BEWITCHED, BOTHERED AND BEWILDERED!
KIERNAN SHIPKA and MIRANDA OTTO star in a new take on troubled teenage witch Sabrina Chilling Adventures of Sabrina NEW
Genre: Supernatural drama Available: Fri 26 Oct Season: 1 Episodes: 10 Runs: 60min (approx)
QUIRKY COMEDY SABRINA
the Teenage Witch was one of the standout teen series of the 1990s and early 2000s with its portrayal of a rookie witch (Melissa Joan Hart) exploring her new-found magical powers.
Sabrina returns this week in a new reimagining of the spooky saga, but the10-part drama,
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, is a far darker affair.
The Netflix series is more closely based on a series of comic books and sees Kiernan Shipka take on the role of spirited half-witch/ half-mortal Sabrina Spellman.
As Sabrina approaches her16th birthday (on Halloween, obviously), and her ‘dark baptism’ that will officially bring her into the witching world, she faces a decision. Should she give up her life in Greendale with unsuspecting boyfriend Harvey (Ross Lynch) to pledge her allegiance to Satan, aka the Dark Lord? Or reject her ancestry?
‘Signing your soul away sounds intense to Sabrina,’ says Shipka, who came to fame as Sally Draper in Mad Men. ‘She’s still figuring out love, as well as honing in on her power and struggling between these two separate worlds.’
Trying to encourage Sabrina are her mortuary-owning witch aunts – homely Hilda (Lucy Davis) and uncompromising Zelda (Miranda Otto) – who have raised her since her parents died in a mysterious accident, and are keen for her to follow her magical destiny.
FAMILY VALUES
‘Zelda is stern because she has been given the duty of making sure that Sabrina becomes a fully-fledged witch,’ explains
Otto. ‘She can be forceful and controlling but she has a ferocious love for Sabrina and secretly admires her strength. What happens during the series challenges Zelda’s beliefs too.’
Sabrina must also fight to save herself, her family and the human world from sinister forces, including possessed teacher Mary Wardell (Michelle Gomez), who is on a mission to bring Sabrina down. Meanwhile, the true agenda of Father Blackwood (Richard Coyle), the dean of the Academy of Unseen Arts, where Sabrina should be going, is also shrouded in mystery.
‘It’s a darker take on what it’s like to be part-witch and part-human. We’re reinterpreting the story for this day and age,’ says Otto.
‘We have the fun of the horror, some clever humour but also a sense of Americana with the high school element and there’s a big “girl power” side too. The idea of Sabrina being a half-breed raises issues about the search for identity and acceptance and deciding how you want to live your life.’
TURN BACK TIME
Otto is full of praise for the way her18-year-old co-star Shipka has embraced the challenging role.
‘Kiernan is fantastic and fiercely intelligent and can bring the comedy and the horror,’ she says.
One element that remains the same as the original series is Sabrina’s cat Salem, who this time is played by five real cats.
‘Poor Kiernan is allergic,’ says Otto, who is already filming the second series. ‘But I love the cats. They do upstage us, though. Everyone wants to watch them!’