The Worst Witch (TV Series) - Characters - Pupils

Pupils

• Mildred Hubble (Georgina Sherrington) - Mildred is the heroine of the Worst Witch series. She is a clumsy, bungling young witch-in-training, who never seems to get anything right at Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches. She is tall, with long, straggly dark plaits, and never ties her bootlaces. Mildred does not come from a witch family like most of the other girls, but earns a scholarship at Cackle's Academy by writing a first-class piece of creative writing (she is portrayed as being creative throughout the series, especially in art) which greatly impresses Miss Cackle. Mildred means well and tries very hard, but she is adventurous and impulsive, which often gets her into trouble with her teachers, most notably the cruel Miss Hardbroom. Creating havoc wherever she goes, mixing up spells and potions, Mildred is a walking disaster area, frequently destroying the potionlab and often on the brink of bringing utter peril upon the school. However, as she has this knack of saving the teachers, the pupils and sometimes the whole academy from utter destruction, she always escapes getting expelled. Although her Mathematics and Science skills leave much to be desired, Mildred is tenacious and channels her creative energy into her quest to become an accomplished witch. Mildred has an ongoing feud with Ethel Hallow, which lasts throughout the entire Worst Witch series. After five years at Cackle's Academy, Mildred endeavours on to University, training at Weirdsister College in Cambridge, a place she gained through her artistic skills. At Weirdsister, Mildred seems to improve her skills, and is shocked to discover that Ethel Hallow is her roommate, though the two later become friends. Mildred is briefly seen in the first episode of The New Worst Witch, now an accomplished and successful witch, escorting her younger cousin Henrietta 'Hettie' Hubble on her first day at Cackle's Academy.
• Ethel Hallow (Felicity Jones, later Katie Allen) - Ethel is Mildred Hubble's acid-tongued rival. She is a straight 'A' student, comes from a prominent and historic witch family, and gives the impression of being a model student to her classmates. She is spoiled, snobbish and vindictive; though in the presence of the school's teachers she can turn on the charm and act sweet and innocent, playing the role of a victim to Mildred's apparent 'bullying'. Ethel takes pleasure in taunting Mildred about her inability to train her cat into riding a broomstick, and Mildred responds by turning her into a pig. From there on Mildred and Ethel resent each other and Ethel vows to get Mildred expelled, though she does not succeed. Ethel has got many talents - among them pouting, bossing people around and insinuating herself into important people's graces. As she is one of "THE" Hallows and her father is the chair of the board of governors, she regards herself superior to all the other pupils. Ethel and her only friend, Drusilla Paddock, are shown to be allies rather than true friends, sticking with each other because nobody else likes them. However, in the episode The Unfairground, they break up their friendship because Drusilla agrees with Mildred and her friends' attempts to stand up to the teachers. In contrast to her personality, Ethel is an attractive young girl who matures into a beautiful and popular teenager at Weirdsister College. Strangely enough, when they are reunited at Weirdsister, Mildred and Ethel overcome their hatred of each other and become friends.
• Maud Moonshine (Emma Brown, credited as Emma Jayne Brown in Series 3) - Maud is Mildred's best friend at Cackle's Academy. She is a short girl with wide glasses and stringy hair which she wears in bunches.She has a similar physical appearance to Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter. She is fiercely loyal to Mildred and assists her on most of her adventures, often against her better judgment. Maud is a decent and considerate person, but grows weary of Mildred's incessant clumsiness and often lectures her on how to improve herself. While usually very gentle, she can become quite snappy when someone attacks her best friends, even daring to face Miss Hardbroom when it comes to defending Mildred. In the episode Monkey Business, Maud grows jealous of Mildred and Enid's budding friendship and turns on Mildred, siding with the friendless and vindictive Ethel. However she tires of Ethel's constant degrading of Mildred and annuls their "friendship", siding with Mildred and becoming friends with Enid. Mostly she is the voice of reason and tries to prevent Enid from leading Mildred down the garden path or mischief. Maud runs against Ethel for the Head Girl position in the final episode, but stands down at the last minute, stating that Mildred is better suited to the post.
