The Worst Witch (1998 TV series)
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"). 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 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 wizard, Mrs. Cosie, the nervous owner of the nearby tearoom and Mistress Hecketty Broomhead, the evil school inspector who later became a brief headmistress. Also as a character who 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.
List of minor The Worst Witch characters
The TV episode "Learning the Hard Way" centres on Miss Gabrielle Gribble, in which she is introduced as a student teacher from Weirdsister College. She is revealed to be Miss Cackle's niece (confirmed when she refers to Miss Cackle as "Auntie Amelia"). In "Learning the Hard Way", Miss Gribble takes over teaching the potions lessons from Miss Hardbroom but she is not very nice and the girls begin to tease her (calling her "Gabby Dribble" and leaving green goo in her desk and pretending to be allergic to chalk dust, as well as Enid Nightshade turning herself blue and pretending to turn into completely inanimate trees). However, Mildred takes pity on her after finding out that Miss Gribble had always wanted to be a teacher and that she flunked at Miss Pentangle's Academy after turning Miss Pentangle into a tadpole. To make up for it, Mildred and co. stay up all night doing a potions lesson with her and they successfully manage to impress Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom, so Miss Gribble finally gets a high chance of becoming a teacher. As a leaving gift, the girls give Miss Gribble a chair from the staff room and her own mug to which Miss Gribble jokily responds, "My own mug as well. I hope it doesn't dribble!". Miss Gribble is not seen again, suggesting that she returns to Weirdsister College. Miss Gribble was played by Rebecca Clarke.2019 Michelle Dockery