Kassidi Roberts plays Pickle, a fugitive spell-caster who crash-lands in Middlington with only her warthoffle sidekick Swumpy (voiced by Justin Fletcher, puppeteered by Chris Barlow) and a brolly that still shoots lightning when she sneezes. The 2024 CBBC sitcom, written by Dan Gaster, Will Ing and Paul Powell, keeps the effects budget low and the jokes fast: locals think the floating market stalls are a new art installation and the mayor petitions for a dragon-free school run. Episodes run 28 minutes, shot in Northern Ireland with colour-splashed backdrops that make the estate streets look like leftover sets from Narnia’s clearance sale.
Adults barely register the chaos. Donna Preston’s Lystra, a foster mum who believes every crisis is "just strong emotions", and Inel Tomlinson’s Hendrick, a postman who keeps delivering other people’s prophecies, leave Pickle free to turn homework into hamsters and OFSTED inspectors into garden gnomes. The first series ends with Kleftania’s black-suited Extraction Squad on the town’s doorstep; the second, already aired in 2025, makes the whole place briefly weightless and refuses to put it back down again. CBBC has already commissioned a Halloween special where Middlington’s residents swap bodies with their own imaginary friends and can’t find the reverse spell before bedtime.
Production Details
CBBC / 1 Season / 10 Episodes / 2024 - Present
Created by: Dan Gaster, Will Ing, Paul Powell
Showrunner(s): Paul Powell, Dan Gaster, Will Ing
Producer(s): Raymond Lau
Main Cast
Kassidi Roberts as Pickle
Donna Preston as Lystra
Inel Tomlinson as Hendrick Storm
Justin Fletcher as Swumpy the Warthoffle (voice)
Chris Barlow as Swumpy Puppeteer
Kealan McAllister as Stallkeeper
