''Switch'' is a British supernatural

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

centring a quartet of witches known as "The Witches of Camden" who try to make their way in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Created by Touchpaper Television for

ITV2 ITV2 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the fiv ...

, the show stars

Lacey Turner Lacey Amelia Turner (born 28 March 1988) is an English actress. She gained prominence in the BBC One, BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' for her portrayal of Stacey Slater, a role she initially played between 2004 and 2010 before returning in 2014 an ...

Nina Toussaint-White Nina Toussaint-White is a British actress, known for her roles as Syd Chambers in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' and Jude Thomas in the ITV2 drama ''Switch''. Her other credits include '' GameFace'' and '' The Feed''. Career In 2009, Toussai ...

Hannah Tointon Hannah Tointon (born 28 December 1987) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Katy Fox in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'' and Tara Brown in sitcom ''The Inbetweeners''. Early life Tointon was born to parents Ken and Carol ...

and

Phoebe Fox Phoebe Fox (born 16 April 1987) is an English actress, who was nominated for Olivier and Evening Standard awards for work in theatre. She has appeared in the ''Black Mirror'' episode " The Entire History of You" (2011), '' The Woman in Black: An ...

. Its six-episode run began on 15 October 2012 at 10pm.

Plot

''Switch'' is an upbeat comedy drama about four young witches trying to make their way in the big city where they live in Camden,

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

. They want to live a modern life, not one based on their mother's old-fashioned rituals. But modern life presents serious problems, and the girls cannot help casting the occasional spell to try to sort things out.

Cast

The main cast are made up of four fun loving flatmates in Camden,

. Each of the witches represents an

element Element or elements may refer to: Science * Chemical element, a pure substance of one type of atom * Heating element, a device that generates heat by electrical resistance * Orbital elements, parameters required to identify a specific orbit of o ...

that handily provides a summarisation of their character.

Main

*Stella Munroe (

) is business savvy careerist, she's the mum of the bunch. Always immaculately dressed, Stella's the grown-up who goes out to work and pays all the bills, but her willingness to please can often see her getting into tricky situations. But despite the odd panic whenever things get out of control, it's Stella who's there to look after the other girls (and tidy the flat after them). Stella represents the element,

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

. *Jude Thomas (

) is a 'bolshie' wannabe fashion designer and is the fiery one of the group. Jude is incredibly driven and when she sees something she wants she is going to get it, no matter the cost. With an eye for the boys and a finger on the pulse of the party scene, stylish and sexy Jude is never far away from having a good time. Jude represents the element,

Fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

. *Grace Watkins (

) is the baby of the quartet, who is still adjusting to life in the Big City, but as the most traditional of the witches she should not be underestimated. With a strong moral sense of what is right and wrong, it is often down to Grace to pull the rest of the girls back from the brink when they are teetering on the edge of disaster. Grace represents the element,

Water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

. *Hannah Bright (

) is the traveller of the group, and her flighty nature has taken her all over the world. Although devoted to the girls wherever she is, Hannah is often just passing through without much thought to what she is doing. More than a bit restless and a massive fear of commitment, she just goes wherever the wind may take her. Hannah represents the element,

Air An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

Recurring

*Lucy ( Rosamund Hanson) is Stella's nightmare ex-girlfriend. *Gloria Watkins (

Caroline Quentin Caroline Quentin (born Caroline Amanda Jane Jones; 11 July 1960) is an English actress, broadcaster and television presenter. Quentin became known for her television appearances, portraying Dorothy in ''Men Behaving Badly'' (1992–1998), Maddie ...

) is Grace's mother. *Janet Boot ( Amanda Drew) is Stella's boss. *Aaron ( Reece Noi) is Jude's work pal. *Gerry ( Jamie Davis) is Jude's boyfriend/Grace's love interest. *Alexa ( Fiona Hampton) is the leader of Witches of

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

. *India ( Sophie Colquhoun) is the former water element member of the Witches of

. *Remy (Katharine Bennett-Fox) is one of the Witches of

. *Romola (Harriet Ballard) is one of the Witches of

Star signs

On a card given by Stella to Hannah in the first episode, the girl's birthdays are as follows: *Grace – 1 February ( Aquarius) *Stella – 23 April (

Taurus Taurus is Latin for 'bull' and may refer to: * Taurus (astrology), the astrological sign ** Vṛṣabha, in vedic astrology * Taurus (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac * Taurus (mythology), one of two Greek mythological ch ...

) *Jude – 27 July (

Leo Leo is the Latin word for lion. It most often refers to: * Leo (constellation), a constellation of stars in the night sky * Leo (astrology), an astrological sign of the zodiac * Leo (given name), a given name in several languages, usually mas ...

) *Hannah – 26 September (

Libra Libra generally refers to: * Libra (constellation), a constellation * Libra (astrology), an astrological sign based on the star constellation Libra may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Libra'' (novel), a 1988 novel by Don DeLillo Musi ...

)

Episode list

Production

The six-part first series began filming in April 2012 for 11 weeks in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

and

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, and concluded in July. It was announced on Lacey Turner's official Twitter support page 'Lacey Turner Fans' that it would not continue for a second series.

Reception

Critical reception

Louisa Mellor of Den of Geek wrote a mixed review; "Though it's frothier than '' Being Human'' and nowhere as near the knuckle as ''

Misfits MiSFiTS was the acronym for the ''Minnesota Society for Interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy''. This organization has now changed its name to GPS, an acronym for Geek Partnership Society. It was founded in 1999 and was the parent non-profit org ...

'', it's original UK genre TV and as such, we welcome it with open arms." She also named Fox and Turner as the stand-outs of the series.

Ratings

The series premier which was watched by 574,000 viewers and 62,000 an hour later, performed well above the slot average of 440,000 (2.4%) for the past 12 months and was also the most-watched show on the channel across the day.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 2368005, Switch 2012 British television series debuts ITV (TV network) original programming Television shows set in London Television series about witchcraft Television shows about magic 2012 British television series endings British fantasy comedy television series British fantasy drama television series Urban fantasy television series