The_New_Worst_Witch
The New Worst Witch
British television series
For other series, books and film in The Worst Witch franchise, see The Worst Witch (disambiguation).
The New Worst Witch is a television series, based on Jill Murphy's The Worst Witch books, about a group of young witches at a Witch Academy. It ran for two series from 2005 to 2007. The series is a spin-off from The Worst Witch TV series that ran from 1998 to 2001.[1]
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (October 2020) |
Quick Facts The New Worst Witch, Genre ...
| The New Worst Witch | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Children's Fantasy Magic |
| Based on | The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy |
| Directed by | Andrew Gunn |
| Starring | Anabel Barnston Alice Connor Caroline O'Neill Clare Coulter Francesca Isherwood |
| Theme music composer | Anthony Flynn |
| Opening theme | Theme |
| Composer | Anthony Flynn |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom Canada |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Production location | Clitheroe Castle (exterior scenes) |
| Production company | Granada Kids |
| Original release | |
| Network | ITV (CITV) |
| Release | 5 January 2005 (2005-01-05) – 27 January 2007 (2007-01-27) |
| Related | |
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The series follows Henrietta "Hettie" Hubble (Mildred's younger cousin), through her years at Cackle's Academy. Mildred is seen at the start of the first episode riding her cousin's broom close to Cackle's and she then disappears. Hettie quickly becomes best friends with Mona Hallow (who happens to be Ethel's younger sister) and Crescentmoon "Cressie" Winterchild. Hettie and her friends' new enemy is Belladonna Bindweed and her sidekick Cynthia Horrocks. Miss Hardbroom and Miss Cackle return, and are joined by new members of staff Caspian Bloom, Miss Swoop, and Miss Widget/Miss Nightingale.
The New Worst Witch was initially planned to have a third season in 2007, but Alice Connor who played Henrietta Hubble in the series along with several other cast members decided not to sign onto the third season and thus was subsequently canceled the same year.
During November 2009, CITV showed all episodes of The New Worst Witch.
- Henrietta "Hettie" Hubble – the younger cousin of Mildred Hubble. Hettie is the main protagonist of the series and is very similar in attitude and personality to Mildred, but much better spell caster and expert broom flyer. She makes friends with Mona Hallow and Crescentmoon "Cressie" Winterchild and is sort-of-friends with Dyllis Mustardseed. She is also enemies with Belladonna Bindweed and Cynthia Horrocks. Hettie is played by Alice Connor.
- Mona Hallow – the younger sister of Ethel Hallow and Sybil Hallow. She is friendly and enjoys science. She meets Hettie in the first episode when Hettie accidentally stands on her magnifying glass. Mona is friends with Hettie and Cressie and shares a mutual hatred with Belladonna Bindweed and especially Cynthia Horrocks. Mona is played by Anabel Barnston.
- Crescentmoon "Cressie" Winterchild – a witch student with a Liverpool accent and a member of the Hedge Witch Community. Cressie takes pride in being a member of the Hedge Witch Community, as shown in the episode "The Bewitching of Mona Hallow" where she and Hettie celebrate Hazelmass behind Miss Cackle's back and in the episode "Mr Perky Pentangle" where she helps Mona do a Hedge Witch dance for Miss Widget's "Uniquely You" project. In the final episode "The Odd Couple" Hettie accidentally turns her into a baby. Cressie is played by Paislie Reid.
- Belladonna Bindweed – the stuck-up, conniving and nasty rival/enemy of Hettie, Mona and Cressie. She is the granddaughter of Betty Bindweed, one of Agatha Cackle's henchwomen who try to take over the school in the final episode of the first series "The Enemy Within". Belladonna gives a teacher's pet-style impression to Miss Hardbroom. Belladonna sometimes shows symptoms of being a stereotypical dumb blonde such as in the episode "Mr Perky Pentangle" she mistook her mirror for the letter O, a chair for the letter H and Cynthia Horrocks herself as the letter I after Caspian Bloom made her short-sighted after Belladonna called him blind. It is hinted that Belladonna fancies Miss Hardbroom's nephew Artemis. Played by Francesca Isherwood.
