It’s a kind of magic:

Twelve years after the original finished, three new witches, played by Madeline Mantock, Melonie Diaz and Sarah Jeffery (above), are coming to Neon in a rebooted Charmed. Julie Eley reports.

It’s the witching hour as a new trio of sisters front a rebooted Charmed.

Sarah Jeffery grew up wanting to be a witch and now she’s playing one in the rebooted supernatural series Charmed.

The Canadian actress, who stars alongside Melonie Diaz and Madeline Mantock in the updated show, was so enchanted by magic, she even had her own Harry Potter wand.

“I wanted to be a witch so bad,” she says. “I always was obsessed with Hermione. I dressed up as her every year. (Magic) was just like fascinating to me. Any sort of magic. I like Disney films, the magic you feel and see in that.”

In the new-look Charmed, Jeffery plays the telepathic Maggie Vera, the youngest of three sisters who discover they are witches following the death of their mother.

The series has come in for criticism from the stars of the original show, which ran from 1998 to 2006 – especially the CW Television Network’s description of it as being a “fierce, funny, feminist reboot”.

Holly Marie Combs, who played Piper Halliwell in that version, took to Twitter to complain, “I will never understand what is fierce, funny or feminist in creating a show that basically says the original actresses are too old to do a job they did 12 years ago.”

However, the new stars are quick to pay tribute to the original with Madeline Mantock, who plays oldest sister Macy, saying of the 1998 Charmed, “Twenty years ago, when the show started, to have three women at the forefront as the heroes of the story was very rare, so I am grateful to them.

“Just because we are (feminists) too doesn’t mean they weren’t.”

And Jeffery for her part says, “I think we are all in agreement that we just want to focus on the positive. I totally get that they feel a certain ownership and it’s very sacred to them. We just want to honour it.”

The new Charmed has been crafted by Jane The Virgin creator Jennie Snyder Urman, who brings a more diverse approach to the ethnicity of the sisterly trio of witches. They all have the same mother but different fathers – one is white, one Latina and one African-American.

Melonie Diaz, who plays the feminist activist Mel, the middle sister with the power to stop time, is also a lesbian.

“People often ask how does it feel to be a lesbian and I’m like, it shouldn’t be a headline.

“It’s 2018. People should love who they want and how they want.”

The varied background of the new witches will allow showmakers to explore magic across the globe.

“It’s different across the cultures and all around the world,” says Mantock, whose character has the ability to move things with her mind. “I’m really excited to explore that.”

Helping with that is a member of the Charmed writing team. “One of our writers actually practises witchcraft,” says Mantock. “We were saying yesterday that lots of his ideas are super dark.”

However, that won’t dominate the show. “We like the tone that we have with the comedy and the darkness kind of balance and we want to keep going down that route,” she says.

So what are her own views on magic? “I am more on the side of caution in terms of real-life witchcraft,” she says. “My mum always said you shouldn’t mess with spirits. I feel like there is something but I’m not delving into it.”

However, she is not averse to having her own magic powers.

“I always say that I want to be able to speak all the languages in the world. Then you could go anywhere. You could go to any remote place and you could just chat to people,” she says.

“I just feel like communication’s so important. Sometimes when I’m working away or I’m on holiday I feel really **** about myself that I only speak English.”

“My mum always said you shouldn’t mess with spirits. I feel like there is something but I’m not delving into it.”

– Madeline Mantock