Episode 8 of The Demon Headmaster was written by Lucy Moore, and following in the footsteps of lead writer Emma Reeves and writer Joe Lidster, she;s provided a commentary for the latest episode… (Beware spoilers if you’ve not seen it)

Writing episode 8 of 10 proved an exciting challenge: on the one hand there’s tons of juicy emotional stuff to draw on by this stage in the series – Ethan’s secret, Blake’s confusion and anger, Angelika’s longing to have her mum back etc. On the other hand, the kids have tried out a lot of tactics against the Headmaster by now so what could possibly be left in their arsenal?

Once the idea of the Headmaster unexpectedly being contained in some way emerged, both Cathianne Hall, the script editor, and I got really excited about what this could offer in terms of tension and emotion for our characters. They’ve got the baddie in a box but there must be a catch! He’s too clever not to have a backup plan of some sort. Keeping the Headmaster prisoner also lands the gang in a huge ethical dilemma – they can’t check on him otherwise he’ll hypnotise them to let him out. How long can and should they hold him? And what on earth might he do to them once they do finally let him go?

With the Headmaster out of the way, the gang make a plan to try to free the school from his influence for good but soon enough they come up against the Headmaster’s ‘emergency protocol’ in the shape of their own parents taking over the school.

Again, set up from previous episodes inspired this idea. We know that Hazelbrook parents have been given special tablets that they are constantly glued to and we’ve seen the Headmaster hypnotize remotely several times – Kerri in episode 5 and the ‘phone zombies’ in episode 6. This time, however, it becomes personal for the kids as their parents change beyond recognition and they have to dig deep into memories and difficult emotions in order to try and trigger them.

For Lizzie this presents a new problem. Triggering Mary restores her normal loving personality but also sends her spiralling back into unbearable pain. With Ethan also triggered and finally remembering his trauma, Lizzie sees no other option but to sacrifice this one chance to free the school, in order to end the suffering of two people she cares deeply about.

In the end, this is an episode about ethical dilemmas and disturbing reveals about the past, culminating in a biggie for the Warren family as Mary’s true identity is discovered!