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The Worst Witch (TV series)
Encyclopedia
The Worst Witch is a British ITV
television series about a group of young witches at a Magic Academy. The series stars Georgina Sherrington
and Felicity Jones
, and is based on The Worst Witch
books by Jill Murphy
. It aired for a total of 3 series between 1998 and 2001 before being followed by Weirdsister College
. Most episodes revolved around the school, following the adventures of Mildred and her friends.
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 stars 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 as a magical makeover (a "witch-over"). 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 two mean-spirited acquaintances - Barry 'Baz' Dragonsbane and Gary 'Gaz' Grailquest, Charlie, Frank's nephew who really wanted to be a wizard, Mrs. Cosie, 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.
In 1999, the series was nominated by the Royal Television Society
for Best Children's Drama.
In 2000, Georgina Sherrington
won the Young Artist Award
for Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series - Leading Young Actress.
series 1 was released on VHS on six video sets in 2000. "The Best of" was released on DVD in 2002 and included the episodes: "Battle of the Broomsticks", "A Pig in a Poke", "Old Hats and New Brooms", "It's a Frog's Life", "The Witchy Hour", "Unfairground", and "The Uninvited".
In the United States
series 1 and 2 were released on DVD in 2004.
In Australia
series 1-3 of The Worst Witch
were released onto DVD as was Weirdsister College
, and both series of The New Worst Witch
were released in 2007. Series one and two of The Worst Witch
were released onto one boxset, containing four disks which play on most DVD player (including the United Kingdom), as well as Series three and Weirdsister College
on another boxset.
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
television series about a group of young witches at a Magic Academy. The series stars Georgina Sherrington
Georgina Sherrington
Georgina Sherrington is an actress best known for her portrayal of the character of Mildred Hubble in the children's series The Worst Witch , as well as the spin-off series Weirdsister College- The further Adventures of The Worst Witch , a British/Canadian co-production between ITV and TV Ontario,...
and Felicity Jones
Felicity Jones
Felicity Jones is an English actress from Birmingham. She is best known to television audiences for her role as the school bully Ethel Hallow in the first series of The Worst Witch and its sequel Weirdsister College...
, and is based on The Worst Witch
The Worst Witch
The Worst Witch is a series of children's novels written and illustrated by Jill Murphy and published by Puffin Books. The first book was published in 1974. They have become some of the most outstandingly successful titles on the Young Puffin paperback list and have sold more than 4 million copies....
books by Jill Murphy
Jill Murphy
Jill Murphy is a London-born English children's author, best known for The Worst Witch series and the Large Family picture books...
. It aired for a total of 3 series between 1998 and 2001 before being followed by Weirdsister College
Weirdsister College
Weirdsister College is the sequel to successful British children's television series The Worst Witch . Weirdsister College ran for only 13 episodes and there have been no publicised talks for a returning series....
. Most episodes revolved around the school, following the adventures of Mildred and her friends.
Overview
The series stars Georgina SherringtonGeorgina Sherrington
Georgina Sherrington is an actress best known for her portrayal of the character of Mildred Hubble in the children's series The Worst Witch , as well as the spin-off series Weirdsister College- The further Adventures of The Worst Witch , a British/Canadian co-production between ITV and TV Ontario,...
and Felicity Jones
Felicity Jones
Felicity Jones is an English actress from Birmingham. She is best known to television audiences for her role as the school bully Ethel Hallow in the first series of The Worst Witch and its sequel Weirdsister College...
(as Mildred Hubble and Ethel Hallow respectively), and was broadcast from 1998 to 2001 on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
, and later on HBO. The series also stars veteran British actress Una Stubbs
Una Stubbs
Una Stubbs is an English actress and former dancer who has appeared extensively on British television and in the theatre, and less frequently in films. She is particularly known for her roles in the sitcom Till Death Us Do Part and Aunt Sally in the children's series Worzel Gummidge.-Film and...
as the eccentric chanting teacher, Miss Bat. Felicity Jones
Felicity Jones
Felicity Jones is an English actress from Birmingham. She is best known to television audiences for her role as the school bully Ethel Hallow in the first series of The Worst Witch and its sequel Weirdsister College...
was replaced by Katie Allen after the first series, it was explained away as a magical makeover (a "witch-over"). 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 two mean-spirited acquaintances - Barry 'Baz' Dragonsbane and Gary 'Gaz' Grailquest, Charlie, Frank's nephew who really wanted to be a wizard, Mrs. Cosie, 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.
