The Worst Witch

The author Jill Murphy began writing The Worst Witch at the age of 15, while still at school, and based many points of the stories on her own school experiences at Ursuline Convent in Wimbledon, England, with Singing becoming Chanting, Chemistry becoming Potions and so on. Recalling how the story was initially inspired by her own school experiences, she said in an interview: "My two friends and I used to come home in our dark uniforms, looking very scruffy at the end of the day – my dark plaits sprouting tufts, with lost hair ribbons. My Mum used to say 'Look at you all. You look like the three witches!' and it gave me the idea for a witch's school – so that it was exactly like my school, but with a subtle touch of magic. All the characters are based on my school friends (and enemies) and teachers". Murphy completed the first book at the age of 18, but it was rejected by many publishers (on the grounds that children would find a book about a school for witches too "scary"), so she "put it in a drawer" and concentrated on other things, including working as a nanny and in a children's home, and for a time living in West Africa, where her first husband was studying. Publication of The Worst Witch finally came about, as Jill Murphy recalled, "thanks to a series of coincidences involving me spending time in Ghana, and a friend meeting Margaret Busby (Ghanaian herself, and considering starting a children's list for her imprint) at a publishers' party in London". The Worst Witch was finally published in 1974, when Murphy was 24, by the small independent company Allison and Busby. ==Series overview==

The books in the series all focus on Mildred Hubble, a young witch who attends Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches, a school of magic. Although well-intentioned, Mildred's clumsy personality leads the girl to disastrous situations, and she is thus considered the worst student in the school. The benevolent headmistress, Miss Cackle, is generally understanding, whereas Mildred's form teacher Miss Hardbroom thinks she just is not trying hard enough. Mildred's friends include Maud Spellbody, a rotund, sensible girl who is always trying to avoid confusion, and Enid Nightshade, a practical joker who is more likely than Mildred to get them all into trouble. The three girls have a strong rivalry with Ethel Hallow, a high-born, snobbish and vindictive classmate. Each book covers one term at the school. There are two terms each year: the Winter term, from September to January, and the Summer term, from March to July. In First Prize for the Worst Witch, the most recent book, Mildred is in the Summer term of her fourth year. ==Books==

