Hello and welcome to Cackles After Dark - the podcast that will dip into the nostalgic cauldron of CITV‘s The Worst Witch

I’m your host, Holly Rivers, and I played school bully Drusilla Paddock on the show — I literally spent three years of my teenage life walking around with my arms crossed and a scowl on my face, pretending that I liked cats! Nearly 30 years since we started filming, most of us Cackles alumni are still really good mates! We’re all in our 40s now, so yes, Mildred et al are approaching perimenopause and we’re are ready to reminisce!

(Yes, this podcast is about the 1990s adaptation of the show. If you’re here hoping to hear the ramblings of Bella Ramsey of Netflix fame, then you’ll be sorely disappointed. I’m sure they’re off posing for Vogue in a beautiful tailored suit, while I am here at my desk in north London!)

Each week I’ll be joined by a magical special guest. I’l be chatting to my fellow cast and members about our time filming, as well as giving you some behind the scenes anecdotes, deep-diving into our favourite episodes, and basically reliving our awkward child-actor moments (and there are many of those!)

I’ll also be talking all things Cackles to people who’ve been inspired by the show and books — children’s authors, historians, musicians and maybe even a real life witch!

Knowing how passionate and dedicated The Worst Witch fandom and community are, I’d also like to get as many super fans and podcast listeners involved to. So watch this space…

Episode one will be going live next week, where I’ll be joined by my pal, Georgina Sherrington, who played the inimitable Mildred Hubble. We’ll be talking about how we both got cast in the show, as well as reliving the earliest episode we filmed, ‘Battle Of The Broomsticks’, and giving you an insight into what it was like on set. Expect irreverence, nostalgia, nonsense and a lot of magic!

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I am making this podcast on zero budget, so paid subscriptions will help keep the podcast free for everyone to listen to and enable me to pay my guests fairly for their time and expertise.

Thanks for reading and make sure you tune in to episode 1!