HBO aired it in the United States on October 22, 1986, just ahead of Halloween, and ITV followed with its UK broadcast on November 1st. It then spent the next fifteen years haunting Cable, burning itself into the retinas of latchkey kids.
Even decades later in the 2010s, Tim Curry’s “Anything Can Happen on Halloween” performance was finding new life online, clipped and shared until it became its own piece of Halloween culture. A three-minute burst of low-budget magic that pulled the rest of the film back into pop consciousness – and also became an unlikely anthem.
The movie even retroactively gained credibility when Harry Potter arrived. Kids who grew up on Mildred Hubble suddenly realized they’d been watching something that JK probably surfed and turfed. It’s kind of uncanny, moreso than her X-Men nods.
What’s remarkable is how a little made-for-TV British children’s film about a boarding school for witches became essential Halloween viewing for three different decades.
The book series was already beloved in Britain, but in North America, The Worst Witch had to earn its place.
One October at a time. -Pop
The Worst Witch arrived on home video this week in 1992, six years after first flying onto television screens.