The Worst Witch The Worst Witch () was first published in 1974 by Allison & Busby, and proved to be an immediate success, selling out within two months. Returning from the holidays in stormy weather Mildred, Maud and Enid arrive to be told by Miss Drill that there will be a talent-displaying competition between Miss Cackle's Academy, Moonridge and Pentangle's school to win a swimming-pool as the award for the best talent. Mildred, much to her disappointment, has been chosen to work lantern monitor along with Drusilla and Ethel. On that first night, Maud spots a shooting star, and Mildred makes a wish, followed by Miss Hardbroom, who does the same reluctantly. On the first lantern monitor shift, Mildred is given a holdall containing safety objects in it. When she reaches the gates to finish the job, Mildred spots a stray dog, who she names Star. She takes him to her bedroom as a secret pet, much to the disapproval of Tabby. During the weeks that follow Mildred, realising that Star is well behaved and calm on a broomstick, she trains him to do various tricks with her. Maud and Enid, who realise Mildred isn't spending much time with them, soon discover about Star and are amazed by the tricks Mildred has taught him. Ethel, suspicious about Mildred hiding something in her holdall, reaches into it to discover Star was hidden in it and the both of them collapse into the lanterns igniting the costumes Form Five have made for the talent competition. Miss Hardbroom, furious, sends Ethel and Mildred along with Star on a lead to Miss Cackle's office for what they had done. Maud and Enid then explain about Star's tricks on the broom. Miss Cackle accepts the replacing talent, and the next day, the competition took place with the schools showing their talents. When it's Mildred's turn, she amazes the judges with Star's tricks and wins the competition and the swimming pool. When the pupils go back to their school, Miss Cackle allows Mildred to keep Star as her broomstick companion as a special privilege. Mildred later explains to Miss Hardbroom that she wished for Star on the shooting star at the beginning of term, which doesn't annoy her as she wished on the star for them to win the competition. The story concludes with the teachers celebrating their victory and, at the same time, Miss Hardbroom's birthday. First Prize for the Worst Witch First Prize for the Worst Witch () was published in 2018. Its writing was delayed when Murphy underwent cancer treatment. Heading back to Miss Cackle's Academy at the start of the summer term of the fourth year, Mildred is feeling much more confident thanks to her new broomstick companion, Star the dog, new-found flying skill, and recent successes such as winning a swimming pool for the school. She confesses to Maud that she even dreams of being selected as Head Girl for next year at the end-of-term prizegiving, though they both concede it seems incredibly unlikely; even without considering Mildred's long career of mishaps, they find it impossible to imagine anyone but Ethel Hallow taking the position. Not only is Ethel academically easily the strongest member of her year, but every member of the Hallow family to attend the school for the past two centuries has held the position of Head Girl. However, Mildred quickly discovers that her nemesis Ethel Hallow has gotten hold of a flyer from a local circus that suggests that her pet Star is their lost property, and has given it to Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom. The teachers tell Mildred that they have no choice but to contact the circus and, if necessary, return the dog. When the circus owners, Mr and Mrs Brilliantine, arrive, they confirm that Star is their missing circus dog Binky, and Mildred is devastated to have to turn her beloved dog over to them, particularly as it is clear that he desperately wants to stay with Mildred. Losing the talented Star and having to return to using the terrified Tabby as her broom companion ruins Mildred's recent flying skills, and with her confidence shattered she also sinks back to her previous position at the bottom of most of her classes. After several months she sneaks out very early one morning along with Enid and Maud to go find Star at the Brilliantines' circus and see how he is doing. Star's excited barking at seeing Mildred wakes the Brilliantines, who understand why Mildred would want to visit her former pet, and give the girls a tour of their circus. As well as Star the circus features a horse and a seal. The Brilliantines concede that the circus life is hard on the animals, but that they can't give them up, as without them they would have lost most of their acts. Mildred makes a second visit on her own with the purpose of casting the animal-speaking spell she previously invented on all three animals, all of whom beg her to take them away from the circus. She promises them that she will, but it is weeks before Enid hits of the idea of offering the Brilliantines a set of enchanted brooms and brushes to use in their acts instead of the animals. The Brilliantines love the magical items, and cheerfully sign the animals over to Mildred, who attempts to teleport the seal to her colony in Grim Cove (though she accidentally teleports it to the school's new swimming pool, and Miss Hardbroom has to remedy this later), and takes Star and the horse Merlin back to school. At school Mildred tries to convince Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom to let her keep Star and for the school to adopt Merlin. Ethel complicates matters by telling the teachers about how Mildred and her friends traded enchanted items for them, hoping to get Mildred in trouble both for stealing school property and for 'trivial usage of magic'. Ultimately, though, Miss Cackle convinces Miss Hardbroom that using magic to find a way to free her pet and other animals from an unpleasant life of servitude could hardly be considered 'trivial', and that Mildred's inventiveness and determination to solve problems are attributes that should not be overlooked... At the final day of term's prizegiving event for Fourth Years Ethel unsurprisingly sweeps all of the academic awards, though Maud manages to win the prize for Team Spirit, which delights her and the entire school (aside from Ethel). However, when it comes to the award for Head Girl everyone is shocked when Miss Cackle announces that Mildred Hubble will be next year's Head Girl. When she finally gets over her amazement Mildred picks Enid to be her deputy. After prizegiving ends and the girls prepare to head home, Mildred, Maud and Enid are shocked once again when Miss Hardbroom congratulates them personally, albeit in her own acerbic manner. ==Setting==