- Cynthia Horrocks – the equally stuck-up, snotty sidekick of Belladonna, who she only hangs out with due to her lack of friends. She comes to Cackle's under a charity scholarship after being forced to leave Pentangle's after Mr Hallow took over her father's factory. This is the cause for Cynthia's intense hatred of Mona. In the episode "Mr Perky Pentangle" Cynthia does try to get back into Pentangle's by trying to retrieve the missing owl mascot. Unlike most of the other characters, Cynthia is mostly referred to by her surname. Belladona is played by Daisy Hughes.
- Dyllis Mustardseed – Dyllis is an up beat, though shy character in the series. In the episode "Truth or Lies" she uses a spell to increase her popularity. In the episode "Mr Perky Pentangle" she assists Hettie's help in all of the end-of-year projects. It is during the broomstick-flying test that she discovers the missing owl mascot from Pentangle's. Within the second series she comes to her own as her character increases. Dyllis is played by Narisha Lawson.
- Roseanne Speedwell – a minor character similar to Dyllis Mustardseed in personality. She has frizzy hair. In the episode "The Levitating Boomerang Broomstick" she can be seen cheerleading. Roseanne is played by Dominique Jackson.
- Miss Cackle – the headmistress of Cackle's. She is addicted to cream cakes and is much kinder and tolerant than Miss Hardbroom. She previously appeared in The Worst Witch, played by Clare Coulter, the only regular cast member from The Worst Witch to reprise her role in The New Worst Witch on a full-time basis.
- Miss Hardbroom – the strict deputy head/potions teacher of Cackle's. She is stricter and firmer than Miss Cackle, dislikes Hettie and favours Belladonna and Cynthia. She is played by Caroline O'Neill and was previously portrayed by Kate Duchêne in The Worst Witch.
- Miss Nightingale – a passionate and dramatic art teacher of Cackle's who replaces Miss Bat/Miss Crotchet after The Worst Witch. Nightingale is played by Indra Ové, but is replaced by Miss Widget after the first series, though Miss Nightingale's absence in the second series is unexplained.
- Miss Widget – the eccentric and passionate art teacher who replaces Miss Nightingale in the second series after Miss Nightingale's unexplained departure at the end of the first series. She is played by Elizabeth Bower.
- Miss Swoop – the PE teacher, she previously appeared in Weirdsister College and an episode of the original series "The Witchy Hour". She previously attended Pentangle's Academy, though in both of Miss Pentangle's appearances ("The Visitors" and "Mr. Perky Pentangle") Miss Pentangle acts as if she's a stranger. Swoop is played by Stephanie Lane.
- Caspian Bloom – the librarian at Cackle's who replaces Mr. Blossom the handyman. He is addicted to doughnuts and sleeps a lot. In the episode "Mr. Perky Pentangle" he makes Belladonna short-sighted as payback for Belladonna calling him blind. In the final episode, "The Odd Couple", both Miss Swoop and Miss Widget fall in love with him after they both accidentally drink Mona's love potion.
Series overview
Series 1 (2005)
More information No. overall, No. in series ...
