''Badjelly the Witch'' is a brief handwritten, illustrated story by

Spike Milligan Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish actor, comedian, writer, musician, poet, and playwright. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British Colonial India, where h ...

, created for his children, then printed in 1973. It was made into an audio and a video version. In 1975, in the planning for an audio version for the BBC "infant's programme" ''Let's Join In'', Milligan objected to the planned removal of God from the story. The BBC wrote in a letter that the object was not to put God on the same level as goblins, to which Milligan replied that goblins, fairies and God all exist. However, he allowed God to be removed. In 1974,

Ed Welch Edward William Welch (born 22 October 1947) is an English songwriter, composer, conductor and arranger. Early life and education Ed Welch had a classical music upbringing. He attended Christ Church Cathedral School from 1957-1961, where he ...

set ''Badjelly the Witch'' to music and the LP was released on Polydor Records. Milligan narrated it with a large orchestra, and the LP was a reasonable success. In New Zealand, where it was regularly played on morning radio, it was a huge success and has sold over 40000 recordings up to 2012.

Synopsis

In the story, two children Tim and Rose, looking for their lost cow Lucy, meet magical enchanted forest characters. They are captured by Badjelly the witch, then rescued by an eagle. God intervenes as they escape, and the witch is destroyed when she attempts to "scratch God's eye out". The characters enchanted by Badjelly are rescued.

Film

In 2000,

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

and

Ragdoll Productions Ragdoll Productions is a British television production company founded in 1984 by Anne Wood, who had previously worked for Yorkshire Television and TV-am. It is located in Stratford-upon-Avon, and has produced a number of children's programm ...

had collaborated on a film based on the book and aired on Christmas Day. Spike Milligan, the book's writer, narrated the movie. Milligan also wrote and starred as himself. The characters in the film were all voiced by Spike, while Tim & Rose were voiced by child actors Sarah Wichall and Jake Dudley.

Theatre

Alannah O'Sullivan's 1977 adaptation of Badjelly the Witch is the most licensed New Zealand Play. It was first professionally produced by Company Theatre, Tauranga and has had over 100 productions throughout New Zealand. Playmarket published the script in their New Zealand Theatrescripts series edited by David Carnegie. In 2010, 2016, and 2018 Tim Bray Productions presented its version of 'Badjelly the Witch' on stage at

The PumpHouse Theatre The PumpHouse Theatre is an artist-led arts centre that presents theatre and other events in the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. Historic pumphouse The pumphouse was originally built on the shore of Lake Pupuke as a pumping stations t ...

, Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand. Tim Bray adapted and directed the book into a stage play and included The Goons' 'Ying Tong' song along with Monty Pythonesque comedy. The script is available through Playmarket, New Zealand's script agency. Both seasons were hugely successful. In 2010/11, there was a production created by the

Chickenshed Theatre Company Chickenshed (also known as Chicken Shed or the Chicken Shed Theatre Company) is a British theatre company based in Southgate, London. Chickenshed's membership programme comprises four Children's theatre groups and two Youth theatre groups for you ...

called '' Badjelly's Bad Christmas'', with Badjelly the Witch, along with many other characters created by Milligan such as Sir Nobonk and King Twytt, as the main characters. The show was performed for a season during 2006 for the New Theatre, Sydney. The show was directed by Rosane McNamara, and featured actors

Vanessa Caswill Vanessa Caswill is an English director and writer of short films and television dramas. Caswill directed BBC miniseries ''Thirteen'' (2016) and ''Little Women'' (2017). ''Little Women'' marked the first time in Angela Lansbury's career of nearly 8 ...

, Jodine Muir, David Walker and Richie Black. In 2009, Waihi College performed the show.

Synopsis

Film

Theatre

References

See also