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Molly & Mallow

The world

Welcome to Brancaster Staithe.

A harbour village on the North Norfolk coast, where the tide comes in twice a day and decides what happens next. This is where Molly lives, with her family, her grandad in the end cottage, and a small white dog.

Uncle Joe’s blue crab boat comes up the creek stacked with crab pots, and he waves from it. On the jetty Molly waves back with Mallow on his lead, and Grandad stands ready with the mooring rope.

Places Molly knows by heart

A small flint-and-brick cottage with a pantile roof and a white gate, right on the harbour. Lobster pots and upturned dinghies lie by the wall, and boats are moored in the creek beyond.

The harbour path

Flint cottages facing the creek, with lobster pots and upturned dinghies by the walls. Home. Every episode starts and ends here.

The tidal creek at high water: a blue fishing boat and two wooden sailing dinghies moored beside a jetty piled with lobster pots, a flint hut behind, and the creek winding out to sea.

The creek

A tidal channel of moored dinghies and Uncle Joe’s blue crab boat. When the water goes out the mud shines, and the oystercatchers come in.

A summer afternoon on the jetty. Molly, Billy, Yusuf, Aisha and Oliver are crabbing with lines and buckets while Mallow sniffs at a small crab sidestepping away. Grandad sits beside them on a lobster pot.

The jetty

Weathered planks, coiled rope and crabbing lines. The crabs always go back in. Mallow is not allowed to eat the bait.

A raised wooden boardwalk with a white handrail running out across the salt marsh, between winding creeks, purple sea lavender and pale pink marsh mallow, towards a silver line of sea.

The boardwalk

Raised planks across the salt marsh, with sea lavender and marsh mallow on either side. Molly’s own walking loop.

The view from the top of the dunes: marram grass bending in the wind, a sandy path winding down to a wide beach, and waves rolling in from the North Sea.

The dunes and the beach

Marram grass, miles of rippled sand at low tide, and the open North Sea. Big-sky days, and seals on the far sandbank.

The harbour at dusk. Molly and Mallow walk home along the harbour path past flint cottages with lit windows, lobster pots and an upturned dinghy. Boats settle in the creek under a pink sky and the first stars.

The village

Rahman’s shop, the village school and the coast bus stop. Errands, school and friends.

Molly’s safe perimeter

Free inside it. Past it, a grown-up comes too.

  • The boardwalk
  • The high-tide line
  • Grandad’s gate, always in sight

At six, Molly can go anywhere inside these three edges on her own. Outside them, a grown-up comes too, and near water there is always a grown-up within reach. Grandad lets her walk to the end of the boardwalk and waits at his gate.

Molly walks along the raised boardwalk across the salt marsh with Mallow trotting ahead on his lead. Behind her, Grandad waits at the white gate of his flint cottage. Purple sea lavender and pink marsh mallow grow on either side.The high-tide line on a sandy beach: a wavy line of seaweed, shells, pebbles and driftwood, with a small shore crab peeping out and gentle waves beyond.

The year

The seasons give each story its shape

Spring

Terns and avocets arrive on the marsh.

Summer

Crabbing, sailing and common-seal pups. Aisha and Oliver come for the holidays.

Autumn

Pink-footed geese come in at dusk.

Winter

Grey-seal pups, storms and, once, rare snow.

Who lives here

Five children, one dog and the grown-ups around them. Three of the gang live at the Staithe. Two come up for the holidays, and their arrivals and goodbyes are feelings in their own right.

Molly, six, with a light brown ponytail, in a navy duffel coat, an oversized red knitted scarf and yellow wellies.

The heart

Molly, 6

Local · the family cottage on the harbour path

Notices feelings and hums her way through them. Careful, and brave inside the rules.

For: the thoughtful, sensitive child

Mallow, a small, round, pure-white Pomeranian with a curled tail and a terracotta collar, standing and smiling.

The dog

Mallow

By the hearth

Marshmallow, Mallow for short. He wants everything at once: the ball, the crab, the sausage, Molly’s lap. He never speaks; his ears and tail do the talking.

Billy, a small boy with tousled light brown hair, in a striped jumper and brown corduroy dungarees, grinning.

The little one

Billy, about 4

Local · Molly’s brother, same cottage

Copies everyone, takes words literally and says exactly what he thinks. He is never the butt of the joke.

For: younger siblings and the youngest viewers

Yusuf, a boy with black hair and round glasses, in a green jumper, holding a paper aeroplane.

The maker

Yusuf, 6

Local · above Rahman’s, the village shop his family runs

Builds boats and kites, and asks how things work.

For: the curious child

Aisha, a girl with two long dark plaits, in a green jumper and a grey skirt, smiling.

The bold one

Aisha, 6

Visitor · up from London for half-term, summer and Christmas

“Let’s go!” Sporty, and wants to be captain.

For: the confident, active child

Oliver, a boy with tousled fair hair, in a green jumper and a blue-and-white striped scarf, laughing.

The funny one

Oliver, 6

Visitor · his family rents a holiday cottage every summer

Always hungry, clumsy and big-hearted. A bit scared of crabs.

For: the silly child, and the one who gets frightened

Mum, with light brown hair tied back and reading glasses pushed up on her head, in a white blouse and a deep red cardigan.

Molly’s mum

Mum

The family cottage

Her question opens the day and her hug closes it.

Dad, with short light brown hair, round glasses and stubble, in a check flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

Molly’s dad

Dad

The family cottage

Always halfway through mending something. His half-mended things give the house its clutter and its jokes.

Grandad, with a short grey beard, in a flat cap, an oatmeal cable-knit jumper, brown corduroys and green wellingtons.

Mum’s dad

Grandad

The end cottage by the boardwalk gate

Says little and notices a lot. He mends nets, reads the tide tables and keeps a storm lantern by the door. His gate is the edge of the gang’s world.

Granny, with soft grey hair, in a floral pinny and a brown cardigan, a tea towel over her shoulder.

Dad’s mum

Granny

Wrenham, inland in Suffolk

Trinidadian, in England many years. Slow because of her knee, so she sees what everyone else rushes past. Going to Granny’s is the away trip.

Uncle Joe, a young fisherman with light brown hair and stubble, in a sea-green beanie, a navy jumper, orange oilskin bib-and-brace and black sea boots.

Mum’s younger brother

Uncle Joe

Along the creek

A crab fisherman with a blue crab boat. Uncle Joe is the away day: out on the water, as far as the sandbank.

Mrs Mitchell, with grey hair in a bun and glasses, in a mustard cardigan and a long grey skirt, holding an open book.

Teacher, Class 2M

Mrs Mitchell

The village school

Molly’s teacher. She is in the term-time episodes only.

Low tide on the beach. Molly, holding Mallow in her arms, stands beside Grandad as he points to a group of seals resting on a sandbank far across the water. Oystercatchers pick along the shallows.

Real animals, kept wild

Seal pups waiting out the tide, geese coming home at dusk, oystercatchers and shy shore crabs. No animal speaks or wears clothes. Molly never touches wildlife and keeps about ten metres from seals, with Mallow on his lead. She says what she thinks an animal feels: “I think the little seal is waiting for his mummy.”

See the YouTube songs