced by IMG.

Kim has received drama and comedy writing commissions from BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Netflix and was awarded Broadcast Hot Shot Writer (2023).

Kim is a Full member of BAFTA and has supported the media industry with training and consultancy, shaping the development of new policies, procedures and events for many years, including as the former Vice Chair of the British Film Institute (BFI) Disability Screen Advisory Group, Board member of Royal Television Society (NETB) and Trustee of New Writing North. Kim has presented industry events for BBC, RTS, BFI and Netflix.

– IMDb mini biography by: Kim Tserkezie

Early life and career

Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, 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 Balamory (which ran from 2002 to 2005 and aired on BBC One, BBC Two, and CBeebies). She also runs her own broadcasting production company called Scattered Pictures.

In 2015, Kim 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.

Kim has starred in multiple radio documentaries for the BBC World Service. 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 BBC World Service. It was also aired on BBC Sounds. In 2023, Tserkezie continued to work on films, including starring in two as a lead and working alongside Netflix.

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.

In April 2023, Tserkezie and her production company Scattered Pictures were chosen as part of the Netflix film-makers project Breakout in partner ship with Creative UK. The project, a film titled ‘My Thoughts Exactly’, was awarded funding, with Tserkezie as lead actor and co-writer. Details regarding its release are yet to be revealed.

In July 2023, Tserkezie was featured as a BroadcastNow ‘Hot Shot 2023’ for her services to writing and pushing for opportunities to portray disabled characters where their disability isn’t the central narrative.

Tserkezie is set to return to her role on Balamory in 2026.

Personal life

Tserkezie was diagnosed with a progressive neuromuscular disorder spinal muscular atrophy 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.