Actor Terrence Hardiman, best known for playing the ‘Demon Headmaster’ in the hit CBBC series, has died at the age of 86, his agent has said.
The star also had roles TV series such as The Crown, Wallander, Doctor Who and Prime Suspect, and toured with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
But it was for his role as the titular character in The Demon Headmaster that he was best known, with his trademark tinted glasses and sinister demeanour terrifying kids across the land.
The series, which was based on the series of books written by Gillian Cross, was a huge hit in the mid-1990s and saw Hardiman play the evil schoolmaster who used hypnosis to carry out his schemes.
Speaking in 2019 about his decision to take up the role, Hardiman told Radio Times: “I thought, ”What a horrible character. How lovely. A real villain of a piece. Why not?””
He said he had “no idea” it would become such a success, adding: “I started to be recognised in the street, especially as I lived near schools around here, in North-West London.
“And there were people – youngsters – looking at me, and shouting out at me, and making fun of me, which is very healthy. It stopped me being too grand!
“But then the slightly more remarkable thing, I found, was that it wasn’t just children who were watching. It was parents and other people, too.”
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