The Worst Witch

Overview

The series stars Georgina Sherrington as the lead character of Mildred Hubble, a disaster-prone young witch who attends Cackle's Academy for Witches.

Jessica Fox plays the character of Enid Nightshade, one of Mildred's friends. Felicity Jones plays Mildred's enemy Ethel Hallow in Season One before being replaced by Katy Allen for Seasons Two and Three.

Clare Coulter portrays the school's Headmistress Miss Cackle, Kate Duchêne plays Deputy Head Miss Hardbroom, Una Stubbs plays Chanting Teacher Miss Bat and Claire Porter plays PE Teacher Miss Drill.

New recurring characters included Merlin Langstaff, a wizard apprentice who befriended Mildred; his two mean-spirited acquaintances – Barry "Baz" Dragonsbane and Gary "Gaz" Grailquest; Charlie, Frank Blossom's nephew who really wanted to be a witch at first, but then later decided to train to be a wizard; Mrs. Cosie, the nervous owner of the nearby tearoom; and Mistress Hecketty Broomhead, the evil school inspector who later became headmistress for a brief time. A character who also appears more than once is Egbert Hellibore, chief wizard and headmaster of Camelot Castle, where Merlin, Charlie, Baz and Gaz live. The first series 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.

Characters

Pupils

Mildred Hubble (Georgina Sherrington) – Mildred is the protagonist 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 scholarship at Cackle's Academy through 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 is kind-hearted and well-meaning and tries very hard, but she is adventurous and impulsive, which often gets her into trouble with her teachers, most notably the fearsome Miss Hardbroom. Creating havoc wherever she goes, mixing up spells and potions, Mildred is a walking disaster, frequently destroying the potion lab and often on the brink of bringing utter peril upon the school, but as she also has a knack of saving the teachers, the pupils and sometimes the whole academy from destruction, she always escapes getting expelled. 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. Mildred has an ongoing feud with Ethel Hallow, which lasts throughout the entire Worst Witch series and into the Weirdsister episodes. After five years at Cackle's Academy, Mildred goes on to university, training at Weirdsister College in Cambridge, a place she gained entry to through her artistic skills. At Weirdsister, she 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 Witch, now an accomplished and successful witch despite her struggles at school, escorting her younger cousin Henrietta "Hettie" Hubble on her first day at Cackle's Academy.

Ethel Hallow (Felicity Jones – series 1; Katy 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, to ride a broomstick, and Mildred responds by turning Ethel into a pig. From then on Mildred and Ethel resent one another and Ethel vows to get Mildred expelled, though she does not succeed. Ethel has 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 as superior to all the other pupils at Cackle's. Ethel and her only friend, Drusilla Paddock, are shown to be allies rather than true friends, sticking together because nobody else likes them, but in the episode "The Unfairground", they end 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. In her second year at Cackle's, she altered her appearance via a magical makeover (a "Witch-over"), initially to hide the fact she is the sister of whiny Sybil Hallow, but the result turned out so well she decided to keep it for the remainder of her time at the academy. When she came to Weirdsister College, Ethel felt as though it was safe to change back, and she resumed her original appearance. Strangely enough, when Ethel and Mildred are reunited at Weirdsister, they overcome their hatred of each other and become friends. Felicity Jones was replaced by Katy Allen for Series 2–3.

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, cheesecake and cream cakes, and spends most of her free time at Cosie's Tea Rooms. She has an evil twin sister named Agatha (also played by Coulter), who 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 impostor and rescued Miss Cackle. Cackle attended Witch Academy with Mistress Hecketty Broomhead, although she knew Broomhead by another name, Wilhelmina Wormwood, 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 Witch.

Miss Constance Hardbroom (Kate Duchêne) – Miss Hardbroom is the fearsome Deputy Headmistress of Cackle's Academy. Tall, scrawny and sour-faced, she strikes fear into the students' hearts, and seems to have a particular resentment for Mildred. Miss Hardbroom is nicknamed "HB" and is the only witch on the staff with the ability to appear from thin air. She lavishes praise and pampering on the shallow Ethel Hallow, and constantly degrades Mildred in front of 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, whom she sees as incompetent and irresponsible. Miss Hardbroom is an exceptionally talented and powerful witch, and it is often left 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 feared by the adult witch community. Miss Hardbroom is 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 Hecketty Broomhead, her old personal tutor, whom Hardbroom claims to have taught "everything she knows". Miss Hardbroom appeared briefly in the first episode of Weirdsister College, summoned by magic to test Mildred upon entry. Kate Duchêne was replaced by Caroline O'Neill in The New Worst Witch.

Recurring

Griselda Blackwood (Poppy Gaye) – Griselda and her best friend, Fenella, are the main recurring characters of the series. She is 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 of Sybil and Clarice, and assist them with spells and potions, usually when Mildred and her year group are away.

Fenella Feverfew (Julia Malewski and 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 that 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 secret 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 Series 3.

Charlie Blossom (Nicholas Pepper) – Charlie is Frank Blossom's nephew. He first appeared in the episode "A Pig in a Poke" visiting 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 backstage and later taking on the role of Prince Charming.

Frank Blossom (Berwick Kaler) – 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 sabotaged 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 Fontayne).

Home media releases

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the series was released on VHS and DVD by Columbia TriStar Home Video. They first released Series 1 on six separate VHS volumes in 2000, followed up with a "Best of" DVD in 2002 containing seven assorted episodes. The first three Series 1 volumes were released on DVD on 12 July 2004, 16 August 2004, and 2005, respectively, through the UCA venture.

United States

In the United States, series 1 and 2 were released on DVD in 2004.

Australia

In Australia series 1–3 were released onto DVD as was Weirdsister College, and both series of The New Worst Witch were released in 2007. Series one and two were released as one boxset, containing four discs that play on most DVD players (including the United Kingdom), as well as Series three and Weirdsister College on another boxset.

In 2023, Via Vision released a standalone DVD boxset of Weirdsister College in Australia, titled The Worst Witch: Weirdsister College - The Complete Series.

Germany

In Germany series 1–3, plus Weirdsister College, were released on DVD by Pidax. As common with many other releases of British television programs in the country; the packaging, subtitles and menus are in German, but it contains the original English soundtrack. Weirdsister College is packaged as Series 4 rather than a separately named release.

Awards and nominations

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.