The Worst Witch (TV Series)
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| The Worst Witch | |
|---|---|
 DVD Cover of the 1st Three Episodes of Series One |
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| Genre | Children's Fantasy Magic |
| Directed by | Alex Kirby Stefan Pleszczynski |
| Starring | Georgina Sherrington Felicity Jones Una Stubbs Clare Coulter Jessica Fox |
| Theme music composer | Paul K. Joyce |
| Opening theme | Onwards Ever Striving Onwards |
| Ending theme | Onwards Ever Striving Onwards |
| Composer(s) | Paul K. Joyce |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 5+ |
| No. of episodes | 44+ |
| Broadcast | |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | Weirdsister College The New Worst Witch |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Worst Witch was a British ITV television series about a group of young witches at a Magic Academy; the series starred Georgina Sherrington and Felicity Jones.
Contents |
[edit] History & Plot
The TV Series starred Georgina Sherrington and Felicity Jones (as Mildred Hubble and Ethel Hallow respectively), and was broadcast from 1998 to 2001 on ITV, and later on HBO. The series also starred veteran British actress Una Stubbs as the eccentric chanting teacher, Miss Bat. Felicity Jones was replaced by Katie Allen after the first series, it was explained away by plastic sugery. New characters were also added, such as Frank Blossom (the school's caretaker), Miss Crotchet, the music teacher in the third series who replaced Miss Bat and two students from ethnic minorities - Ruby Cherrytree and Jadu Wali. New recurring characters included Merlin, a wizard apprentice who befriended Mildred, his 2 mean-spirited aquaitances, Charlie, Frank's nephew who really wanted to be a wizard, Mrs Cosy, the nervous owner of the nearby tearoom and Mistress Hecate Broomhead, the evil school inspector who later became a brief headmistress. The first season dramatised The Worst Witch and The Worst Witch Strikes Again, and the second series dramatised A Bad Spell For The Worst Witch and The Worst Witch All At Sea. Both of these two series also contained original stories. The third and final series continued with purely original material.
[edit] Spinoffs
Two spinoffs of The Worst Witch have been made: Weirdsister College and The New Worst Witch.
[edit] Weirdsister College
When it was no longer realistic that Mildred would still be at school, the series relocated her to a magical university in Cambridge and was retitled Weirdsister College: The Further Adventures of the Worst Witch, and saw the return of Felicity Jones as a reinvented Ethel Hallow.
[edit] The New Worst Witch
In 2004, a new series based on the 1998 series was made, entitled The New Worst Witch. It centred on the adventures of Mildred's equally bungling cousin, Henrietta "Hettie" Hubble, played by Alice Connor. Set once again at Cackle's Academy, Hettie was joined by new friends Cresentmoon "Cressie" Winterchild and Ethel Hallow's benign younger sister Mona. Evil blonde, Belladonna Bindweed, filled Ethel's shoes as the series' new antagonist. New teachers included Deirdre Swoop (previously a Weirdsister College character) and Miss Nightingale, replacing the original Miss Bat/Miss Crotchet and Miss Drill. Also, Kate Duchêne, the original actress for Miss Hardbroom, did not return, much to the disappointment of many fans. In the second series of The New Worst Witch, Myrtle Widget replaces Miss Nightingale.