Pupils
- Mildred Hubble (Georgina SherringtonGeorgina SherringtonGeorgina Sherrington is an actress best known for her portrayal of the character of Mildred Hubble in the children's series The Worst Witch , as well as the spin-off series Weirdsister College- The further Adventures of The Worst Witch , a British/Canadian co-production between ITV and TV Ontario,...
) - Mildred is the heroine of the Worst Witch series. She 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 never ties her bootlaces. Mildred does not come from a witch family like most of the other girls, but earns a scholarshipScholarshipA scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
at Cackle's Academy by writing a first-class piece of creative writing (she is portrayed as being creative throughout the series, especially in art) which greatly impresses Miss Cackle. Mildred means well and tries very hard, but she is adventurous and impulsiveImpulsiveImpulsive may refer to:*Impulsive *Impulsivity*Impulsion*Impulse function...
, which often gets her into trouble with her teachers, most notably the cruel Miss Hardbroom. Creating havoc wherever she goes, mixing up spells and potions, Mildred is a walking disaster area, frequently destroying the potionlab and often on the brink of bringing utter peril upon the school. However, as she has this knack of saving the teachers, the pupils and sometimes the whole academy from utter destruction, she always escapes getting expelled. Although her MathematicsMathematicsMathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and ScienceScienceScience is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
skills leave much to be desired, Mildred is tenacious and channels her creative energy into her quest to become an accomplished witch. Mildred has an ongoing feud with Ethel Hallow, which lasts throughout the entire Worst Witch series. After five years at Cackle's Academy, Mildred endeavours on to UniversityUniversityA university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
, training at Weirdsister College in CambridgeCambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, a place she gained through her artistic skills. At Weirdsister, Mildred seems to improve her skills, and is shocked to discover that Ethel Hallow is her roommate, though the two later become friends. Mildred is briefly seen in the first episode of The New Worst WitchThe New Worst WitchThe New Worst Witch is a British CITV television series about a group of young witches at a Witch Academy. It ran for 2 series from 2005-2006. The series was a spinoff from The Worst Witch which ran from 1998 to 2001....
, now an accomplished and successful witch, escorting her younger cousin Henrietta 'Hettie' Hubble on her first day at Cackle's Academy.
- Ethel Hallow (Felicity JonesFelicity JonesFelicity Jones is an English actress from Birmingham. She is best known to television audiences for her role as the school bully Ethel Hallow in the first series of The Worst Witch and its sequel Weirdsister College...
, later Katie Allen) - Ethel is Mildred Hubble's acid-tongued rival. She is a straight 'A' student, comes from a prominent and historic witch family, and gives the impression of being a model student to her classmates. She is spoiled, snobbish and vindictive; though in the presence of the school's teachers she can turn on the charm and act sweet and innocent, playing the role of a victim to Mildred's apparent 'bullying'. 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, though she does not succeed. Ethel has got many talents - among them pouting, bossing people around and insinuating herself into important people's graces. As she is one of "THE" Hallows and her father is the chair of the board of governors, she regards herself superior to all the other pupils. Ethel and her only friend, Drusilla Paddock, are shown to be allies rather than true friends, sticking with each other because nobody else likes them. However, in the episode The Unfairground, they break up their friendship because Drusilla agrees with Mildred and her friends' attempts to stand up to the teachers. In contrast to her personality, Ethel is an attractive young girl who matures into a beautiful and popular teenager at Weirdsister College. Strangely enough, when they are reunited at Weirdsister, Mildred and Ethel overcome their hatred of each other and become friends.
- Maud Moonshine (Emma BrownEmma BrownEmma Brown is the title of a manuscript by Charlotte Brontë, left incomplete when she died in 1855. It was completed by Clare Boylan and published as a novel in 2003.-Original manuscript:...
, credited as Emma Jayne Brown in Series 3) - Maud 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 judgment. Maud is a decent and considerate person, but grows weary of Mildred's incessant clumsiness and often lectures her on how to improve herself. While usually very gentle, she can become quite snappy when someone attacks her best friends, even daring to face Miss Hardbroom when it comes to defending Mildred. In the episode Monkey Business, 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. Mostly she is the voice of reason and tries to prevent Enid from leading Mildred down the garden path or mischief. Maud runs against Ethel for the Head Girl position in the final episode, but stands down at the last minute, stating that Mildred is better suited to the post.
