The Demon Headmaster (1990's TV series)



The Demon Headmaster was a CBBC produced adaption of several of the Demon Headmaster book, written by British author Gillian Cross, which was broadcast in the 1990's.

The show ran twice weekly from January 1996 to January 1998. The first series contained six episodes, and aired twice weekly from 2 January to 18 January 1996, the second series contained seven episodes, and aired once a week from 25 September to 6 November 1996, and the third series contained six episodes, and aired twice weekly from 6 January to 22 January 1998.

A notable fact from the TV series is that the only character who wear glasses of any kind is the Headmaster himself: he is only able to hypnotise people when he removes these.

A soft reboot of the series began airing on CBBC from 14 October 2019, with Nicholas Gleaves playing the titular character. It was confirmed on BBC Breakfast that this series was a continuation of the original.

Episode Guide

 * Series 1 (Early 1996)
 * Series 2 (Late 1996)
 * Series 3 (1998)
 * The Demon Headmaster Takes Over TV (CBBC Pantomime)

Relation to the books
The first three episodes of the first series was adapted from the first book of the series. The story for the last three episodes was adapted from "The Prime Minister's Brain". The entire second series was adapted from "The Demon Headmaster Strikes Again" and lasted for seven episodes.

The third series was adapted completely from fifth book, "The Demon Headmaster Takes Over" and lasted for six episodes.Several books from the book series were not adapted for the television. These were the third book "The Revenge of the Demon Headmaster" and the sixth book "Facing the Demon Headmaster".

Release
There has bee several Media Release of this Television series over the years, starting with the "Look into my Eyes VHS release in 1998 which was the first series re-edited into two 70-minute long episodes (Look Into My Eyes and The Prime Minister's Brain).

The next release was the "BBC Classics" DVD which contained both parts one and two of the series series, in their ordinal unedited six episodes format. The complete series was released on DVD by Simply Media 14th May 2018, titled "The Demon Headmaster - The Complete Series".

Filming Locations
School location scenes for St Champions in the first series were filmed at Hatch End High School, in Hatch End, Harrow, North West London and The Royal Masonic School for Girls in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire.

The Demon Headmaster TV series, was predominantly filmed in and around north west London. The most obvious location, is the Atrium building in Uxbridge, which serves as Vulcan Tower.

In Series 1, episode 4, SPLAT are entering a railway station, which is actually Hatch End. It is worth noting however, in the same episode, when SPLAT emerge from the Underground onto Moore's island, the road and flyover are actually in Paddington, with Vulcan Tower added to the background.

In Series 2, most of the village scenes are filmed in Sarratt, a small village in Hertfordshire. The village is given the fictional name of “Shellbrook”, which appears to be in the country of Warwickshire which would make sense as the locals all speak with a slight West Midlands twang.

In Series 3, the cyber cafe where Splat set up their headquaters against The Headmaster was filmed in Rickmansworth not far from Sarrat, so other scenes may have been so as well.

Cast
Main cast:
 * Frances Amey as Dinah
 * Gunnar Cauthery as Lloyd
 * Thomas Szekeres as Harvey
 * Anthony Cumber as Ian
 * Kristy Bruce as Ingrid
 * Rachael Goodyer as Mandy
 * Tessa Peake-Jones as Mrs. Hunter
 * Terrence Hardiman as The Headmaster
 * Katey Crawford Kastin as Rose Carter

Trivia

 * Whilst the town/village where the Hunter's live in the first series isn't given a name in dialogue, the name "Conningham" is used on props such as Dinah's letter in episode 4.
 * The village the Hunter's move to in the second series, with the Biogenetic Research Centre, is named "Shellbrook".