The Demon Headmaster (TV series)
Encyclopedia
The Demon Headmaster is a British
television series based on the children's books by Gillian Cross
of the same name
. Made for CBBC
, the drama was first broadcast between 1996 and 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.
School location scenes 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
. Other scenes were filmed around West London and the Vulcan Tower is in fact the Atrium building in Uxbridge
. CGI
was used to make this building appear on a traffic island
close to Warwick Avenue tube station
. Some scenes in the later series were filmed in the village of Sarratt
, Hertfordshire and other locations in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire
.
The first three episodes of series one were adapted from the first book, The Demon Headmaster, and episodes 4 - 6 were adapted from the second book in the series, The Demon Headmaster and the Prime Minister's Brain.
The development of the subsequent stories was more unusual: the second television series was The Demon Headmaster Strikes Again, and the third was The Demon Headmaster Takes Over. Gillian Cross wrote the storylines for each project and then wrote the books; Helen Cresswell turned the storylines into screenplays. (This is the director's memory of events.)
Dinah Glass moves in with the Hunter family and starts going to the same school as her foster brothers Lloyd and Harvey. It's not easy, as they seem to hate her, and school is really strange. Pupils suddenly talk like robots and do weird things, even Dinah finds herself acting oddly. She's sure the headmaster has some kind of power over them, and is determined to find out more. But the Demon Headmaster is equally determined to stop her!
, Birmingham
that year. Whilst the first 2 series have been repeated several times on TV, this special was only shown once and has never been repeated. Whether or not The Demon Headmaster Takes Over TV should be considered as part of the continuity of the TV series is perhaps best left to personal preference.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television series based on the children's books by Gillian Cross
Gillian Cross
Gillian Cross is a children's author. She won the 1990 Carnegie Medal for her book Wolf and the 1992 Whitbread Children's Book Award for her novel The Great Elephant Chase....
of the same name
The Demon Headmaster
The Demon Headmaster is a series of books by Gillian Cross which were later adapted as a television series starring Terrence Hardiman in the title role and Frances Amey as Dinah....
. Made for CBBC
CBBC
CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...
, the drama was first broadcast between 1996 and 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.
School location scenes in the first series were filmed at Hatch End High School, in Hatch End
Hatch End
Hatch End is a place in the London Borough of Harrow, located north west of Charing Cross in Central London. The suburb is part of the Pinner post town.-Attractions:...
, Harrow
London Borough of Harrow
The London Borough of Harrow is a London borough of north-west London. It borders Hertfordshire to the north and other London boroughs: Hillingdon to the west, Ealing to the south, Brent to the south-east and Barnet to the east.-History:...
, North West London and The Royal Masonic School for Girls in Rickmansworth
Rickmansworth
Rickmansworth is a town in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire, England, 4¼ miles west of Watford.The town has a population of around 15,000 people and lies on the Grand Union Canal and the River Colne, at the northern end of the Colne Valley regional park.Rickmansworth is a small town in...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
. Other scenes were filmed around West London and the Vulcan Tower is in fact the Atrium building in Uxbridge
Uxbridge
Uxbridge is a large town located in north west London, England and is the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. It forms part of the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is located west-northwest of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres...
. CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
was used to make this building appear on a traffic island
Traffic island
A traffic island is a solid or painted object in a road that channelises traffic. It can also be a narrow strip of island between roads that intersect at an acute angle. If the island uses road markings only, without raised kerbs or other physical obstructions, it is called a painted island...
close to Warwick Avenue tube station
Warwick Avenue tube station
Warwick Avenue tube station is a London Underground station near Little Venice in inner north-west London. The station is on the Bakerloo Line, between Paddington and Maida Vale stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 2....
. Some scenes in the later series were filmed in the village of Sarratt
Sarratt
Sarratt is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, on the border of the county with Buckinghamshire. Sarratt is near Chesham, and the River Chess passes through the village....
, Hertfordshire and other locations in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
.