- Enid Nightshade (Jessica FoxJessica FoxJessica Fox is an English actress. She is most notable for playing young witch Enid Nightshade in the CITV show The Worst Witch, whom she began playing in the late 1990s...
) - Enid is another of Mildred's closest friends, who is introduced in the episode Monkey Business after she is transferred to Cackle's Academy and Mildred is assigned as a guardian to her. She is a small, waiflike girl and, at first, Mildred thinks she will simply be a nuisance and a pain. However, Enid turns out to be a wild practical joker whose attempts to make Mildred like her only result in Mildred getting into trouble. Overall she is friendly and kind-hearted, but sometimes oversteps the mark in her attempt to befriend and help people. She takes an instant liking to Mildred and hopes to be her friend, implying that she is not a judgmental girl. She knows lots of spells and uses them regardless of the Witches' Code - i.e: for selfish and trivial ends. Often her spells don't work the way they're supposed to do, and her friends end up in very deep water as a result. Enid made a guest appearance in Episode 10 of Weirdsister CollegeWeirdsister CollegeWeirdsister College is the sequel to successful British children's television series The Worst Witch . Weirdsister College ran for only 13 episodes and there have been no publicised talks for a returning series....
, as the gothic and rebellious Enid. She flew in from her college to surprise Mildred, stating that she needed a break, but she was really expelled for over-partying. She tried to persuade Mildred to leave Weirdsister and go travelling around the world, but Mildred insisted on staying and finishing her training. Enid agreed and stated they would always remain friends, before departing.
- Drusilla Paddock (Holly Rivers) - Drusilla is Ethel's best and only friend. She is a horrible, vindictive bully but lacks the acid-tongued spite of Ethel, and seems to be in great awe of her. Drusilla and Ethel are not true friends; they have stuck beside each other because nobody else can bear to be around them. Their "friendship" seems to be more of an alliance or a form of servitude. Drusilla often shows reluctance or regret to Ethel's schemes several times during the run of the show. Although she has occasionally teamed up with Mildred and her friends when Ethel's back is turned (and seems to get along remarkably well with them), she always ends up reverting back to Ethel. However, in the last two episodes of Season 3, she and Ethel end their friendship for good after Drusilla sides with Mildred.
- Ruby Cherrytree (Joanna Dyce) - Ruby is another friend of Mildred's. She is depicted as a very tall African girl, with frizzy hair worn in pigtails and an inventive personality. Ruby is very loyal to her friends and keen to learn at Cackle's Academy. She is also heavily addicted to all kinds of “electronic contrivances” and therefore a thorn in the flesh of old-fashioned Miss Hardbroom. The amount of walkmen, discmen, mini ghettoblasters, gameboys, cyber pets, walkie talkies etc confiscated by her formteacher is quite impressive. As she gets older, Ruby creates a number of whacky inventions that almost always go wrong, such as when she created a time machine and accidentally brought two Dark Age witches forward in time, who resumed their historic battle in the Academy. It was left up to Mildred and Miss Hardbroom to save the school. She also makes a transportation device which gives the wearer the equivalent of the power Miss Hardbroom has to appear and disappear at will. Except that in the episode Just Like Clockwork Heckitty Broomhead tried it on and it went so wrong that she was temporarily paralysed / sent into a trance to use up all the time she saved whizzing about the spells classroom.
- Jadu Wali (Harshna Brahmbhatt) - Jadu is another of Mildred's close friends who, like Ruby, is from an ethnic minority. She is mostly very sensible and, during the first two years at Cackle's, of a rather meek nature, yet she is often dragged along on whatever crazy crusade Mildred and the others are going on. Jadu is very keen to learn and shows mature behaviour, until the episode The Unfairground where she and Mildred attempt to rebel against the rules, fighting for students' rights and opposing the staff (“No uniforms, permission to go out of bounds and more chips!”). As a result she gets suspended and kept in isolation, but along with Mildred she is saved from being expelled by Maud, Ruby and Enid, who conjure up a witch known as 'The Uninvited' that attempts to put the whole academy to eternal sleep.
