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 The Worst Witch characters
Enid Nightshade is Mildred's second best friend who is introduced in "The Worst Witch Strikes Again" where she has hair "the colour of milky tea" wearing it in a thick plait and having large limbs. Mildred is assigned to look after her by Miss Cackle. Enid at first appears to be dull and boring but turns out to be a wild practical joker/prankster who is more likely to get the three into trouble than Mildred is. She unintentionally causes trouble for Mildred throughout the novel, even to the point where Miss Cackle threatens to expel Mildred if there is any more bother from her. Nevertheless, Enid is just as loyal as Maud is and provides comfort and support to Mildred in the following books of the series. Enid is the second worst witch in the Academy, as both she and Mildred are hapless at broomstick riding and lack the specific requirements to be fully-fledged, efficient witch. In the TV series, Enid was portrayed by Jessica Fox. In the new BBC reboot, Enid was portrayed by newcomer Tamara Smart.
Ethel Hallow is the snobbish, stuck-up, vindictive, and sly rival and enemy of Mildred and her friends. She is favoured by Miss Hardbroom, but appears to have no friends, apart from the rarely seen Drusilla Paddock, who is just as bad as Ethel. Ethel is described as being ""one of those lucky people for whom everything goes right"" which is what caused her to become so snobby. Ethel is tall and thin (just like Mildred) and has mousy-brown hair which she wears in a ponytail with a black hair ribbon. She also has a very spiky nose (pointed out by Maud in "A Bad Spell for the Worst Witch"). Various sources have noted that Ethel's primary weakness as a student is that, which she is able to easily follow the rules and perform new spells after demonstration, she lacks the ability to imagine and improvise when given free rein. This was demonstrated most clearly in "The Worst Witch to the Rescue", when she was the student who performed worst in the art class and had no ideas whatsoever for a summer project to research a spell of the student's choice as she lacked a framework for her to start studying in, in contrast to Mildred who not only performed best in art but had even created a completely new spell for the project.Because of her nasty ways, Ethel is sometimes seen as a bully. Yet her actions are instrumental in setting up the climax of nearly every novel.
In "The Worst Witch" the jinx she puts on the broomstick results in Mildred running away into the woods rather than face Miss Cackle. If Mildred hadn't run away she wouldn't have spotted Agatha Cackle and her coven.
In "The Worst Witch Strikes Again", if she hadn't locked Mildred and Enid in the store cupboard they would never have flown into the Great Hall to do a performance and improve Maud's speech.
In "A Bad Spell for the Worst Witch", if Ethel hadn't turned Mildred into a frog, Mildred wouldn't have discovered Algernon Rowan-Webb and he would have remained a frog for the rest of his life.
In "The Worst Witch All at Sea", if she hadn't set the boat adrift, the legendary treasure chest on Cat's Head Rock wouldn't have been discovered.
In "The Worst Witch Saves the Day", if Ethel hadn't left Tabby on the roof then Miss Granite wouldn't have picked him up and Mildred wouldn't have found out Miss Granite was actually Agatha Cackle in disguise.
While she is a straightforward bully in "The Worst Witch to the Rescue", where the main threat is Ethel stealing Mildred's summer project to pass off as her own, Ethel returns to her traditional role of unwittingly provoking success in "The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star", where her attempts to expose Mildred's new dog Star result in Mildred being granted permission to use Star as her broom companion rather than Tabby after she and Star win an inter-school competition.