Relation to the books
The television show was based on four of The Demon Headmaster novels by Gillian Cross. The scripts were written by Helen Cresswell.The first three episodes of series one were adapted from the first book, The Demon Headmaster, and episodes 4 - 6 were adapted from the second book in the series, The Demon Headmaster and the Prime Minister's Brain.
The development of the subsequent stories was more unusual: the second television series was The Demon Headmaster Strikes Again, and the third was The Demon Headmaster Takes Over. Gillian Cross wrote the storylines for each project and then wrote the books; Helen Cresswell turned the storylines into screenplays. (This is the director's memory of events.)
Part 1 - The Demon Headmaster (Episodes 1-3)
Note: Also sometimes known as Look Into My Eyes, though this title does not appear on-screen.Dinah Glass moves in with the Hunter family and starts going to the same school as her foster brothers Lloyd and Harvey. It's not easy, as they seem to hate her, and school is really strange. Pupils suddenly talk like robots and do weird things, even Dinah finds herself acting oddly. She's sure the headmaster has some kind of power over them, and is determined to find out more. But the Demon Headmaster is equally determined to stop her!
Part 2 - The Prime Minister's Brain (Episodes 4-6)
Octopus Dare is the new computer game at school - everyone's playing it. But only Dinah is any good at it. Soon all she can think about is Octopus Dare. She wins a place at the grand final, and she's over the moon. But there's something strange about it all that scares Dinah - so her friends come with her to the final. Before long they find themselves in trouble, as the Computer Director turns out to be their old enemy, the Demon Headmaster.Series 2 - The Demon Headmaster Strikes Again (Late 1996)
Dinah's father is headhunted for a new job at the Biogenetic Research Centre and who should be the Director, but the Demon Headmaster... This time his lust for power sees him meddling with evolution itself. The consequences of his evil schemes will be deadly if the SPLAT gang doesn't act and fast as The Demon Headmaster is in charge of a scientific research centre and has created an Evolution Accelerator, a machine to speed up the evolution process and produce the perfect human. But for this he needs Dinah's DNA, and then to put her into terrible danger to test his theories.CBBC Pantomime - The Demon Headmaster Takes Over TV (1997)
On 25 December 1997, CBBC showed The Demon Headmaster Takes Over TV, a recorded version of the CBBC Pantomime performed at the CBBC Big Bash in National Exhibition CentreNational Exhibition Centre
The National Exhibition Centre is an exhibition centre in Birmingham, England. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham International Airport and Birmingham International railway station. It has 20 interconnected halls, set in grounds of 628 acres making it the...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
that year. Whilst the first 2 series have been repeated several times on TV, this special was only shown once and has never been repeated. Whether or not The Demon Headmaster Takes Over TV should be considered as part of the continuity of the TV series is perhaps best left to personal preference.
Series 3 -
The Demon Headmaster Takes Over (1998) Dinah and her brothers are pretty sure they're rid of the Demon Headmaster once and for all. When people start dismantling the research centre Dinah contacts Professor Claudia Rowe, who's an expert on artificial intelligence. With Dinah's help she saves some of the precious materials and they become friends. Then weird things start to happen. Libraries start closing and their books are taken away. Telephones stop working, and there is no internet access. People start talking like robots, even Claudia Rowe and more and more of them seem to be wearing strange badges. It all adds up to one thing: the Demon Headmaster must be back. Dinah's search leads her to the university where she finds him developing a Hyperbrain, a computer with superhuman intelligence and deadly potential. Suddenly she's trapped. Is there any way to escape?VHS
| Release name |
Release date |
Country |
Classifaction |
Publisher |
Format |
Language | Subtitles | Notes |
REF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Demon Headmaster Look Into My Eyes | 5 January 1998 | United Kingdom | PG | BBC | PAL | English | None | Re-edited into to 70-minute long episode Series 1, Episodes 1-6" |
DVD
| Release name |
Release date |
Country |
Classifaction |
Publisher |
Format |
Region |
Language |
Sound |
Subtitles |
Notes |
REF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BBC Classics - Demon Headmaster / Tom's Midnight Garden | 2011 | United Kingdom | U | BBC / Reader's Digest | PAL | 2 | English | Unknown | None | Unlike the VHS version the DVD shows The Demon Headmaster un-cut Series 1, Episodes 1-6" | |
| BBC Classics - Demon Headmaster / Tom's Midnight Garden | 2011 | Australia | U | BBC / Reader's Digest | PAL | 4 | English | Unknown | None | Unlike the VHS version the DVD shows The Demon Headmaster un-cut Series 1, Episodes 1-6" |
Series regulars
- Frances Amey as Dinah Glass (credited as Dinah Hunter from Series 1: Part 2) and Eve (Series 2, credited as Dinah/Eve for episodes in which both characters appear)
- Terrence Hardiman as The Demon Headmaster
- Gunnar Cauthery as Lloyd Hunter
- Thomas Szekeres as Harvey Hunter
- Anthony Cumber as Ian
- Kristy BruceKristy BruceKristy Bruce is a British actress.Kristy was born in London. She attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School. Her acting career began in 1991, when aged 7 she appeared in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries....