Teachers
- Miss Amelia Cackle (Clare Coulter) - Miss Cackle is the Headmistress of Cackle's Academy. She is often weary of Mildred's various exploits, but ultimately much fairer and more sympathetic than Miss Hardbroom. Miss Cackle has a love of cheese, cheese cake and cream cakes, and spends most of her free time at Cosie's Tea Rooms. She has a twin sister named Agatha, who is an evil witch and tries to take over the school by magic twice during the first series. The second time, Agatha kidnapped Amelia in the middle of the night, tied her up and locked her in the storeroom. Agatha then pretended to be her sister and ran the school as Headmistress, until Mildred realised she was an imposter and rescued Miss Cackle. Cackle attended Witch Academy with Mistress Hecate Broomhead, although she knew Broomhead by another name and only discovered who she was when Sybil Hallow turned Broomhead back into a child, and she recognised her. Miss Cackle also has a niece, Gabrielle Gribble, who came to the Academy as a student teacher during the episode Learning the Hard Way. Cackle kept her family connection secret from all the staff, not wanting any special treatment to be given. (Clare Coulter is the only actor from the original series who returned for The New Worst WitchThe New Worst WitchThe New Worst Witch is a British CITV television series about a group of young witches at a Witch Academy. It ran for 2 series from 2005-2006. The series was a spinoff from The Worst Witch which ran from 1998 to 2001....
.)
- Miss Constance Hardbroom (Kate DuchêneKate DuchêneKate Duchêne , born Catherine Anne Purves Duchêne , is a British actress. She moved to France 3 weeks after her birth but moved back to England permanently in 1962, to the seaside town of Brighton. Kate started to act at the age of 14. In the 1980s however, Kate briefly went to Spain to teach...
) - Miss Hardbroom is 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. She is nicknamed 'HB' and is the only witch on the staff shown to have the ability to appear from thin air. 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 pupils. Hardbroom is a stickler for standards and tradition, believes in strong discipline and dislikes most of the other teachers, particularly Miss Bat, who she sees as incompetent and irresponsible. Miss Hardbroom is an exceptionally talented and powerful witch, and it is often left up to her to save the day when situations get out of hand. When Miss Cackle's evil sister Agatha and her sidekicks try to take over the school, Agatha states that "Hardbroom is the really dangerous one" and must be dealt with first, suggesting Hardbroom is well-known and feared by the adult witch community. Miss Hardbroom has been shown to have a kinder side to her, such as when she altered a potions test to make it easier for Mildred. Despite her fearsome nature, it is hinted that Hardbroom is afraid of one witch; Mistress Hecate Broomhead, her old personal tutor, whom Hardbroom claims to have taught her "everything she knows". Miss Hardbroom appeared briefly in the first episode of Weirdsister CollegeWeirdsister CollegeWeirdsister College is the sequel to successful British children's television series The Worst Witch . Weirdsister College ran for only 13 episodes and there have been no publicised talks for a returning series....
, summoned by magic to test Mildred upon entry. (Kate DuchêneKate DuchêneKate Duchêne , born Catherine Anne Purves Duchêne , is a British actress. She moved to France 3 weeks after her birth but moved back to England permanently in 1962, to the seaside town of Brighton. Kate started to act at the age of 14. In the 1980s however, Kate briefly went to Spain to teach...
was replaced by Caroline O'Neill in The New Worst WitchThe New Worst WitchThe New Worst Witch is a British CITV television series about a group of young witches at a Witch Academy. It ran for 2 series from 2005-2006. The series was a spinoff from The Worst Witch which ran from 1998 to 2001....
.)
- Miss Imogen Drill (Claire PorterClaire PorterClaire Porter is an American choreographer/comedienne known for blending comedic monologues with dance movement. She is also an award-winning performer, author, and dance educator whose dance works, which she refers to as Portables, have been produced by various dance organizations, college...
) - Miss Drill is the PE teacher, and the only non-magical staff member at Cackle's Academy. She is a strict and stern teacher, though is often sympathetic to Mildred. She has a love of the great outdoors and often takes the girls on runs and assault courses in the forest. She has a boyfriend named Serge, whom she met in the episode The Great Outdoors - he is the leader of the 'Rocky Mountain Rangers', who shared the campsite with Miss Drill and the girls. In the episode Secrety Society, Drill threatens to resign after a run-in with Miss Hardbroom, and states that Serge offered her a job at his Adventure Centre. Miss Cackle convinces Drill to stay and makes her the supervisor of 'Dangerous Old Book Society' club. Miss Hardbroom is very resentful of Miss Drill being a non-witch, which often angers her, and in the episode Power Drill Mildred and her friends decide to help by secretly making a potion to give her witch powers. Believing Miss Drill's powers have developed naturally from being around witches all the time, Miss Cackle is forced give Miss Drill an investiture and officially name her as a witch. Drill then changed her name to 'Hilary Hemlock', but later turned selfish and unreasonable with her newfound powers, causing Mildred to come clean about the potion. After this, Drill takes an antidote and returns to her normal, non-witch state. (Miss Drill did not feature in The New Worst WitchThe New Worst WitchThe New Worst Witch is a British CITV television series about a group of young witches at a Witch Academy. It ran for 2 series from 2005-2006. The series was a spinoff from The Worst Witch which ran from 1998 to 2001....