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 01 | "Give a Witch a Bad Name" | 5 January 2005 (2005-01-05) | |
| Henrietta Hubble is all set to start her first year at Cackle's Academy for Witches, but is determined to make a good impression. Things, as they usually did for her cousin Mildred, go badly wrong. Mildred is seen dropping Hettie off at school, now an accomplished witch. After a disastrous start to school and a run-in with Belladonna Bindweed, Hettie makes friends with Ethel Hallow's sister, Mona and Crescent-Moon "Cressie" Winterchild, a member of the "Hedge Witch Community". | ||||
| 02 | 02 | "The Confidence Trick" | 10 January 2005 (2005-01-10) | |
| It is the Broomstick Aptitude Test and Hettie passes with flying colours, but Cressie fails. Hettie begs Miss Cackle to give her a second chance, like she did with Mildred, and Hettie and Mona concoct a plan to make sure she passes. | ||||
| 03 | 03 | "Rules Rules Rules" | 17 January 2005 (2005-01-17) | |
| Hettie is sick of all the rules at Cackle's so starts a petition to change them. Miss Cackle grants Hettie's wish and decides to let the school abide by Hettie's rules for a day, much to the shock and dismay of Miss Hardbroom. | ||||
| 04 | 04 | "No Place Like Home" | 24 January 2005 (2005-01-24) | |
| Cressie is missing home, so Hettie tries to cheer her up. A new girl arrives on a Charity Scholarship, Cynthia Horrocks and immediately makes an enemy out of Mona. This is because Mona's dad took over Cynthia's dad's factory and she was forced to leave Pentangle's and go to Cackle's. | ||||
| 05 | 05 | "Trick or Treat" | 31 January 2005 (2005-01-31) | |
| It is Halloween and Hettie, Mona and Cressie have been selected by Miss Nightingale to sing to the Grand Wizard. It turns out, the Grand Wizard is ill, so his place is taken by wizard author Richard Avalon. Hettie gets into trouble while trying to prove a point and is replaced by Belladonna to sing in the ceremony. Hettie decides she must prove who Richard Avalon really is. | ||||
| 06 | 06 | "Truth or Lies" | 7 February 2005 (2005-02-07) | |
| When a forbidden spell book goes missing from the library, all privileges are cut off until the book is returned and the culprit owns up. All signs point to Hettie, but she and her friends set out to clear her name. | ||||
| 07 | 07 | "Deadly Doubles" | 2 September 2005 (2005-09-02) | |
| To celebrate the school's birthday, the school has a "Witch-themed Olympics" and put into teams. After an argument between Hettie and Belladonna, Miss Cackle puts the two in a team. | ||||
| 08 | 08 | "The Levitating Boomerang Broomstick" | 9 September 2005 (2005-09-09) | |
| Hettie accidentally does a very famous broomstick trick while trying out for the Open Day Broom Formation. She takes all the glory, but then is thrown in the deep when Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom decide to drop the broom formation and expect Hettie to perform the trick for Open Day and in front of the last witch to do the trick, Araminta Hexley-Gore. | ||||
| 09 | 09 | "The Visitors" | 16 September 2005 (2005-09-16) | |
| Pentangle's School is forced to share with Cackle's after their school floods, causing fights between the two schools. | ||||
| 10 | 10 | "The Bewitching of Mona Hallow" | 23 September 2005 (2005-09-23) | |
| It's Hazlemass, a special Hedge Witch ceremony, but to Cressie's disappointment, Miss Hardbroom tells her that Cackle's does not celebrate Hazlemass. Hettie and Mona decide to help Cressie celebrate it anyway, but when the girls leave the celebration cake unattended, Belladonna puts a bewitching spell on it. Mona persuades the others that she can look after the cake without touching it. She just has a taste and immediately becomes enemies with Hettie and Cressie. | ||||
| 11 | 11 | "The Black Hole Club" | 30 September 2005 (2005-09-30) | |
| Hettie rediscovers the "Black Hole Club" and Belladonna and Cynthia push their way in, to the dismay of Hettie, Mona and Cressie. Belladonna causes chaos with the Book of Trivial Magic and soon things become desperate. | ||||
| 12 | 12 | "Time After Time" | 7 October 2005 (2005-10-07) | |
| Cressie discovers she is a Time Witch, a witch that can tamper with time, so Hettie pressures her to go back in time with her to patch a falling out with Mona. | ||||
| 13 | 13 | "The Enemy Within" | 14 October 2005 (2005-10-14) | |
| Belladonna's granny Bindweed and Miss Cackle's twin, Agatha try to take over the school yet again by using the End of Term prize, the very powerful Golden Broomstick. | ||||
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Series 2 (2006–2007)
More information No. overall, No. in series ...
