Worst Witch, The: Battle Of The Broomsticks (1998) Rating: Starring: Emma Brown, Clare Coulter, Kate Duchene, Georgina Sherrington, Una Stubbs Director: Andrew Morgan Category: Family Studio: BFS Subtitles: Length: 150 mins Want to buy?           Before Harry Potter, author Jill Murphy captivated audiences with her best-selling tales of Mildred Hubble, a hopelessly clumsy young witch-in-training. Murphy's wonderful stories are even rumoured to have been the inspiration behind the phenomenal Harry Potter creation. Enter the gloomy halls of Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches, a school where chemistry class involves magic potions, final exams centre on spell and students ride broomsticks instead of bicycles. No matter how hard she tries, poor Mildred just can't seem to cut it: her incantations backfire and she cannot ride a broom without unleashing a calamity. Still, she never gives up trying, so join Mildred and her friends for plenty of riotous adventure and magical mayhem. Disc One: The Battle Of The Broomsticks Mildred makes a disastrous entrance on her first day at the Academy: she crashes into the dustbins on her broom right in front of the stern headmistress! That mishap helps Mildred discover her new friends - and enemies. It will take some special magic to keep her from being asked to leave before school even starts. When We Feast At The Midnight Hour The icky school food leads Mildred and her friends to complain loudly to Miss Cackle, who democratically volunteers to try the same menu for a week. Mildred concots a better plan: a sneaky nighttime raid on a secret pantry of treats. Unfortunately, they do not count on a legendary ghost intruding on their feast. A Pig In A Poke Snooty Ethel Hallow is unable to resist teasing Mildred about everything, including her cat, a striped tabby that hardly looks the part of a real "familiar." Pushed too far, Mildred tries out a spell she has been working on and accidentally turns Ethel into a pig! When Ethel runs off, the race is on to set things right before the local farmer can work his own mischief. Disc Two: A Mean Halloween Hold onto your broomsticks! The Chief Wizard has been invited to attend the school's Hallowe'en celebration and Mildred is thrilled to have been chosen to lead the traditional first-year flying display. However, Ethel Hallow is still furious that Mildred turned her into a pig earlier on and vows revenge… Double, Double, Toil And Trouble Frustrated over her failures, Mildred runs away from the Academy in the wee hours of the night. Things change, however, when she overhears some nasty witches in a nearby forest planning to take over the school. As her schoolmates and teachers sleep unaware, Mildred hatches a desperate plan to save the day. Monkey Business A new term begins and Mildred is on probation. Her duty is to keep an eye on a mysterious new pupil, Enid Nightshade. Enid seems harmless enough, but turns out to have more than one trick up her sleeve. It looks like Mildred will get the blame for all of Enid's antics!