Country of origin United Kingdom Running time 14 minutes Original release 1995 – 1998 | Original language(s) English Original network CBBC | |
Julia Jekyll and Harriet Hyde was a British children's television series which aired on BBC One in the UK for 53 episodes between 1995 and 1998.
Contents
The programme was a comedy with its premise being loosely based on Robert Louis Stevenson's Gothic novella, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Plot
Olivia Hallinan plays an intelligent schoolgirl named Julia Jekyll who makes a special drink called an elixir for a science project, but two school bullies named Nicola and Sharon known as "The Blister Sisters" ruin her experiment by placing all kinds of dangerous things in her drink including a hair restoring formula. When Julia sips the drink during a demonstration, she turns into a huge hairy monster named Harriet Hyde that scares the living daylights out of most of the people around her, even though she is harmless and friendly to most. Julia's parents are fond of Harriet and believe she is Julia's friend, not knowing that Harriet and Julia were the same person. However their next-door neighbours, Jason and Mona Jitter, a neurotic couple who spent most of their time at a therapist's, were terrified of Harriet and had numerous unfortunate encounters with her. Sharon and Nicola Blister repeatedly plot to get rid of Harriet but usually end up on the receiving end of her wrath, mostly being flung headfirst across the room.
The effects of Harriet Hyde usually wear off after a while but unexpectedly keep coming back. Julia's best friend and fellow student from Rocket Academy, Edward Knickers is the only one who knows her secret and she has hard work trying to hide it from her parents, next door neighbors, the teachers and all the other fellow students whilst she tries to find a cure. Teachers at the Rocket Academy were the jolly hippie headmaster Memphis Rocket, his doting elderly mother who is a horrendous cook, and Lester Blister, the Blister sisters' cruel and scheming uncle who wishes to take over the school.