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 01 | "The Curse of Cackle's" | 20 October 2006 (2006-10-20) | |
| It is the anniversary of Cackle's and while under the influence of a potion, Hettie sets to fulfil a curse that will destroy the school. | ||||
| 15 | 02 | "Lost and Found" | 27 October 2006 (2006-10-27) | |
| Hettie uses trivial magic to bring her dog Kitty back when he is lost, but causes havoc when everything lost comes back. | ||||
| 16 | 03 | "Girls Will Be Boys" | 3 November 2006 (2006-11-03) | |
| Miss Hardbroom's nephew, Artemis, is staying at Cackle's to study for the "Wiz of the Year" Competition. Mona has also entered the competition, but Artemis tells her it is only for boys, so he and Hettie turn Mona into a boy. | ||||
| 17 | 04 | "Next Week’s News" | 10 November 2006 (2006-11-10) | |
| Hettie, Mona and Cressie find an old printing press and start a newspaper. They improvise some of the stories, unaware that the press makes the stories come true, which means Belladonna has a wart on her nose, Miss Cackle writes poems and Miss Hardbroom is going to be eaten by a giant owl. | ||||
| 18 | 05 | "The Big Sleep" | 17 November 2006 (2006-11-17) | |
| The teachers are put to sleep while a big inspection is going on, so Miss Swoop, the only teacher who didn't drink the sleeping potion, steps in to save the day. | ||||
| 19 | 06 | "Back to Basics" | 24 November 2006 (2006-11-24) | |
| The school goes back to basics and cancels their factory-made potion ingredients so the girls can get a taste of being "real witches". | ||||
| 20 | 07 | "The Friendship Test" | 1 December 2006 (2006-12-01) | |
| It is Cressie's Hedge Witch training course and she must become friends with her enemy. | ||||
| 21 | 08 | "King Kong Kittie" | 8 December 2006 (2006-12-08) | |
| The animal inspector comes to inspect the girls' cats, Miss Swoop's owl and Hettie's dog, but Belladonna puts a spell on Hettie's dog, Kitty to make him bigger than the castle. | ||||
| 22 | 09 | "The Wish Wimble" | 15 December 2006 (2006-12-15) | |
| Every seven years, there is supposedly a magic wishing well that will grant any wish written on a pebble thrown into the well, but Miss Cackle and Hettie get their wires crossed and as usual Hettie tries to save the day. | ||||
| 23 | 10 | "Hettie's Final Warning" | 6 January 2007 (2007-01-06) | |
| Hettie is put on a final warning, so she takes an obedience potion. Belladonna and Cynthia find this out so use it to get Hettie expelled. Mona and Cressie work on a plan to get her reinstated. | ||||
| 24 | 11 | "Mr Perky Pentangle" | 13 January 2007 (2007-01-13) | |
| The Pentangle's Owl goes missing and Miss Pentangle visits Cackle's to the school of stealing the owl as a form of school rivalry. | ||||
| 25 | 12 | "Saturday Witch Fever" | 20 January 2007 (2007-01-20) | |
| The school organises a trip to a theme park but Miss Cackle comes down with what everyone thinks is Witch Fever. | ||||
| 26 | 13 | "The Odd Couple" | 27 January 2007 (2007-01-27) | |
| Hettie explodes a grape in Cressie's room so all girls on Cressie's wing must share with the other girls. Mona must share with Belladonna, but they have disagreements over the rules and Cressie stays with Hettie, but Cressie is a snorer. Hettie sings a lullaby to her to cure her, but gets the words wrong and turns Cressie back into a baby. Meanwhile, there is love blooming in the staff room thanks to Mona Hallow. | ||||
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In 2006, Alice Connor who played Henrietta Hubble decided not to renew her contract for a third series as well as a few other cast members as they began to age and they were becoming more interested in pursuing other roles despite the series being expected to return.