• Enid Nightshade (Jessica Fox) - Enid is another of Mildred's closest friends, who is introduced in the episode Monkey Business after she is transferred to Cackle's Academy and Mildred is assigned as a guardian to her. She is a small, waiflike girl and, at first, Mildred thinks she will simply be a nuisance and a pain. However, Enid turns out to be a wild practical joker whose attempts to make Mildred like her only result in Mildred getting into trouble. Overall she is friendly and kind-hearted, but sometimes oversteps the mark in her attempt to befriend and help people. She takes an instant liking to Mildred and hopes to be her friend, implying that she is not a judgmental girl. She knows lots of spells and uses them regardless of the Witches' Code - i.e.: for selfish and trivial ends. Often her spells don't work the way they're supposed to do, and her friends end up in very deep water as a result. Enid made a guest appearance in Episode 10 of Weirdsister College, as the gothic and rebellious Enid. She flew in from her college to surprise Mildred, stating that she needed a break, but she was really expelled for over-partying. She tried to persuade Mildred to leave Weirdsister and go travelling around the world, but Mildred insisted on staying and finishing her training. Enid agreed and stated they would always remain friends, before departing.At the end of the episode Monkey Business,she euphemistically indicates that schools are coming to an end in the real world.
• Drusilla Paddock (Holly Rivers) - Drusilla is Ethel's best and only friend. She is a horrible, vindictive bully but lacks the acid-tongued spite of Ethel, and seems to be in great awe of her. Drusilla and Ethel are not true friends; they have stuck beside each other because nobody else can bear to be around them. Their "friendship" seems to be more of an alliance or a form of servitude. Drusilla often shows reluctance or regret to Ethel's schemes several times during the run of the show. Although she has occasionally teamed up with Mildred and her friends when Ethel's back is turned (and seems to get along remarkably well with them), she always ends up reverting to Ethel. However, in the last two episodes of Season 3, she and Ethel end their friendship for good after Drusilla sides with Mildred.She has quite a strong west country accent.
• Ruby Cherrytree (Joanna Dyce) - Ruby is another friend of Mildred's. She is depicted as a very tall black girl, with frizzy hair worn in pigtails and an inventive personality. Ruby is very loyal to her friends and keen to learn at Cackle's Academy. She is also heavily addicted to all kinds of “electronic contrivances” and therefore a thorn in the flesh of old-fashioned Miss Hardbroom. The amount of walkmen, discmen, mini ghettoblasters, Game Boys, cyber pets, walkie talkies etc. confiscated by her formteacher is quite impressive. As she gets older, Ruby creates a number of whacky inventions that almost always go wrong, such as when she created a time machine and accidentally brought two Dark Age witches forward in time, who resumed their historic battle in the Academy. It was left up to Mildred and Miss Hardbroom to save the school. She also makes a transportation device which gives the wearer the equivalent of the power Miss Hardbroom has to appear and disappear at will. Except that in the episode Just Like Clockwork Heckitty Broomhead tried it on and it went so wrong that she was temporarily paralysed / sent into a trance to use up all the time she saved whizzing about the spells classroom.
• Jadu Wali (Harshna Brahmbhatt) - Jadu is another of Mildred's close friends who, like Ruby, is from an ethnic minority. She is mostly very sensible and, during the first two years at Cackle's, of a rather meek nature, yet she is often dragged along on whatever crazy crusade Mildred and the others are going on. Jadu is very keen to learn and shows mature behaviour, until the episode The Unfairground where she and Mildred attempt to rebel against the rules, fighting for students' rights and opposing the staff (“No uniforms, permission to go out of bounds and more chips!”). As a result she gets suspended and kept in isolation, but along with Mildred she is saved from being expelled by Maud, Ruby and Enid, who conjure up a witch known as 'The Uninvited' that attempts to put the whole academy to eternal sleep.

• Harriet GoodcharmHarriet is another student at Cackle's Academy in the same year as Mildred. She is mentioned at the end of the first book, when Maud says that she was the one whom Ethel had told about her plot and Harriet had told everyone else in Form One. In the TV series she is called Harriet Goodcharm. played by Charlotte Powell. In Fair Is Foul & Fouls Are Fair, Bryony, Gloria, Harriet and Tansy are the cheerleaders led by Miss Bat.