麻豆约拍

Marcus Wilson, executive producer of , which is based on a series of books and starts this week on C麻豆约拍, shares the programme's story from page to screen.

Tell us who you are and what you do

I’m Marcus Wilson, executive producer of The Worst Witch. My job is to work on the editorial development and execution of the show, working with the fantastic production team, led by producer Lucy Martin, to develop scripts, cast the show and be involved in the post production.

What do you love about the books?

The books were written 40 years ago, yet you pick them up now and they are still as exciting to read as they were then. They’re timeless tales for children to read, focussing around friendship, school life and growing up, things that kids will always be able to relate to.

What resonated for you?

Jill [Murphy, author of the original series of books] draws the character of Mildred Hubble, the eponymous Worst Witch, so well that it instantly transports you back to ‘Big School’. She is skillful at uncovering buried emotions that took me back to those touchstones of childhood. When you present that to a new audience they read it and realise they can identify with it.

When you’re dramatizing something you love for television, how you do make sure you’re not making a programme which is your version of the book?

Good question! It’s a very personal book for Jill because she is basically telling the story of her school life (through the prism of Mildred Hubble’s adventures at Cackle’s Academy for Witches). What you have to do as a programme maker is take your response to it as a reader then distill the spirit of that experience. What did I love about reading these books? How can I share that with viewers? And how do I that in such a way that it suits a visual rather than a print medium? You’re having to identify the universal themes in the book and then find a way of bringing the story up to date. It’s about catching the heart and the spirit of it.

Are you seeking a consensus or is there a kind of alchemy going on?

I think it’s a bit of both. The books are the starting point. You never want to do anything that would run against the spirit of the book. But in the series for example we made a decision to take the viewer from the real world into the witching world – that’s why we start the series in the home of the central character, somewhere before the books begin. We thought that was really important that everyone understood how the two worlds sat side by side. That was a big change we made early on in order to maintain the accessibility for the audience. But there’s a reason these books have been a success for 40 years and, as a producer, you have to remember that you mess with that at your peril.

It’s billed as a family show. Why is that important?

We didn’t want to make a show that was aimed at a narrow audience, we want the programmes to be enjoyed by as many people as possible. But harking back to my own childhood, I think that if you’ve got a show which appeals to as many different people as possible then lots of people can take different things away from it. We want to create a show that can be enjoyed by this audience in years to come. So, there are storylines for the kids, there’s physical humour, there’s also a great adult cast playing their own storylines in response to the kids.

I think it’s really important we don’t lose sight of the primary audience – the kids. The moment you start talking down to the most intelligent part of the audience you’ve lost. Douglas Adams – writer of Hitchhiker’s Guide and script editor on Doctor Who at one point – once said, “You’ve got to make it simple enough for the adults and complicated enough for the kids.” I think that’s still the case now. My experience of things I’ve loved as a kid is the stuff I’ve revisited as an adult. We want to make a show that the family can share and enjoy together, that works on many levels to appeal to a wide audience, and stand up to repeat viewings as our audience grows up with the show.

Marcus Wilson is executive producer for C麻豆约拍's The Worst Witch