Jim Henson and the Fairy Tale Film with Dr Andrea Wright

Jim Henson and the Fairy Tale Film with Dr Andrea Wright

Author: Icy Sedgwick July 16, 2026 Duration: 59:11

In this episode of Fabulous Folklore Presents, I chat to Dr Andrea Wright about the fairy tale film as a concept, Jim Henson's career in film and television, the influence of the Muppets on fairy tales on screen, and what Jareth would have made of Miss Piggy!

Andrea Wright is a Senior Lecturer in Teaching and Learning Development at Edge Hill University. She leads the Professional Standards Framework CPD Scheme, teaches on the PGCert Teaching in Higher Education and is involved in staff development across the University. Her discipline expertise is in screen studies and fantasy/fairy tales, New Zealand cinema, and British television costume dramas are central to her research interests. She has written on production design, landscape, gender representation, and national identity.

Recent publications include chapters on the New Zealand short films Possum and Nature’s Way for the collection Haunted Soundtracks, and The Frankenstein Chronicles and The Alienist for the collection Diagnosing History: Medicine in Television Costume Dramas. Andrea is also the author of the monograph The Fairy Tales of Jim Henson: Keeping the Best Place by the Fire.

Buy a copy of The Fairy Tales of Jim Henson: Keeping the best place by the fire here, using the code EVENT30 to get a discount: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526166111/

Contact Andrea at wrighta@edgehill.ac.uk

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Each week, Fabulous Folklore with Icy offers a compact, fifteen-minute dive into the strange and storied shadows of our world’s traditions. Host Icy Sedgwick, a writer steeped in fantasy and Gothic horror, brings a storyteller’s eye to the material, weaving together tales of local legends, deep-rooted superstitions, and ancient myths. The podcast moves beyond simple retellings to consider the cultural soil from which these stories grew-why people believed what they did, how these narratives functioned in society, and the peculiar, often unsettling details that make them endure. You’ll hear about the oddities and occult practices that textbooks often overlook, all delivered with a blend of curiosity and a slight chill. It’s a consistently engaging exploration for anyone fascinated by the weird corners of history and human belief, a weekly reminder that our world is far more mysterious than it seems. Sedgwick’s background ensures the tales are told with both authority and a palpable sense of wonder, making each short episode a perfect gateway into a larger, fabulously folkloric universe. This isn’t just a catalog of curiosities; it’s an invitation to look at the familiar landscapes around us and imagine the layers of story hidden just beneath the surface, all packed into a brief, compelling listen that easily fits into a daily routine.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Fabulous Folklore with Icy
Podcast Episodes
Folklore and Cinema: The Trick Films of Georges Méliès [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:03
Visionary film director and stage magician Georges Méliès is perhaps the earliest filmmaker who saw the visual potential of folklore. Among others, mermaids, sirens, ghosts, devils, and sorcerers are plentiful in his fil…
Theatre Superstitions: Whistling, the Ghost Light, and Macbeth [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:06
Going to the theatre can often feel like a magical experience. You sit in the dark, watching a story unfold in front of you, with your imagination filling in the gaps between the sets. It’s unsurprising that theatre supe…
Cursed Artworks: Three Haunted Paintings and their Superstitions [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:21
Folklore and the arts are almost natural bedfellows. As we saw with the work of Newcastle-based painter Ralph Hedley, artists can capture local traditions for posterity. The Pre-Raphaelites created some of the most endur…
Divination Using Clouds, Flames, Ashes, and Dreams [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:52
Studying the shapes of things is a popular means of divination, relying on human pattern recognition abilities. Look at reading tea leaves and coffee grounds, or tasseography, which rely on spotting symbols in the cup. T…
Random Chance Divination: Casting Lots and Throwing Dice [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 17:29
Divination is a beautifully varied practice, with a plethora of tools and practices designed to give insight into situations. Practices like reading tea leaves or tarot cards already appear on this podcast. But what abou…
Pendulum Dowsing: From the Sieve and Shears to Looking for Love [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:30
Last week, we looked at the use of dowsing to find treasure or criminals. Like water dowsing, this method requires the use of a rod that twitches in the hands when the target is close. But the other method of dowsing inv…
The Scottish Fairy Courts with Morgan Daimler [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:26:36
Morgan Daimler is a witch who has been a polytheist since the early 1990s. Following a path inspired by the Irish Fairy Faith blended with neopagan witchcraft. Morgan teaches classes on Irish myth and magical practices,…
Dowsing for Treasure and Criminals: Extra Uses for Divining Rods [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:04
Dowsing is often used to find water, minerals, or even lost items. Where divination usually seeks to provide information, here the information is of a directly practical or tangible sort. Rather than telling a fortune, o…
Walnut Trees in Folklore: Evil Shade and Helpful Remedies [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:29
When it comes to the walnut tree, we're probably more familiar with their produce than the actual tree. Walnuts are easily recognisable, and present in everything from nut selections to coffee cake. We might even know th…