The Worst Witch (1998 TV series)

The Worst Witch
Series title card
Genre	Children's fantasy Comedy Comedy horror Drama Magic
Based on	The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy
Written by	Martin Riley (23 ep.) Garry Lyons (12 ep.) Clive Endersby (2 ep.) Graham Mitchell (2 ep.) David Finley (1 ep.)
Directed by	Andrew Morgan (16 ep.) Stefan Pleszczynski (15 ep.) Alex Kirby (5 ep.) John Smith (4 ep.)
Starring	Georgina Sherrington Felicity Jones Una Stubbs Clare Coulter Kate Duchêne Jessica Fox
Theme music composer	Paul K. Joyce
Opening theme	"Onwards Ever Striving Onwards" by the Choir of Wispers School for Girls[1]
Ending theme	"Onwards Ever Striving Onwards"
Composer	Paul K. Joyce
Country of origin	United Kingdom Canada
Original language	English
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	40 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Michael Haggiag Arnie Gelbart Dan Maddicott Jeff Lotman (series 2)
Producers	Angela Beeching (30 ep.) Michael Haggiag (10 ep.)
Production locations	Twickenham Film Studios, London Loseley Park, Guildford Castell Coch, Wales (Opening) Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Running time	30 minutes
Production companies	United Productions Galafilm Productions Global Arts
Original release
Network	ITV via the children's programming block (CITV) (UK) YTV (Canada) HBO (US)
Release	22 October 1998 (1998-10-22) – 26 January 2001 (2001-01-26)
Related
The Worst Witch (1986 TV film) Weirdsister College (2001) The New Worst Witch (2005–07) The Worst Witch (2017–20)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

The Worst Witch is an ITV original television series, running from 1998 to 2001, about a group of young witches at a academy for magicians called Cackles Academy. The television series stars Georgina Sherrington and Felicity Jones, and is based on The Worst Witch series of books by Jill Murphy (published from 1974). It aired for a total of 40 episodes spread over three television series between 1998 and 2001, before being followed by its sequel Weirdsister College. Most episodes revolved around the academy, following the adventures of the worst witch ever, Mildred and her friends. The television 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, a UK-German co-production between CBBC, ZDF and Netflix, also titled The Worst Witch, premiered in January 2017 and ran for four seasons, concluding in 2020.