History Literature / TheDemonHeadmaster

* MarketBasedTitle: ''Hunky Parker is Watching You'' became ''The Revenge of the Demon Headmaster''.

* ShapedLikeItself: In the 2019 TV series, Tyler names his robot...Robo. Though this is actually an acronym.

* SubliminalSeduction: "Hunky--or nothing!"

** A sting from the original theme tune can be heard in that of the 2019 TV series. It also appears when [[spoiler:the original Headmaster first appears]] in the final episode.

''The Demon Headmaster Takes Over'' (1997) follows on directly from the last one, with the Headmaster[[spoiler:'s clone]] developing a computerised brain and then losing control of it.

''The Demon Headmaster'' is a book written by Gillian Cross in 1982. The story concerns Dinah Glass, an orphan who's just recently been fostered by the Hunter family. On her first day at her new school, she makes some interesting observations:

* ArtifactTitle: "The Headmaster" is only one in the first book. The heroes continue to call him that because it's how they first met him, his real name is never revealed anyway, and it's creepier than whatever his current job is.

* CripplingOverspecialization: Plays a part in the 2019 series; as the Headmaster has created a system where the students don't 'learn', but are just programmed to go along with their designated 'specialities', [[spoiler:this allows Lizzie and the others to disrupt the Headmaster's planned presentation by switching the students' relevant material, such as essentially arranging for the rugby team to perform ''Swan Lake'' and a Shakespearean 'expert' to recite an insulting poem by switching their relevant material]].

* FakingTheDead: In the 2019 series, [[spoiler:Dinah Hunter faked her death years ago when she moved on to join MI6, allowing her to keep a discreet eye out for the Headmaster]].

* HighHeelFaceTurn: Rose in Strikes Again

* KnowWhenToFoldEm: In the 2019 series, [[spoiler:the original Headmaster steps in to inform the new one that he should abandon the current plan and withdraw, as there is no way to implement their original agenda after Lizzie Warren and her gang have exposed his plans on live television and Dinah has contacted her associates at MI6]].

* MassHypnosis: The Headmaster can hypnotize at least an assembly hall full of people on his own, but he at least believed that he could hypnotise the entire country if he was able to get on television.
* MilkmanConspiracy: The Headmaster is rather fond of these.

** In the 2019 series [[spoiler:Lizzie attempts to hit Dinah to snap her out of making a deal with the Headmaster, only to reveal to everyone that Dinah was using a hologram. This leads to the Headmaster freezing everyone to where they're standing and demands that Dinah give herself up in person]].
* NoNameGiven: The Demon Headmaster's name is never revealed. While he certainly ''has'' a name, as Dinah is made to add his name to a list of people with access to the Prime Minister in ''The Prime Minister's Brain'' and his lack of knowledge of it plays a part in ''Takes Over'', but he is only ever referred to as the Headmaster.

** Sophie in the 2019 series is an expert at chemistry.

** At the end of the first season of the old TV series, after being humiliated on television, the Headmaster finds S.P.L.A.T. outside the school afterwards and says that they will meet again.

* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: ''The Demon Headmaster Takes Over'' ends without revealing if the Headmaster will ever wake up from his coma; the television adaptation expressly shows him waking up from it in the very last scene. (There would be more books published after ''Takes Over'', but not for another five years, whereas it was the final book to be adapted for television.)

* OperationBlank:
** In the old TV series, the Headmaster names his Master Plan as...[[ShapedLikeItself MasterPlan]].
** In the 2019 TV series, Tyler names his robot...Robo. Though this is actually an acronym.

* CripplingOverspecialization: Plays a part in the 2019 series; as the Headmaster has created a system where people don't 'learn', but are just programmed to go along with their designated 'specialities', [[spoiler:allowing Lizzie and the others to disrupt the Headmaster's planned presentation by switching the students' relevant material, such as essentially arranging the rugby team to perform ''Swan Lake'']].

** The sixth episode of the 2019 TV series reveals [[spoiler:that the series is not a ContinuityReboot of the original, as it first seemed, but a sequel to it, with the children discovering the original Headmaster's old school, multiple references to the first series and a message from Dinah Hunter.]]
** The eighth episode of the 2019 series then reveals that [[spoiler:Lizzie and Tyler's mother is in fact Rose from the old series, having hidden under a new identity.]]
** The tenth episode of the 2019 series reveals [[spoiler:the Headmaster of Hazelbrook is a different person to the original Headmaster and is subservient to him.]]