.)
- Miss Davina Bat (Una StubbsUna StubbsUna Stubbs is an English actress and former dancer who has appeared extensively on British television and in the theatre, and less frequently in films. She is particularly known for her roles in the sitcom Till Death Us Do Part and Aunt Sally in the children's series Worzel Gummidge.-Film and...
) - Miss Bat is the slightly loopy Chanting teacher at Cackle's Academy during Series 1 & 2. She lives in the stationary cupboard in the staff room and has a habit of eating bizarre food, including flowers, fungus, sour milk and cat food. Miss Bat is also not the most reliable person to have in a crisis, as proved in the episode Alarms and Diversions when the emergency alarm reduces her to hysterics. In the episode Old Hats and New Brooms, Miss Bat surprises everyone by returning from Inner MongoliaInner MongoliaInner Mongolia is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the northern region of the country. Inner Mongolia shares an international border with the countries of Mongolia and the Russian Federation...
(she usually spends the summer holiday in the staff room cupboard). Miss Bat hates Miss Hardbroom and often argues with Miss Drill. When Miss Gimlet, the Second Year class tutor left at the start of the new term, Miss Bat fought with Miss Drill over which one of them should replace her. Miss Cackle eventually decided to let Bat and Drill share the position, but later put Miss Bat in charge of the First Year for half of the term. Miss Bat left Cackles for unknown reasons at the end of Series 2 and was replaced by Miss Crotchet.
- Miss Lavinia Crotchet (Polly JamesPolly JamesPolly James is an award winning British actresswith a varied career in theatre, film, television and radio spanning nearly 40 years...
) - Miss Crotchet is the replacement Chanting teacher for Miss Bat, who was introduced in the episode Secret Society. She has a magical barrel organBarrel organA barrel organ is a mechanical musical instrument consisting of bellows and one or more ranks of pipes housed in a case, usually of wood, and often highly decorated...
which she spends most of her first episode trying to tune. She is similar to Miss Bat but not as loopy and slightly more 'up-to-date'. During the episode The Lost Chord, Miss Crotchet was mesmerised by Austrian conductor Professor von Raffenburg, who seduced her and tried to use her to find the famous 'Lost Chord'. Sybil Hallow discovered he was in fact a conman, who wanted to use the Lost Chord to rob everyone in the school. (Miss Crotchet did not feature in The New Worst WitchThe New Worst WitchThe New Worst Witch is a British CITV television series about a group of young witches at a Witch Academy. It ran for 2 series from 2005-2006. The series was a spinoff from The Worst Witch which ran from 1998 to 2001....
.)
Recurring Characters
- Griselda Blackwood (Poppy Gaye) - Griselda and her best friend, Fenella, are the main recurring characters of the series. She is often nicknamed 'Gris' and is in the year above Mildred. She was first seen in The Battle of the Broomsticks, showing Mildred to her room on her first day. She becomes good friends with Mildred and her group, and appeared in many episodes throughout the series, usually helping Mildred and friends out with spells and potions. Griselda and Fenella are also friends with Sybil and Clarice, and also assist them with spells and potions, usually when Mildred and her year group are away.
- Charlie Blossom (Nicholas Pepper) - Charlie is Frank Blossom's nephew. He first appeared in the episode A Pig in a Poke when he visited the Academy with his uncle. When Mildred turned Ethel into a pig, he helped her to find Ethel and change her back. He then appeared in the episode Up in the Air when he returned to Cackles claiming he wanted to become a witch and asked for a place at the Academy. After realising this was not possible, he became a pupil at the wizard school Camelot College, and appeared in the episode Better Dead Than Co-Ed when the Cackles witches visited Camelot College. Charlie also appeared in the Christmas special Cinderella in Boots, helping back stage and later taking on the role of Prince Charming.
