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.
The title character is a strange being with the powers of hypnosis and a desire to take over the world, as he believes it will be better under his ordered rule. He has piercing light green eyes, which he normally hides behind dark-tinted glasses — removing these in order to hypnotise his victims.
Very little about the Demon Headmaster or his background is shown in the books. His name is never revealed; he is referred to only as 'the Headmaster' both in the books and on television, except when he takes on an alias —- such as the Computer Director in The Prime Minister's Brain, for example; and on each occasion he uses a title rather than a name. It's revealed in-narrative that he does have a name, but the name itself is never spoken by anyone.
Reading order
- The Demon Headmaster -
- The Prime Minister's Brain -
- The Revenge of the Demon Headmaster -
- The Demon Headmaster Strikes Again -
- The Demon Headmaster Takes Over -
- Beware of the Demon Headmaster -
- Facing the Demon Headmaster -
- Total Control -
- Mortal Danger -
Books
''The Demon Headmaster''
First published in 1982.Dinah Glass moves in with Lloyd and Harvey Hunter and at first, does not like them. Soon she discovers that at her new school, the Headmaster is very strange and she finds herself saying things like "I think the Headmaster is a marvellous man and this is the best school I've ever been to". With the help of her new friends, SPLAT, she successfully stops the Headmaster's plot to hypnotise the country through the Eddy Hair Television Show and she gets adopted by the Hunters. This became the first three episodes of the first series of the television adaptation.
''The Prime Minister's Brain''
First published in 1985.Dinah wins a place in the final of a computer competition, and she and SPLAT go to the finals. Little does she realise that the computer competition is a plot by the Demon Headmaster to take over the world, by hacking into the Prime Minister's computer and hypnotising the Prime Minister, therefore allowing him to meet the other world leaders and gain control of them himself. This became the last three episodes of the first series of the television adaptation.
''The Revenge of the Demon Headmaster''
First published in 1994 as Hunky Parker is Watching You.When Ingrid turns up at a SPLAT meeting she is raving about Hunky Parker, a new TV show. It is the latest craze, she says, and soon everyone will be hooked. The other SPLAT members disagree until Ingrid shows them her Hunky video, which Dinah eventually realises is due to subliminal messages in the tape. Tracking the source of Hunky Parker merchandise, SPLAT learns that it has been created by the Demon Headmaster, attempting to trigger riots for new merchandise that he can use to exert his control over the populace.
''The Demon Headmaster Strikes Again''
First published in 1996.Dinah's father is headhunted for a new job at the Biogenetic Research Centre, unaware that the Demon Headmaster is the director. This time his lust for power sees him meddling with evolution itself. He has created an Evolution Accelerator: a machine to speed up the evolution process and produce the perfect human, beginning with the development of a fast-growing poisonous creeper that attacks Lloyd. But for this, he needs Dinah's DNA - combining it with a lizard to create Eve, a human/lizard hybrid who possesses Dinah's intellect but lacks her emotions - and then put her into terrible danger, pitting her against Eve to test his theories. This became series two of the television adaptation.
''The Demon Headmaster Takes Over''
First published in 1997.When the army starts dismantling the research centre, Dinah contacts Professor Claudia Rowe, an expert on botanical sciences who has expressed an interest in the creeper. 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 the population seem to be wearing strange badges. Dinah's search leads her to the university where she finds the mysterious Director developing "Hyperbrain", a computer with superhuman intelligence and deadly potential. SPLAT swiftly realises that, although the original Headmaster was killed when he fell into the Evolution Accelerator, the machine still recorded his DNA and was therefore able to create a clone, lacking the original's memories but retaining his lust for control. This became the third and final series of the television adaptation.
''Facing the Demon Headmaster''
First published in 2002.The new club Purple is the place to go - if one can get in - and Mandy's cousin, Ellie, persuades Dinah and her friends to come along too. The man everyone wants to see is DJ Pardoman whose face keeps changing from Elvis to Madonna to Brad Pitt. His electronic mask is mesmerising but no one knows who he really is. When the kids visit his website they find an online competition: the person who finds out DJ Pardoman's true identity will be allowed to lift off the mask. Dinah, thinking the whole setup strange, joins in out of curiosity. In her search she stumbles across something amazing: her real father might be alive after years of thinking he was dead. Dinah must find out more. But she only realises the truth of these strange coincidences too late. This time the Demon Headmaster is intent on ensuring that Dinah will not interfere with his plans.
''Total Control''
First published in 2017.The story continues with a new group of children, in a new school, without SPLAT's members. The stories centers on Lizzie, her younger brother, their friend Ethan and Angelika. Lizzie and her brother return from the United States, where their mother had surgery. After returning to their school, they realise that the school has a new headmaster and the students are showing exceptional talents, even their bully enemy Blake. However, Lizzie suddenly starts to behave aggressively against the school; her brother becomes a robotics genius, and their recent made friend Ethan becomes a soccer star. But when they try to talk, or even think about those sudden changes, their minds goes blank. Ethan eventually discover that the Headmaster is hypnotising and controlling everybody in the school. They team up with Angelika and even Blake and discovers the great plot of the Headmaster to show to the Prime Minister the great results of the school, therefore allowing the Headmaster to administer other schools.
''Mortal Danger''
First published in 2019.Short stories
In 1998, Puffin Books released a series of goody bags on certain themes and featured a notepad, pencil, rubber, etc., along with a small book. In the 'Fantasy' goody bag there was a book calling 'Crash Landing & Other Stories' by Gillian Cross. This book contains three short stories about the Demon Headmaster or people similar to him.The first story, called 'Crash Landing', is set at some point after The Prime Minister's Brain, and is about the Demon Headmaster crashing his getaway helicopter in a small village, although he is identified only as 'the Visitor'. It features SPLAT-type characters, including a lead named Charity who actually reads the Demon Headmaster books in the story, Charity defeating the Headmaster by using mirrored sunglasses to trick him into hypnotising himself.
The second story, called Carnival!, does not explicitly identify one of its characters as the Demon Headmaster, but from the illustrations and description are meant to make it obvious that it is him.
The third story is called 'Maths Homework', and features a teacher referred to as Old Webster. This is not the Demon Headmaster but is a very similar character. The introduction to the story says, 'Maybe you think you have spotted the Demon Headmaster somewhere. Are you sure? Things aren't always what they seem.'
In the front of the book it says that 'Crash Landing' was first published in Shark And Chips And Other Stories, and that 'Carnival' was published in the Young Telegraph in 1996. The third story is not mentioned.