Mirror, Mirror is a television program co-produced by Australia and New Zealand. Presented as a single complete story given in a serial with 20 episodes, there are cliffhangers between some of the episodes.
Posie Graeme-Evans created the series, as well as being one of the executive producers. The other executive producers were Dorothee Pinfold and Ian Fairweather.
John Banas, one of the directors of the series, is the father of Michala Banas (who plays the role of "Louisa" in the series). The other director was Sophie Turkiewicz.
Co-writers for the series were Ray Harding, Greg Haddrick, Tony Morphett, Greg Millin, Katherine Thomson, Hilary Bell, Anthony Ellis, Ian Fairweather, Posie Graeme-Evans. The theme song, which was co-written by Chris Harriott (music) and Dennis Watkins (lyrics), was sung by Nadine Weinberger.
Contents
Cast
Major cast members (in credits order)
Petra Jared as Jo (Josephine) Tiegan
Michala Banas as Louisa Iredale
Nicholas Hooper as Nicholas
Peter Bensley as Andrew Tiegan
Judith McIntosh as Catherine Guthrie Tiegan
Michele Amas as Primrose Iredale
Gerald Bryan as Joshua Iredale
James Ashcroft as Tama Williams
Jeffrey Walker as Royce Tiegan
Jason Gascoigne as Titus Iredale
Nicholas Hammond as Sir Ivor Creevey-Thorne
Other cast members
Bernard Kearns as The Old Man
Miriama Smith as Ani
Judy Douglass as Mrs. Whitelaw
Stephen Butterworth as Bellamy Frid
Liza Jones as Jade Coigley
Donna Akersten as Leonie Coigley
David McKenzie as Dennis Coigley
Eddie Campbell as Campbell
Nicholas Leggett as Jesse
Carly Neemia as Mia
Plot
When fourteen-year-old Jo Tiegan is shopping with her father in 1995, she notices an antique shop which she feels a compulsion to go to. There she sees a beautiful oval mirror, which she is given as a gift by the elderly owner of the shop, who comments that the mirror is meant for her. Jo is delighted, and the mirror is placed in her bedroom. That night, Jo is stunned to see the image of another girl in the mirror, instead of her own reflection, and it is obvious that the other girl, Louisa Iredale (also fourteen years old), can see her just as clearly. Louisa is able to 'introduce' herself to Jo by writing her name on a book for Jo to read. When Jo tries to write her name on the mirror to introduce herself to Louisa, she is startled when the pen begins to disappear into the mirror. After Louisa is called away to dinner, Jo investigates the mystery and is accidentally pulled through the mirror into Louisa's bedroom in 1919. This leads to the discovery, by Jo and Louisa, that they can visit each other's times, through the mirror, any time they want to do so – provided that the mirror is situated in exactly the same place and that the mirror's alignment and orientation are identical within the mirror's frame, at corresponding moments in 1919 and 1995.
In 1919, Louisa's father is a senior official in the New Zealand Government's Health Department, and their family house is a mansion with servants. Jo, who is the daughter of the Australian school principal at a New Zealand college, lives in a school residential building which happens to be the same house as Louisa's family home, and the girls even have the same bedroom.
When Jo and Louisa meet, there is instant rapport between the two girls and they become firm friends, and life changes for them both as they become caught up in a web of intrigue. Following Jo's unexpected journey through the mirror, a hazardous situation occurs during an archaeological dig in a well at Jo's school, when a container they discover in the well is damaged and two of the students working nearby are accidentally sprayed with toxic waste. The affected students become extremely ill, and, when it is discovered that the container has the date 1919 on it, Jo is worried that her friends' sickness is her fault because of going through the mirror to 1919.
Back in 1919, Jo asks Louisa to help her find the container so that they can move it, to prevent the later disastrous events happening in 1995. The well is located in the yard of a neighbouring house which is rented by a British visitor to the area, Sir Ivor Creevey-Thorne. Jo and Louisa enter the yard and look down the well, but are disturbed in their actions by Sir Ivor Creevey-Thorne. Their activities are watched by a teenage boy, Nicholas, whom Sir Ivor had brought from Russia to New Zealand, under the guise of caring for the boy until the dangerous situation in Russia abated. Although Nicholas is grateful to Sir Ivor for his help, he is extremely worried about his family, whom he has not heard about for a long time, and is worried about the lack of information he receives whenever he asks Sir Ivor about them. Nicholas is also upset that Sir Ivor refuses to allow him to leave the house, or to have any friends of his own age.
Awards and nominations
Awards
Best Children's Program award at the 1996 New Zealand Film and TV Awards
Gold award at the World Television Festival in Houston, United States
Petra Jared – Best New Talent award at the 1996 Australian Film Institute awards
Nominations
Best Children's Program at the 1996 Australian Film Institute awards
Finalist at Prix Jeunesse International Festival awards in Munich, Germany
Michala Banas – Best Juvenile Performance at the 1996 New Zealand Film and TV Awards