as Ingrid - Rachael Goodyer as Mandy
- Tessa Peake-JonesTessa Peake-JonesTessa Peake-Jones is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Raquel in the television comedy series Only Fools and Horses. She had a co-starring role in the 1999 TV series Births, Marriages, and Deaths...
as Mrs. Hunter - Katey Crawford Kastin as Rose Carter (Series 1 and 2)
Series 1 regulars
- Jake Curran as Jeff (episodes 1-3)
- Danny John-JulesDanny John-JulesDaniel "Danny" John-Jules is a British actor, singer and dancer. John-Jules attended Rutherford Comprehensive School, Penfold Street, Marylebone, from 1972 to 1977. He is best known for portraying Cat in the television programme Red Dwarf.-Dance and song:John-Jules is a baritone...
as Eddy Hair (episodes 1 and 3) - Florence HoathFlorence HoathFlorence Angela L. Hoath is a British actress best known for her 2005 appearances as Nancy in Doctor Who.The daughter of British actress Tina Martin, Hoath made her film debut in the 1993 screen adaptation of Secret Rapture at the age of eight...
as Bess (episodes 4-6) - Andrea Berry as Camilla Jefferies (episodes 4-6)
- Danny Kanaber as Robert Jefferies (episodes 4-6)
Series 2 regulars
- James Richard as Simon James
- David LloydDavid LloydDavid Lloyd may refer to:*David Lloyd , chief justice of colonial Pennsylvania*David Lloyd Welsh cleric and translator*David Lloyd , British tenor...
as Mr. Hunter - David Baukham as Mr. James
Series 3 regulars
- Jay Barrymore as Michael Dexter
- Nina YoungNina Young-Family:She is the daughter of Perth businessman Peter Young and Tania Verstak, a woman of Russian origin who was Miss Australia 1961 and Miss International 1962.-Career:Her acting career has spanned sixteen years so far, from 1994 to present...
as Professor Claudia Rowe - Richard HopeRichard Hope (actor)Richard Hope is a British actor.-Career:Born in Kettering and brought up in Norfolk, Mr. Hope attended Oakham School in Rutland from 1967–1971 and trained at the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain from 1972 - 1976. He is a member of the National Youth Theatre Association and an Associate...
as Professor Tim Dexter - Tony OsobaTony OsobaTony Osoba is a Scottish actor best known for his role as Jim 'Jock' McClaren in the popular 70s British sitcom Porridge, and appeared in its sequel Going Straight. Osoba was the first black Scottish actor to appear on primetime television when he appeared in the series.His other roles include...
as Mr. Smith - Alphonsia Emmanuel as the Voice of the Hyperbrain and the Hyperbrain Lady
- Natasha LeeNatasha LeeNatasha Lee is an Australian actress and journalist. She is best known for appearing on the Australian television series Always Greener as Kimberly Taylor....
as Kate