- Frank Blossom (Berwick KalerBerwick KalerBerwick Kaler is a British actor most famous for playing the dame in York Theatre Royal's annual pantomime, which he also writes and directs. He has been awarded the freedom of the city, and in 2002 received an honorary degree from the University of York. Having grown up in "the slums of...
) - Frank is the caretaker at Cackles Academy. He is featured in several episodes throughout the series, and made out to be a very superstitious man. When not taking care of the school's maintenance, he is usually found down in the kitchens eating Mrs Tapioca's Italian cooking. He entered into the Gardening Competition in the episode Green Fingers and Thumbs with a prize marrow he grew in his greenhouse, until it was destroyed by his competitor, Terry Root. Mildred and her friends then made a 'plant-growing' potion to enlarge the size of a smaller marrow. This worked, until it was sabbotaged by Ethel and Drusilla. His nephew, Charlie, visits him at Cackles occasionally. He leaves to attend a horticultural college and is replaced by his brother, Ted (Fine Time FontayneFine Time FontayneFine Time Fontayne is an English character actor and stage director, including a successful production of Sleeping Beauty at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester, Essex, UK, in December 2007 and January 2008.Fontayne has played a variety of roles in British TV series such as All...
).
- Mistress Hecate Broomhead (Janet HenfreyJanet HenfreyJanet E. A. Henfrey is a British stage and television actress. Best known in the USA for playing Mrs. Bale on As Time Goes By, which is still rerun weekly on PBS stations, and for her role as the schoolteacher in the 1986 BBC Dennis Potter serial The Singing Detective...
) - Mistress Broomhead is an OFWITCH inspector and a member of The Witches' Guild. She first appears in the episode The Inspector Calls, when she visits Cackles to carry out an OFWITCH inspection. After announcing her intention to close Cackles Academy by cutting off their GAS (Guild Approved Status), Sybil Hallow turns her back into a child. Miss Cackle then recognises Broomhead as a girl she went to Witch Academy with, and that her real name is Wilhelmina Wormwood. Cackle remembers that Wormwood was a terrible bully who terrorised fellow pupils, turned teachers into reptiles and tried to freeze the entire school inside a block of ice. Wormwood apparently gave the excuse that "a bat bit her when she was young". Cackle promises to turn her back into Hecate Broomhead as long as she agrees that Cackle's Academy has passed the inspection. It is revealed that Broomhead was a teacher herself before she became an OFWITCH inspector, and that she was Miss Hardbroom's tutor at Witch Training College. Broomhead is both surprised and disappointed when she discovers Hardbroom is a teacher, and believes that she is wasting her talent working at Cackles. Like Hardbroom, Broomhead has the ability to appear from thin air - a skill which is revealed she taught to Hardbroom. Mistress Broomhead returns to the Academy in the episode Just Like Clockwork, to stand in for Miss Cackle as Acting Headmistress while Cackle is away visiting her sick aunt. Mildred overhears Mr Hallow planning to give Miss Cackle early retirement and make Mistress Broomhead the permanent Headmistress. This does not happen thanks to Miss Hardbroom, who contacts Miss Cackle and persuades her to come back.
- Mrs Cosie (Sheena Larkin) - Mrs Cosie is the owner of the local tea rooms which are in the 'out of bounds' area of the forest around the castle, but this does not stop the girls visiting whenever they can. Miss Cackle visits Cosie's regularly due to her love of cream cakes. She was almost forced to sell her tea rooms to a developer named Percy Slyce in the episode Let Them Eat Cake, but this was foiled by Mildred and her friends. She returned in the episode An Unforgettable Experience when she allowed Mildred, Maud, Ethel and Drusilla to do work experience at her cafe.
- Clarice Crow (Georgia Isla Graham) - Clarice is Sybil Hallow's best friend. She is very loyal and steadfast in character, supporting her tearful and less confident friend throughout Series 2. She revealed that she wanted to become a proper witch ever since she was very small. In the episode The Genius of The Lamp, Clarice and Sybil construct a magic torch that grants them unlimited wishes, enabling them to acquire a more luxurious lifestyle for a while. Unfortunately, the side-effects of the magic began to destroy the castle, and the idea had to be abandoned.
- Barry "Baz" Dragonsbane (Paul ChildPaul Child (actor)Paul Child is an English actor born in 1981. He is best known for playing the part of Dick in the 1996/7 Television adaptation of Enid Blytons' The Famous Five....
