One of the great kids' TV series of the Eighties, "Mr Majeika" starred Stanley Baxter as the titular wizard, who failed his sorcery exams seventeen times and was banished to the human world below (which the wizards called "Britland") to spend his days in a humble teaching post at St Barty's School. Melanie and Thomas (later replaced by Sam) were two members of his class who tried to prevent his spells causing too much havoc. There was class bad guy Hamish Bigmore as well as local busybody Bunty Brace-Girdle (Melanie's Mum) to contend with, and when they weren't enough, amorous witch Whilemina Worlock could be relied upon to complicate matters as she tried to figure out ways to get Majeika to marry her. Best episode saw Baxter in a dual role when his evil double turned up for one of the best magic battles ever staged on Children's ITV (he turns himself into a bunch of grapes, so double turns himself into false teeth; one's a nail, the other becomes a hammer, etc). The final episode saw Majeika finally qualify and return home. Three splendid series were written by Jenny McDade (SuperGran, Wizardora), based only loosely on the equally excellent books by Humphrey Carpenter. It was a bit like Worzel Gummidge in that the TV series presented a re-imagining of the books. The series aired on ITV 1988-1990. Sadly, due to ongoing rights issues with the archive of the production company TVS, we're unlikely to see a DVD at present. This presumably also explains its absence from CITV's Old Skool weekend earlier this month. A recent BBC Two tribute to Stanley Baxter did manage a few clips.
Do You Remember Mr Majeika?
Do You Remember Mr Majeika?