Sabrina, a young witch, almost got bitten by an alligator on set

Beth Broderick’s gator scene for Sabrina the Teenage Witch could have ended in a trip to the hospital.

Beth Broderick has a lucky escape after being nearly attacked by an alligator on the set of Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Beth Broderick was inches away from being bitten by an alligator while filming an episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

The 65-year-old actress, who played Melissa Joan Hart’s aunt Zelda Spellman on Supernatural from 1996 to 2003, may have suffered a nasty injury when she had to walk the reptile on a leash in one scene. .

The crew did not feel that the alligator was “moving enough” and decided to poke it, but the animal went berserk.

Luckily, he bit the sofa, not Beth.

She recalled to PEOPLE, “And people didn’t think the alligator was moving enough and it didn’t look real enough.

“It was very real, so they started poking it and it got mad, spun around, missed me by an inch, bit the sofa and wouldn’t let go.

“I was kind of fine, it could have been my leg. Okay, let’s not poke the alligator.”

It turns out that this was not the only “crazy” case involving an animal.

In addition to a lion that made it through an electric fence and shawls, the show’s costume designer had to wrestle a chicken into a tuxedo.

Beth recalled, “One day I was walking from my trailer to the set and I hear this crazy commotion in the dressing room and I look over and our costume designer Diane is trying to measure a chicken for a tuxedo and this chicken couldn’t wear the tuxedo.

“It was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. And I just thought to myself, who else goes to work and sees this?”

She added: “I mean, it’s kind of a unique experience.

“And he ended up wearing that tuxedo, it worked. But I don’t think he liked him.”

These days, studios rely on technology like CGI for scenes like this, but Beth said they had more fun creating “magic out of thin air.”

She said: “It was an amazing show. Everything had to be shot in real time, practical effects and so on. It was a real experience that you will never forget.

“That was the show, you made magic out of molehills…made magic out of thin air.”