) - Baz is a student wizard who attends Camelot College. He is a bully along with his best friend, Gaz, and both enjoy taunting Mildred and her friends when they visit Cackles with their master, Grand Wizard Hellibore. They bully Merlin Langstaff when he is at Camelot, and later Charlie Blossom. In the episode Better Dead Than Co-Ed, it is revealed that Baz has a crush on Mildred. He appeared in the Christmas special Cinderella in Boots as one of the ugly sisters in the pantomime.
- Fenella Feverfew (Julia Malewski / Emily Stride) - Fenella, often known as 'Fenny', is Griselda Blackwood's best friend, and never seen without her. It is Fenella and Griselda who show Mildred and her friends the secret room under the library which later becomes the 'Dangerous Old Book Society' club. Fenella turned Baz and Gaz into statues when they insulted her and Griselda in the episode Animal Magic. Despite being only one year above Mildred and her friends, Fenella and Griselda appear to know all the history and secrets of the Academy, including secrets rooms, the darkest books in the library and even the location of Miss Cackle's secret safe. (Julia Malewski was replaced by Emily Stride for Season 3.)
- Gary "Gaz" Grailquest (Anthony Hamblin) - Gaz is Baz's best friend, and a fellow pupil at Camelot College. He also appeared in the Christmas special Cinderella in Boots as one of the ugly sisters. Like Baz, he also has a secret crush on Mildred.
- Mr Hallow (Patrick Pearson) - Mr Hallow is the Chair of the Governors at Cackles, and Ethel and Sybil's father. He is highly skilled with computers and often tries to get the Academy to modernise and use technology. He showed pop star Amanda Honeydew around the school in the episode The Millennium Bug with the intention of persuading her to buy the castle and turn it into her home. He then planned to build a brand new, ulta-modern school and relocate the Academy to it. This plan was foiled by Mildred and Miss Hardbroom, who persuaded Amanda to let Miss Cackle continue to use the castle for the Academy. Although the Hallow name is historic with witches and goes back hundreds of years, Mr Hallow does not appear to have any magical powers himself, suggesting it is his ancestors who derive from witches and he encouraged his daughters to attend Cackles to carry on the tradition.
- Sybil Hallow (Charlotte Knowles) - Sybil Hallow is Ethel's long-suffering younger sister. She starts attending Cackle's Academy as of Series 2, in the year below Ethel and Mildred. During Series 2, she is fairly wimpish in character, and is very easily reduced to tears by fear, pain or pressure. She was initially afraid of Mildred and her friends after being told false stories about them by Ethel, but came to adore Mildred after she rescued her from a magic tornado in the episode Alarms and Diversions. Mildred did not take Sybil's adoration well, and insulted her and the Hallows to Ethel's face during an argument. More out of personal honour than from any loyalty to her sister, Ethel turned Mildred into a frog in revenge. Although she apparently came to Cackles' Academy under her father's pressure rather than from personal choice, Sybil gradually settles into the school and becomes much more confident and intuitive. She becomes very accomplished in Chanting and playing music, and even manages to save the school from disaster several times. In the episode The Inspector Calls, she managed to stop Mistress Hecate Broomhead from closing the school down, as she discovered the spell that turned Broomhead back into a child and thus revealed her past as a juvenile delinquent. Later, in the episode The Lost Chord, she and Clarice help to stop a phony musician seducing Miss Crotchet and robbing every girl in the school by magic.
- Grand Wizard Egbert Hellibore (Terrence Hardiman / Richard Durden) - The Grand Wizard appeared in several episodes throughout the series, often visiting Cackles Academy with his wizard students. Hellibore is the head of Camelot College for Wizards, and in the episode Better Dead Than Co-Ed, plans to merge Camelot with Cackles to become a unisex school for witches and wizards. Thanks to Mildred and her friends, this does not happen. Hellibore attended the Academy as a pupil when it was a college for wizards, along with his friend Algernon Rowan-Webb. He is nicknamed 'Helli-boring' by most of the pupils and teachers at Cackles, due to his habit of droning on and his belief that wizards are superior to witches. (Richard Durden replaced Terrence Hardiman as Hellibore for Series 2, but Hardiman returned for Series 3.)
- Merlin Langstaff (Guy Witcher) - Merlin, nicknamed 'Loppy Lugs', is a student wizard at Camelot College. He was bullied by Baz and Gaz and accompanied them on several visits to Cackles. He left Camelot College to become Algernon Rowan-Webb's apprentice. It was Merlin who accidentally released the Dragon Lord from imprisonment in the cave at Rowan-Webb's retreat, and later helped Mildred and her friends to stop him.