[edit] Season One: 1998-1999
| # | Title | Original Air-Date |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | "The Battle of the Broomsticks" | October 22, 1998 |
| A Young Witch, called Mildred Hubble, who attends Cackle's Academy, has trouble learning how to fly her Broomstick and worries about not passing her Flying Exam. | ||
| 02 | "When We Feast at the Midnight Hour" | October 29, 1998 |
| Mildred and her Friends have trouble eating the Academy's food; which doesn't go down well with some of the Teachers. | ||
| 03 | "A Pig In a Poke" | November 5, 1998 |
| The Witches' Cats arrive, but one of them is missing...Meanwhile, the Caretaker's Nephew, Charlie, visits the Academy, but he doesn't believe that the Witches are real. | ||
| 04 | "A Mean Halloween" | November 12, 1998 |
| Mildred has trouble with Potions, and then has an accident at a Flying Display for the Grand Wizard. | ||
| 05 | "Double, Double, Toil and Trouble" | November 19, 1998 |
| Mildred finds out that some of the Witches' at the Academy are planning to take control. | ||
| 06 | "Monkey Business" | November 26, 1998 |
| It's the start of the Summer Term, and a new girl, called Enid Nightshade, joins the Academy. | ||
| 07 | "Miss Cackle's Birthday Surprise" | December 3, 1998 |
| It is almost half term week at the Academy, and Mildred has been warned about her bad behaviour. | ||
| 08 | "The Great Oudoors" | December 10, 1998 |
| Mildred and the girls are forced into the woods by Miss Drill and Miss Hardbroom for their half term trip. | ||
| 09 | "The Heat is On" | December 17, 1998 |
| The Temperatures at the Academy are very hot, so the girls are given a task for which they aren't allowed to use magic to recreate a cool and refreshing drink. | ||
| 10 | "Sorcery and Chips" | January 7, 1999 |
| Mildred is looking after 'Bonzo', who is Ruby's Cyberpet. But when the Potion Lab is destroyed, Bonzo goes missing... | ||
| 11 | "Let Them Eat Cake" | January 14, 1999 |
| After being foiled in a plot to steal sweets from Mildred and her friends, Ethel decides to lure them to an out-of-bounds tea room in the woods to get even. | ||
| 12 | "Sweet Talking Guys" | January 21, 1999 |
| The Grand Wizard comes to the Academy and his visit soon turns into a case of boys versus girls. | ||
| 13 | "A Bolt from the Blue" | January 28, 1999 |
| It's the end of the year for the Student Witches', and Mildred's incantations still don't seem to work as well as intended. | ||
[edit] Cast & Characters
[edit] Mildred Hubble
Mildred Hubble, portrayed by Georgina Sherrington, the heroine of the Worst Witch series, is a clumsy, bungling young witch-in-training, who never seems to get anything right at Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches. She is tall, with long, straggly dark plaits, and can't quite seem to tie up her bootlaces.
Mildred doesn't come from a witch family like most of the other girls, but earns a scholarship at Cackle's Academy by writing a first-class piece of creative writing which greatly impresses the headmistress, Miss Cackle. Although her mathematics and science skills leave much to be desired, Mildred is tenacious and channels her creative energy into her quest to become an accomplished witch.
She means well and tries very hard, but she is adventurous and impulsive, which often gets her into trouble with her teachers - most notably the cruel Miss Hardbroom. After several years at Cackle's Academy, Mildred endeavours on to University, training at Weirdsisters College in Cambridge, where she seems to improve in her skills, and meets up with Ethel again. Mildred is briefly seen in the first episode of the New Worst Witch series, now an accomplished and successful witch, escorting her younger cousin Hettie on her first day at the Academy.
[edit] Ethel Hallow
Ethel Hallow (Felicity Jones, then later Katie Allen) is Mildred Hubble's acid-tongued rival. She's a straight 'A' student, comes from a prominent witch family, and gives the impression of being a model student to her classmates. She is spoiled, snobbish and vindictive; though when the presence of the school's tutors is near she can turn on the charm and act sweet and innocent, playing the role of a victim to Mildred's apparent "bullying". Ethel is not given a physical description though in the book illustrations she is a tall, skinny and rather ugly young girl, whereas in the television series she is shown as a rather attractive young girl and then matures into a beautiful and popular teenager in Weirdsister College. Strangely enough, Mildred and Ethel overcome their hatred of each other and become friends. Even so, in the episode, where Enid visits, Ethel has no qualms about snitching on them.
No explanation is given but in the first book of the series, it is revealled that Ethel and Mildred were enemies prior to the story. Ethel takes pleasure in taunting Mildred about her inability to train her cat into riding a broomstick and Mildred responds by turning her into a pig. From there on Mildred and Ethel resent each other and Ethel vows to get Mildred expelled. She does not succeed. In the first books she is revealled to have no friends but her rather idiotic, though kindly, sister, Sybil, makes an appearance. A friend of hers, Drusilla, is mentioned in 'The Worst Witch all at Sea' as a one-liner. She later plays a bigger part in "The Worst Witch to the Rescue" where she hides Mildred's talking pet tortoise up a tree. In the tv series Drusilla is Ethel's bumbling sidekick. They are shown to be allies, not true friends. They stick with each other because nobody else likes them. However, in the episode,"The Unfairground" they break friends because Drusilla agrees with what Mildred and the Gang are doing. They never make up as Drusilla is never seen again after the following episode.