* MassHypnosis

** At the end of the first book, the Headmaster gets the opportunity to speak on national TV because Dinah indirectly gave Lucy the answer to the question that wins the school quiz.
** In the 2019 series [[spoiler:Lizzie attempts to hit Dinah to snap her out of making a deal with the Headmaster, only to reveal to everyone that Dinah was using a hologram. This leads to the Headmaster freezing everyone to where they're standing and demands that Dinah give herself up in person.]]
* NoNameGiven: The Demon Headmaster's name is never revealed. He is only ever referred to as the Headmaster.

* StalkerWithATesttube: A decidedly non-romantic version: [[spoiler:the Headmaster employs Dinah's father at the Biogenetic Research Centre, so he can steal Dinah's DNA and create Eve, a human/lizard hybrid.]]

* TakeOverTheWorld: The Headmaster's ultimate aim. In ''The Prime Minister's Brain'' he wants the contestants to hack into Downing Street's computer so he can arrange a face to face meeting with the Prime Minister, which will then lead to meetings with all the other leaders of the world.

** At the end of the first season of the old tv series, after being humiliated on television, the Headmaster finds S.P.L.A.T. outside the school afterwards and says that they will meet again.

* WrongGenreSavvy: May apply to the 2019 series; [[spoiler:Dinah initially assumes that the current Headmaster is the original character in a new body, much like how he was 'reborn' as a clone of himself in the third series, but the final episode reveals that the Hazelbrook Headmaster is actually a separate person from the original Headmaster, who holds a position of authority over the new one]].

** In the 2019 series [[spoiler:Lizzie attempts to hit Dinah to snap her out of making a deal with the Headmaster, only to reveal to everyone that Dinah was using a hologram. This leads to the Headmaster freezing everyone to wear they're standing and demands that Dinah give herself up in person.]]

* WeWillMeetAgain: See ThisIsUnforgivable above

In 2019, the BBC announced that a new Demon Headmaster series had been commissioned, and would be an adaptation of ''Total Control''.

* BlandNameProduct: Or rather Bland Name Logo. In the 2019 series, Angelika and her mother belong to an activist group which has a logo resembling that of the organisation "Extinction Rebellion" with its logo turned sideways and a line through the middle.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: At the end of the first book, the Headmaster gets the opportunity to speak on national TV because Dinah indirectly gave Lucy the answer to the question that wins the school quiz.

** In the 2019 TV series, Tyler names his robot...Robot. Though this is actually an acronym.

* OperationBlank: In the TV series, the Headmaster names his Master Plan as...[[ShapedLikeItself MasterPlan]].

* TeenGenius: Dinah

* ContinuityReboot: The latest novels ''Total Control'' and ''Mortal Danger'' (and upcoming TV series, [[spoiler:or so it seems at first]]).

* WhamEpisode: The sixth episode of the 2019 TV series reveals [[spoiler:that the series is not a ContinuityReboot of the original, as it first seemed, but a sequel to it, with the children discovering the original Headmaster's old school, multiple references to the first series and a message from Dinah Hunter.]]

* WhamEpisode: The sixth episode of the 2019 TV series reveals [[spoiler:that the series is not a ContinuityReboot of the original, as it first seemed, but a sequel to it, with the children discovering the original Headmaster's old school and a message from Dinah Hunter.]]

* ContinuityReboot: The latest novels ''Total Control'' and ''Mortal Danger'' (and upcoming TV series).

* {{Reboot}}: The latest novels ''Total Control'' and ''Mortal Danger'' (and upcoming TV series).

* AntagonistTitle: [[CaptainObvious The Demon Headmaster]].

* SpannerInTheWorks: The Headmaster should take more notice of Dinah's capabilities. The TV version he programs the computer at Vulcan Tower not to admit anyone called Dinah Glass; unfortunately for him, Dinah has changed her name to Dinah Hunter by that point, and the computer doesn't pick up on it.