- Mrs Tapioca (Annette BadlandAnnette BadlandAnnette Badland is an English actress best known for her work in children's television.-Biography:Her training took place at East 15 Acting School, London...
) - Mrs Tapioca is the school cook. She is Italian and often complains that she has to cook traditional school food for the pupils rather than her own Italian cuisine. She is kindly towards Mildred, and sometimes takes her down to the kitchens to eat 'proper' food when she can't finish the school lunch. Thanks to Mildred, at the end of the episode When We Feast At The Midnight Hour Miss Cackle allowed Mrs Tapioca to cook pizzas for the girls every Saturday. Mrs Tapioca featured most in the episode Animal Magic, when she was having a major problem with a rat in the kitchen.
- Algernon Rowan-Webb (Paul CopleyPaul CopleyPaul Mackriell Copley is an award-winning English actor and voice-over artist.-Early life:Copley was born in Denby Dale, West Yorkshire, and grew up beside a dairy farm there. His father, Harold, was involved with local amateur dramatic productions, as were the rest of his family...
) - Algernon attended the Academy as a pupil when it was a wizard college, along with Grand Wizard Egbert Hellibore. He was turned into a frog while still a teenager by a fellow pupil named Mortimer Mistletoe. Not having the ability to change himself back, he took up residence in the school pond and remained a frog for over forty years. Mildred met him when Ethel turned her into a frog in the episode It's a Frog's Life. She vowed to get him restored, but that could only be done by a fellow wizard. Having been banned from the Grand Wizard's lecture, Mildred barges in and explains to Hellibore about Rowan-Webb. Remembering him from wizard college, Hellibore turns Rowan-Webb back into a human. After being returned to human form, he briefly stayed at Camelot College with Hellibore before moving into a large house by the river, taking Merlin Langstaff with him as his apprentice. Rowan-Webb returned to Cackles with Hellibore and three student wizards during a snow storm, and later hosted a visit at his riverside home for Mildred and her year group, to thank her for saving him.
Awards and nominations
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
for Best Children's Drama.
In 2000, Georgina Sherrington
Georgina Sherrington
Georgina Sherrington is an actress best known for her portrayal of the character of Mildred Hubble in the children's series The Worst Witch , as well as the spin-off series Weirdsister College- The further Adventures of The Worst Witch , a British/Canadian co-production between ITV and TV Ontario,...
won the Young Artist Award
Young Artist Award
The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist...
for Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series - Leading Young Actress.
VHS and DVD releases
In the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
series 1 was released on VHS on six video sets in 2000. "The Best of" was released on DVD in 2002 and included the episodes: "Battle of the Broomsticks", "A Pig in a Poke", "Old Hats and New Brooms", "It's a Frog's Life", "The Witchy Hour", "Unfairground", and "The Uninvited".
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
series 1 and 2 were released on DVD in 2004.
In Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
series 1-3 of The Worst Witch
The Worst Witch
The Worst Witch is a series of children's novels written and illustrated by Jill Murphy and published by Puffin Books. The first book was published in 1974. They have become some of the most outstandingly successful titles on the Young Puffin paperback list and have sold more than 4 million copies....
were released onto DVD as was Weirdsister College
Weirdsister College
Weirdsister College is the sequel to successful British children's television series The Worst Witch . Weirdsister College ran for only 13 episodes and there have been no publicised talks for a returning series....
, and both series of The New Worst Witch
The New Worst Witch
The New Worst Witch is a British CITV television series about a group of young witches at a Witch Academy. It ran for 2 series from 2005-2006. The series was a spinoff from The Worst Witch which ran from 1998 to 2001....
were released in 2007. Series one and two of The Worst Witch
The Worst Witch
The Worst Witch is a series of children's novels written and illustrated by Jill Murphy and published by Puffin Books. The first book was published in 1974. They have become some of the most outstandingly successful titles on the Young Puffin paperback list and have sold more than 4 million copies....
were released onto one boxset, containing four disks which play on most DVD player (including the United Kingdom), as well as Series three and Weirdsister College
Weirdsister College
Weirdsister College is the sequel to successful British children's television series The Worst Witch . Weirdsister College ran for only 13 episodes and there have been no publicised talks for a returning series....
on another boxset.