[edit] Maud Moonshine
Maud (Emma Brown) is Mildred's best friend at Cackle's Academy. She is a short,plump girl with wide glasses and stringy hair which she wears in bunches. She is fiercely loyal to Mildred and assists her on most of her adventures, often against her better judgement. Though in 'The Worst Witch strikes Again', Maud grows jealous of Mildred and Enid's budding friendship and turns on Mildred, siding with the friendless and vindictive Ethel. However she tires of Ethel's constant degrading of Mildred and annuls their "friendship", siding with Mildred and becoming friends with Enid. In America, Maud's surname was changed to "Spellbody".
[edit] Enid Nightshade
Portrayed by Jessica Fox, Enid is another of Mildred's closest friends who made her debut in 'The Worst Witch strikes Again' after she is transferred to Cackle's Academy and Mildred is assigned as a guardian to her, much to the irritation of Miss Hardboom. At first Mildred think she will simply be a nuisance and a pain, but in fact Enid turns out to be a wild practical joker whose attempts to make Mildred like her only result in Mildred getting into trouble. Enid turns her cat into a monkey and enchants a vaulting pole so that Mildred is catapulted into the air and into Miss Hardbroom's study.
Enid is tall, well-built and rather muscular for a girl. She has long fair hair and large limbs, in comparison to the tv series where she is small, waiflike and has dark hair. She takes an instant liking to Mildred and hopes to be her friend, implying that she is not a judgemental girl. She is overall friendly and kind-hearted but sometimes oversteps the mark in her attempt to befriend and help people.
[edit] Miss Hardbroom
Portrayed by Kate Duchene, the fearsome deputy headmistress of Cackle's Academy. Tall, scrawny and sour-faced,she strikes fear into the students' hearts, especially Mildred's, whom Hardbroom seems to have a particular resentment of although she really has done nothing wrong. Miss Hardbroom devotes all her praise and pampering to the shallow Ethel Hallow and constantly degrades Mildred in front of her and all the other students. She believes Mildred is lazy and stupid and does not try hard enough, even though Mildred can be clever and caring when given the chance.
[edit] Miss Cackle
Miss Cackle (Clare Coutler) is the headmistress of Cackle's Academy, often weary of Mildred's various exploits. At one point, her evil twin sister tries to come and take over the school.
[edit] Miss Drill
Miss Drill (Clair Porter) is the gym teacher, and the only non-magical staff at Cackle's Academy. She is often more sympathetic towards Mildred, but can be strict.
[edit] Miss Bat
Miss Bat (Una Stubbs) is a slightly loopy music teacher at Cackle's Academy, involved in day to day life, activities and lessons.
[edit] Minor Characters
- Holly Rivers ... Drusilla Paddock (Ethel's friend)
- Annette Badland ... Mrs. Tapioca (the school cook)
- Joanna Dyce ... Ruby Cherrytree (a friend of Mildred's)
- Harshna Brahmbhatt ... Jadu Wali (a friend of Mildred's)
- Terrence Hardiman ... Grand Wizard Hellibore (the head of a Wizard's council)
- Julia Malewski ... Fenella Feverfew (an older friend of Mildred's)
- Poppy Gaye ... Griselda Blackwood (an older friend of Mildred's)
[edit] Awards & Nominations
1999 - (Nominated) RTS Television Award Best Children's Drama[1]
2000 - (Won) Young Artist Award Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series - Leading Young Actress Georgina Sherrington[2]
[edit] VHS and DVD Releases
- In the United Kingdom Series 1 was released on VHS in the UK on six video sets in 2000, The Best Of was released on DVD in 2002.
- In the USA Series 1 & 2 were released on DVD in 2004
- In Australia Series 1,2 & 3 and Weirdsister College and both series of The New Worst Witch were released in 2007.
