Demon Headmaster lead writer Emma Reeves continues to control, command and conquer with her behind the scenes look at the making of the series…

In the 90s TV adaptation of The Demon Headmaster, the Headmaster’s reign of terror over a school lasted for only three half-hour episodes. For this ten part story, we needed to play a longer game. In this fourth episode, we begin to establish a SPLAT-style organised resistance to the Headmaster, and also reveal that his ambitions are by no means limited to Hazelbrook…

In episode 3, Ethan and Lizzie’s attempted disruption of the science fair went horribly wrong and they found they’d played into the Headmaster’s hands (again). As Episode 4 begins, Hazelbrook is patrolled by drones and is looking less than ever like a normal school and more like a dystopian nightmare.

After their failed attempt to recruit Sophie, Lizzie and Ethan aren’t actively looking for allies, so when Angelika (the Deputy Head’s daughter!) reveals a surprising side to her personality, they’re understandably suspicious. Luckily, Angelika turns out to be on the level – as much as anybody can be, when the Headmaster’s around.

Lizzie learns that the Headmaster’ powers are even stronger and more dangerous than she previously believed – and by the end of the episode her worries about Ethan are also confirmed, burdening Lizzie with a terrible secret. It appears that the Headmaster can change not only your memories, but your personality and your whole life. Meanwhile, Lizzie’s efforts to protect her little brother Tyler are over-ridden by Ethan and Angelika, who believe it’s fairer to tell Tyler the truth – and besides, they can use Robo’s help.

The Headmaster’s activities draw attention from outside the school when Angelika calls on an activist group to protest the drone patrols. The Headmaster demonstrates his power by disposing of them with contemptuous ease – but not before Blake has taken a milkshake for his boss.

When you’re writing heightened, darkly comic dystopian fiction in 2019 you’re often playing catch-up with reality. The original script for this scene called for the protesting mob to throw the traditional eggs and flour at the Headmaster – but as we entered production, throwing milkshakes became the fashionable way to challenge fascists, so the scene was amended accordingly.

Although our production schedule was so tight that we didn’t manage to do any full cast read-throughs (which is very unusual), we did manage to do a page-turn on every script, where I discussed every scene in detail with John McKay (director), Peter Gallagher (producer), Spencer Campbell (executive producer) and Cathianne Hall (script editor). A lot of these sessions were dedicated to solving practical problems, but some great new ideas also emerged which were incorporated into the scripts. For example, it was always in the script that the Headmaster doesn’t need to hypnotise the Academy Sponsors, but in the original draft they were simply in it for the money – they were excited by the Headmaster’s promise of exclusive supply deals with every school in Britain. After discussions at the page turn we added an additional motivation – they were still interested in money, but in the final draft the Headmaster promises to supply his capitalist allies with contented, obedient workers who will be perfectly trained in the exact numbers to match skills gaps, and who will always obey orders.

Hazelbrook Academy is just the beginning. The Headmaster has his sights set on much bigger things…