Drama and Science Fiction series about a power-crazed man who has the ability to control people through hypnotism

Dinah Glass is an orphan who has just started living with a new foster family, the Hunters. Mr and Mrs Hunter have two children of their own, Lloyd and Harvey. Lloyd isn't too keen on Dinah at first, and gives her a hard time.

On her first day at the local school, Dinah is shocked at how orderly all the children are. There is no shouting, running or bad behaviour of any kind. When the bell sounds to mark the start of the school day, all the children form neat single-file lines and march into school without the need for any further instruction.

It is clear to Dinah that something strange is going on at the school, and that her foster brothers Lloyd and Harvey know something about it. However, they avoid answering her questions as if they don't trust her, but she doesn't know why.

All she does know is that there is something weird about the headmaster at the new school. On her first day, she had to meet him in his office. She remebered that she had felt really tired when she sat there, and that she was surprised at how much time she had spent there even though it only seemed like a few minutes.

Eventually, she persuades Lloyd and Harvey that she is on their side, and they explain to her that most of the children in the school are under the control of the "Demon Headmaster" as they call him. They do not know how exactly he does it, but they know that he is able to control their minds in some way. The few children in the school that he cannot control have formed a group called SPLAT, and they form the only resistance to the Demon Headmaster.

Dinah realises that she too has come under the control of the headmaster when Lloyd asks her what she thinks of the headmaster. She replies that she thinks "the headmaster is a marvellous man", and that this is the best school she has ever been to. Lloyd and Harvey point out that all the brainwashed kids say the same thing, whether they like the headmaster or not.

The members of SPLAT are not allowed in assemblies, so they know that something important goes on there. It is in one of these assemblies that Dinah find out the truth about the Demon Headmaster: he hypnotises people. Once she does this, she is let into SPLAT because she had proved that she is on their side.

SPLAT soon finds out that the school is just the start of the Demon Headmaster's plans. He wants more power, and he soon realises that Dinah Glass is the only person that can foil his plans.

The first series of The Demon Headmaster was broadcast in 1996 on Children's BBC. It featured 6 episodes, with the first three containing one story and the last three containing another. The first three were based on the original Demon Headmaster book,"The Demon Headmaster", written by Gillian Cross.

The next three were based on the second Demon Headmaster book, which at the time was called "The Prime Minister's Brain". In this story, the Demon Headmaster has left the school, but has reappeared in another place, where he could potentially get into Downing Street and hypnotise the Prime Minister. The computerised entrance to his new hideout has been programmed to keep out anyone called "Dinah Glass", but Dinah has since been adopted by the Hunters so her name is now Dinah Hunter. Once again, SPLAT have to fight the Demon Headmaster, and stop his plans for world domination

The second series of The Demon Headmaster was broadcast in 1997. This series was based on the fourth Demon Headmaster book, The Demon Headmaster Strikes Again. This book was written by Gillian Cross specifically with the TV programme in mind. (The third Demon Headmaster book, The Revenge of the Demon Headmaster, was never adapted for television.) In the second series, the Demon Headmaster has decided that Dinah could useful in his plans. He has taken control of a "Biogenetic Research Centre", and has decided to get a sample of Dinah's DNA without her knowing it. When SPLAT notice strange things happening in the area, such as plants that grow so fast that you can see them growing, they realise that this can only be the work of one man, The Demon Headmaster.

The final series of The Demon Headmaster was broadcast in 1998. It was based on the fifth book, The Demon Headmaster Takes Over. This time, the Demon Headmaster decides that the best way to control the world is through computers and Artificial Intelligence. He manages to get control of a supercomputer called "Hyperbrain", that can take knowledge from human brains. But after doing so, it leaves the person in a state where they lose all their own knowledge.

Since then, another Demon Headmaster book has been written. It is called "Facing the Demon Headmaster", and was published in 2002. It continues the Demon Headmaster story, picking up where the television series finished.

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The Demon Headmaster (Book)