''The Demon Headmaster'' is a British television series based on the children's books by

Gillian Cross Gillian Claire Cross (born December 24, 1945) is a British author of children's books. She won the 1990 Carnegie Medal for ''Wolf'' and the 1992 Whitbread Children's Book Award for '' The Great Elephant Chase''. She also wrote '' The Demon H ...

of the same title. Made by

BBC Studios BBC Studios Limited is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Wor ...

and

Sinking Ship Entertainment Sinking Ship Entertainment is a Canadian-based Television production, production, Digital distribution, distribution and Interactive media, interactive company specializing in kids' live-action Computer-generated imagery, CGI blended series. The ...

for

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

, the drama was first broadcast on 14 October 2019, and is the second adaptation of the books, following the 1996 series. Nicholas Gleaves plays the titular character, a mysterious head teacher with strange powers and dreams of world domination. The series is a direct sequel of the original series, and features Charlotte Beckett and Sally Oliver as Dinah Hunter and Rose Carter, roles originally portrayed by Frances Amey and Kathryn Wyeth. Amey was approached to reprise the role of Dinah, though no longer acts, whilst Wyeth is based in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. The original Headmaster

Terrence Hardiman Terrence Edward Hardiman (6 April 1937 – 18 April 2023) was an English actor. He often portrayed authority figures such as Nazi-era personnel ('' Secret Army'', ''Colditz'', ''Wish Me Luck'' and ''Enemy at the Door'') and a British officer (' ...

reprised his role for the revival. It had been renewed for a second series but was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and later cancelled.

Production

The series, adapted by Emma Reeves, is based on the newest series of books, beginning with ''Total Control'' (2017). These books focus on a new protagonist, Lizzie Warren, rather than Dinah Glass from the original books and series. The series was filmed on location in

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns, and villages. It also borders East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk (co ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Reeves pitched a second series to CBBC, using further elements of ''Total Control'', as well as its sequel, ''Mortal Danger''.

Cast

* Nicholas Gleaves as The Headmaster *Ellie Botterill as Lizzie Warren *Jordan Cramond as Tyler Warren *Dijarn Campbell as Ethan Prendergast / Adebayo *Jordan Rankin as Blake Vinney *Shonagh Price as Beata Maron *Lori Stott as Angelika Maron *Kevin O'Loughlin as Rick Warren *

Sally Oliver Sally Oliver (born 26 December 1983) is an England, English actress who appeared in United Kingdom, British soap opera ''Emmerdale'' from July 2007 to August 2009, playing the character of Lexi King, Lexi, the daughter of Carrie Nicholls (pla ...

as Mary Warren/Rose Carter *Lola Aluko as Becky Whittaker *Jade Chan as Sophie Johnson *Sarah Paul as Auntie Beryl *Manjot Sumal as Mr Wasu *Euan Mitchell as Jakub *Charlotte Beckett as Dinah Hunter *Jasmine De Goede as Young Dinah *

as the Original Headmaster.

Episodes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Demon Headmaster (2019 TV series), The 2019 British television series debuts 2019 British television series endings 2010s British horror television series 2010s British science fiction television series 2020s British horror television series 2020s British science fiction television series BBC children's television shows BBC high definition shows British children's science fiction television series British English-language television shows Sequel television series Television series by BBC Studios