The stories mainly take place within the walls of Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches, a girls-only boarding magic school that is described in the books as a stone castle on top of a mountain, surrounded by pine forest. The school year is divided into two terms: the Winter term (September–January) and the Summer term (March–July), with a month's holiday between them. Students start at Cackle's at the age of 12 and finish at the age of 17 for a total of five school years. The students arrive at the start of the term by flying broomsticks, except for the new first years, who walk through the walker's gate as they can't fly yet. Halfway through the first term, the first years are each presented with a black kitten – Mildred receives a grey-and-black tabby cat as they apparently ran out of purely black cats – which they teach to ride the broomstick. The first book postulates that the cats weren't for any practical purpose except to keep tradition going, and in Wishing Star, a group of elder witches note that there is no restriction on what animal a witch must have as her flight companion, with cats only being traditional as they are discreet and easy to care for, which leads to Mildred being permitted to fly with her dog, Star, after he shows greater broom aptitude than her cat Tabby. At the end of the first year, each pupil receives a copy of The Popular Book of Spells, a three-inch thick volume bound in black leather. This was not really to be used, as they already had paperback editions for the classroom, but like the cats, it's another piece of tradition. At the end of the fifth and final year, students sit the exams for the W.H.C. (Witches' Higher Certificate), and most pupils were awarded with the certificate. The first book says that the school winter uniform is composed of "black gymslips, black stockings, black hob-nailed boots, grey shirts and black-and-grey ties". The first book also postulates that "the only touches of colour [on the uniforms] were the sashes round their gymslips – a different colour for each house, although the houses are not named – and the school badge, which was a black cat sitting on a yellow moon". In the summer term, originally the girls wore grey-and-black checked dresses, but this was changed from Worst Witch All At Sea onwards to a simple black dress as Ms Hardbroom felt that the original design was too frivolous (the girls didn't agree, though). ==Characters==

Television film In 1986, the first book in the series was converted to a made-for-television film on ITV starring Fairuza Balk, Tim Curry, Diana Rigg, and Charlotte Rae. Though a British film, it also aired in the USA on HBO. The film followed the plot of the first book of the series, portraying the incidents of Mildred turning herself invisible and turning Ethel into a pig, Miss Cackle's evil twin sister Agatha plotting to take over the school, and the Grand Wizard viewing the Halloween Broomstick formation (sabotaged by Ethel's faulty broom she lent to Mildred). It was shot at St. Michael's College in Tenbury Wells. This holiday special later aired on the Disney Channel every year for Halloween until the late 1990s. Its opening song, "Growing Up Isn't Easy", was sung by Bonnie Langford; its music was composed by Charles Strouse and its lyrics were written by Don Black. Their other musical number was "Anything Can Happen on Halloween", sung by Tim Curry. Denis King composed its incidental music score and also wrote the song "My Little School". Television series (1998–2001) The Worst Witch, a TV series based on the books, starring Georgina Sherrington and Felicity Jones as Mildred Hubble and Ethel Hallow respectively. Jones left the role after season two and was replaced by Katy Allen. The series was broadcast from 1998 to 2001. It was shot in Montreal, London and Cardiff. The series is mostly shot in studio in London, with some episodes filmed in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The exteriors of Cackle's Academy used Castell Coch, a castle located near Cardiff. The courtyard was filmed at Loseley Park, near Guildford. Inside the school (Great Hall, classrooms etc.) was filmed at Twickenham Studios. Spin-offs When it was no longer realistic that Mildred would still be at school, the series relocated her to a magical university in Cambridge and was retitled Weirdsister College: The Further Adventures of the Worst Witch and saw the return of Felicity Jones as a reinvented Ethel Hallow. In 2004, a new series based on the 1998 series was made, entitled The New Worst Witch. It centred on the adventures of Mildred's equally bungling cousin, Henrietta "Hettie" Hubble, played by Alice Connor, also set at Cackle's Academy. Television series (2017–2020) A new version of The Worst Witch TV series began in 2017 airing on CBBC (later made available on Netflix) and concluded in 2020, this one starring Bella Ramsey as Mildred Hubble (replaced by Lydia Page in the fourth season so that Ramsey could focus on personal issues), Claire Higgins as Miss Cackle, and Raquel Cassidy as Miss Hardbroom. Stage adaptation (2018–2019) A musical stage production called The Worst Witch Live, adapted by Emma Reeves from Murphy's original books, was shown at the Royal & Derngate Theatre in Northampton from 27 November to 30 December 2018. In February 2019, the show began to tour the UK across 16 different venues. The Worst Witch Live by Kenny Wax Family Entertainment was shown at the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End from 24 July to 8 September 2019. The original cast included Danielle Bird, Polly Lister, Rachel Heaton, Rebecca Killick, Rosie Abraham, Anna Crichlow, Molly-Grace Cutler, Megan Leigh Mason, Emma Lau, and Meg Forgan. This version is presented as a publicity play written by Mildred and acted out by the students and staff playing themselves, initially recreating Mildred's first year at school, although the second half takes on a metafictional angle as Agatha Cackle "infiltrates" the play and attempts to stage a coup of the magical government. The stage production received a 2020 Olivier Award for best family show. ==See also==