The Worst Witch

The Worst Witch is an ITV television series, running from 1998 to 2001, about a group of young witches at a school for magic. The series stars Georgina Sherrington and Felicity Jones, and is based on The Worst Witch books by Jill Murphy (published from 1974 onwards). It aired for a total of 40 episodes spread over three 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. The series was later followed by The New Worst Witch, which ran for two series and chronicled the experiences of Mildred's younger cousin Hettie as she attended the school. A new adaptation, an international co-production between CBBC, ZDF and Netflix, also titled The Worst Witch, premiered in January 2017 and ran for four seasons, concluding in 2020. Overview The series stars 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 stars veteran British actress Una Stubbs as the eccentric chanting teacher, Miss Bat. Felicity Jones was replaced by Katy Allen after the first series. It was explained away as a magical makeover (a "witch-over"). The series also starred Mildred Hubble's close friends Emma Brown who played her best friend Maud Moonshine, Jessica Fox as Enid Nightshade, Joanna Dyce as Ruby Cherrytree and Harshna Brahmbhatt as Jadu Wali. New characters were also added, such as Frank Blossom (the school's caretaker), and Miss Crotchet, the music teacher in the third series who replaced Miss Bat. 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.