The Good Witch
The Good Witch is a television film that aired on the Hallmark Channel on January 19, 2008. It stars Catherine Bell as Cassandra "Cassie" Nightingale and Chris Potter as Chief of Police Jake Russell. The film has spawned six sequels and a television series.
Plot
Grey House—an old, abandoned building in the town of Middleton—is infamous for being haunted by its former owner, known as "The Grey Lady". Police Chief Inspector Jake Russell decides to investigate when rumors start to spread of someone occupying the house. He enters the building, accompanied by the town mayor's wife Martha Tinsdale, and is welcomed by a mysterious, beautiful woman who introduces herself as Cassandra Nightingale. She tells them she had just moved in, and plans to open a shop on Main Street.Later, Jake Russell's children Brandon and Lori are chased by a dog on their way home from school. They end up in the front yard of Grey House and Lori falls and bruises her knee. Cassie appears and makes the dog stop just by looking at it. She talks to the dog, and tells it to behave better and go home. The dog does as told. She invites the children into her house to take care of Lori's knee. The kitchen is full of vials and bottles containing various herbs, which leads Brandon to believe that Cassie is a witch.
The new shop on Main Street is also filled with elixirs and herbs from around the world. This leads many townspeople, especially Martha Tinsdale, to believe Cassie practices Black Magic.
As Jake Russell investigates mysterious occurrences, he and Cassie frequently interact. A mutual attraction evolves, leading him to ask her out on a date.
As time passes, some people in Middleton continue to be hostile toward Cassie and she considers leaving town. However, she postpones the date when Jake convinces her to stay. The couple spend a romantic evening at Grey House where they kiss.
Cast and characters
- Catherine Bell as Cassandra "Cassie" Nightingale. A mysterious woman who moves into Grey House. She seems to have multiple strange abilities, the extent and origin of which are mostly unknown. These include communicating with animals, and suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Born Sue-Ellen Brook, Cassie's parents died in a car crash when she was a child, and she was raised in foster care. Cassie has a shop in Middleton called Bell, Book & Candle, where she sells various curious objects. Towards the end of the film she begins a relationship with Police Chief Jake Russell.
- Chris Potter as Chief of Police Jake Russell. Jake is the father of Brandon and Lori. Since the death of his wife Jennifer three years ago, he gets help raising them by his father-in-law George. Since his wife's death he has become overly protective of his children. Jake is fascinated by Cassie, but as opposed to her intuitive decision-making, he relies mainly on facts. Toward the end of the film, the two begin a relationship.
- Catherine Disher as Martha Tinsdale, a strong willed member of city council. Martha is afraid of Cassie ruining the good image of Middleton, as the town is looking for new investors. Convinced that Cassie practices Black Magic, she petitions for the shop to be closed.
- Peter MacNeill as George O'Hanrahan, Brandon and Lori's maternal grandfather and father-in-law of Jake, who assists him in looking after the kids after the death of his daughter Jennifer.
- Allan Royal as Walter Cobb
- Matthew Knight as Brandon Russell. The son of Jennifer and Jake Russell. Brandon spends his free time playing video games. He cares for his younger sister, despite often being annoyed by her. He gets bullied by Kyle in school, but after learning that Kyle comes from an abusive home, the two boys become friends. Brandon tells his father about the abuse, and helps get his friend away from the situation.
- Paula Boudrea as Nancy, also a member of city council. Nancy buys a perfume in Bell, Book & Candle that increases her husband's attraction to her. At the end of the film, she is revealed to be pregnant, after having tried for a long time. She befriends Cassie and makes some effort to defend her.
- Hannah Endicott-Douglas as Lori Russell, Jake's youngest child. Since her mother's death, she has been haunted by nightmares about monsters. She receives a dreamcatcher from Cassie and is told not to dream of bunnies, which makes her nightmares disappear.
- Jesse Bostick as Kyle, a boy who bullied Brandon out of jealousy because of his abusive father and his mother who abandoned him. After seeing someone brave enough to confront him Kyle befriends Brandon after changing his ways. His father is arrested for child abuse and he goes to live with his grandmother.
- Noah Cappe as Deputy Derek Sanders, a laid back and easygoing police officer. In addition to Jake being his boss, the two men are also friends. Derek is surprised when he first sees Cassie, as she does not look like the witch townspeople have called her.
- Paul Miller as Tom Tinsdale, Mayor of Middleton and Martha's husband.
- Nathan McLeod as Michael Tinsdale, son of Martha and Tom Tinsdale.
Promotion
Production
Although set in Middleton, USA, it was filmed in Hamilton and Niagara-on-the-Lake, in Ontario, Canada. In the sequel, The Good Witch's Charm, the map on the wall in the police station shows Middleton located northwest of Chicago, in the vicinity of DuPage County. The names of the suburbs and interstates that are west of Chicago can be clearly seen.Reception
The movie had great success on Hallmark Channel on the night of its premiere, making it the second-highest-rated original movie to that date. It premiered with a 3.8 HH rating and was in nearly 3.2 million homes. It also was #1 in its time period, propelling the channel to the #4 spot in weekly ranking.Home media
The Good Witch DVD was released on January 5, 2010.The Good Witch Collection DVD was released October 14, 2014.
Sequels
In addition to the original TV movie the Hallmark Channel has aired six sequels.Television series
In February 2014, the Hallmark Channel announced that Good Witch had been green-lighted for a ten-episode series, starring Catherine Bell, to premiere on February 28, 2015. Production for the first season began on October 29, 2014, in Toronto, with Sue Tenney as showrunner. Bailee Madison and James Denton also star.Characters
- A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film or the series season/special.