Legendary actor Terrence Hardiman, who played an iconic and terrifying headteacher in the hugely popular children’s CBBC series The Demon Headmaster, shared his nerves at returning to the role just a few years before his death
He was the stuff nightmares were made of and scared the life out of a generation of children in the late nineties when he portrayed an evil school principal with terrifying green eyes.
Despite his horribly menacing portrayal of the spooky school leader with a lust for power in CBBC’s The Demon Headmaster and his numerous other roles throughout his lengthy career as serious authority figures, Terrence Hardiman was known to be a true gent in real life.
A highly respected talent in the British entertainment industry, he starred in many hit shows such as Prime Suspect, Casualty and Doctor Who. He also toured with the Royal Shakespeare Company in principal roles but his extensive acting experience and success didn’t mean he had lost his humility.
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He was offered a cameo to reprise his part in The Demon Headmaster when it returned to screens over 20 years after he first sent shivers down the spines of the nation’s kids and he humbly spoke of his nerves beforehand. “I thought, well, it’s 22 years since I played that part on television,” he told the RadioTimes in 2019.
“Are people going to say, ‘What the devil is he doing that for? Doesn’t anyone else want him to do anything else?’ No, it wasn’t quite like that, but I was slightly nervous about meeting new people. I didn’t want them to start saying, ‘Why have we got this old chap in again?’.”
Assuring fans he wouldn’t be scaring them too much, he revealed he would just be making a cameo as the head who loved to be mean and control his pupils. “I just make an appearance for a while,” he explained. “So it’s not about me. It’s the new lot and that’s lovely. I’m not there for long. So I won’t frighten you for too long!”
The return to the BBC series came just a few years before Terrence’s death which was announced in May 2023, aged 86. He was described as a “beloved client and much-loved stage and screen actor” by his agent in a statement at the time. His passing sparked many tributes from his legions of fans who he both delighted and petrified in equal measure.
“Goddammit, we’ve lost Terence Hardiman. I honestly can’t think of anyone who could have played the Demon Headmaster better,” one fan wrote on Twitter as the news broke.
“To this day I struggle to think of a more terrifying figure from my childhood,” another added, referring to Hardiman’s iconic portrayal of the wicked headmaster who hid his eerie eyes behind dark glasses which he only took off to hypnotise his victims as he demanded, “Look into my eyes”.
A third added: “Terribly sad news of Terrence Hardiman passing away. He was supremely terrifying in The Demon Headmaster, but I had the pleasure of meeting him once at one of my school’s fetes, It took a bit of convincing to go up to him, but he was absolutely wonderful and kind. RIP.”
Another mourning fan mused how the actor was so synonymous with the part that many didn’t even know his real name. “Sad news, as he was a big part of my childhood,” they began. “But also, I can’t believe how this is the way 90% of people my age are finding out the name of the actor who played The Demon Headmaster.”
Based on the children’s books by Gillian Cross of the same name, the children’s drama premiered on CBBC in 1996 and ran until 1998. The 2019 sequel starred Nicholas Gleaves as the titular character.
Born in 1937 in Forest Gate, Newham, London, Terence studied English at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where he got the acting bug. He would go on to become an icon to a generation of kids and performed for The Marlowe Society and the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club, alongside many of his future screen co-stars such as Derek Jacobi who he starred in the long running historical murder series Cadfael with.
Source: Mirror
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