The Mysti Show

The Mysti Show was a British children's television programme, produced by Mystical Productions for the BBC in 2004-2005. It initially took the format of an hour-long programme combining magazine and narrative elements, but was subsequently reformed into a series of 20-minute, all-narrative programmes.

Original format

The Mysti Show was broadcast on Saturday mornings on BBC One or BBC Two at 10am, with subsequent repeat broadcasts on the CBBC Channel.

The hour-long shows were a mix of drama and entertainment, featuring 40 minutes of magazine and feature content wrapped around two 10-minute segments of narrative drama. The feature content included a gameshow element, titled The Battle of Elbubb.

The characters within the narrative segments included Mysti (Laura Aikman) who is half-human and half-fairy, and her friends Rick (Oliver Mason), Ella (Eva Alexander), Ollie (Ashley Campbell) and Abby (Yasmin Paige). Supporting characters also appeared frequently, such as Professor Dust (David Sterne) and Tatiana (Tricia George), fairies Snowdrop (Amy Pemberton) and Peaceblossom (Danielle Tabor), and diner owner Mr. K (Richard James).

Mysti, Rick, Ella and Ollie would also appear, in character, as the presenters of the magazine segments of the show. Professor Dust hosted The Battle of Elbubb.

Many well known faces appeared as guests on the show, including Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, Kirsten Dunst, McFly and Jamelia.

The hour-long episodes were repeated on CBBC Channel for a time; following the broadcast of the second series (see below), the first-series episodes were reedited into a similar format, 20-minute narrative drama episodes; the magazine content from the hour-long episodes has not been rebroadcast since the re-edit.

Second series

In series two, the show was renamed to just Mysti, ditching the entertainment section and running just as a 20-minute drama.

In the story, the characters have grown up and are in the 6th form. Mysti is banished from the heath, and her previous fairy magic is taken away; however, she gets new powers that the Fairies have not seen before.

Ollie is not featured in the second series, and the only Fairies are Dust, Saber, Tatiana and Peri. The other Fairies from series one are not seen.

Mysti

As a fairy, Mysti will live to be hundreds of years old, and an inch long. When she takes human form she is a 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) teenager. She likes fashion, magic, interviewing pop stars, rap, dancing, handsome human and fairy boys; and dislikes bullies, fairy choir, being on litter duty, people who tells lies and tidying her mushroom. She is occasionally mischievous, and has an ambition to succeed her mother as Queen of the Fairies.

External links

• The Mysti Show at the Internet Movie Database
  • Episode Guide
  • Cast List
• "CBBC changes the face of Saturday mornings" (Press release). BBC Press Office. 2004-03-19. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/03_march/19/cbbc_spring2004.shtml. 
• The Mysti Show at TV.com