Horrible Histories is a British live-action historical and musical sketch comedy television series, based on the bestselling book series of the same name by Terry Deary. The show was produced for CBBC by Lion Television with Citrus Television and ran from 2009 to 2014 for five series of thirteen half-hour episodes, with additional one-off seasonal and Olympic specials.
The TV show carries over the graphic style and much of the content of the Horrible Histories book series. It maintains the franchise's overall irreverent but accurate focus on the dark, gruesome or scatological aspects of British and other Western world history, spanning predominantly from the Stone Age to the post-World War II era. Individual historical eras or civilisations are defined and named as in the books, with sketches from several different time periods combined within a single episode. Live-action sketches—which often parody other UK media or celebrities—and music videos are intercut with animations and quizzes. The starring troupe are Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, Ben Willbond and Sarah Hadland, alongside a large supporting cast headed by Katy Wix, Giles Terera, Lawry Lewin, Alice Lowe and Dominique Moore. The black rat puppet "host", Rattus Rattus, appears in short bridging segments, explaining the factual basis for each sketch and helping children understand the facts.
The creative team was largely recruited from the mainstream adult UK comedy scene. They took inspiration from such quintessentially British historical-comedy classics as Blackadder and the Monty Python films. The series was a critical and ratings success, eventually gaining a wide all ages audience through its non-condescending and inclusive approach. It has won numerous domestic and international awards and has been named among the greatest British children's television series of all time.
In 2011, a spin-off game show, Horrible Histories: Gory Games, was launched on CBBC. In the same year, the original show was repackaged for main channel BBC One as Horrible Histories with Stephen Fry, with Fry replacing the puppet, Rattus Rattus, as presenter. A new series of special episodes began airing in 2015, featuring a new format and cast. It continues to be frequently repeated on the CBBC channel daily.
Background Horrible Histories is based on the British children's historical-comedy book series by Terry Deary, first published by Scholastic UK in 1993 and since expanded into a multimedia franchise. The books and subsequent spin-off materials are intended to pique young children's interest in history via short, factually based but humorously told anecdotes highlighting aspects of the subject not usually covered in more traditional educational sources.
LionTV executive producer Richard Bradley, whose company had previously produced several adult history-themed programmes and whose son was a fan of the Horrible Histories books, was the initial driving force behind a new TV adaptation. Deary was initially skeptical, having had a negative experience with the 2001 animated series, which had only loosely incorporated his concept. He finally agreed to the new project on the condition that it be explicitly "horrible, funny and true". While disclaiming any active role in developing the subsequent series, he would eventually contribute to the writing as well as appearing in several small roles.
The producers were determined that the show be respectful of audience expectations for the Horrible Histories brand, maintaining its familiar visual style and content as far as possible. Early concepts for bringing it to the screen involved framing or interpretive devices, including a ghostly train carrying children into the past, or a wizard storyteller to act as their guide. Eventually Bradley with producer/director Dominic Brigstocke concluded that the material was strong enough to stand on its own, so they developed, in consultation with CBBC executives, a live-action sketch-comedy showcase. Once the writing was underway, the producers further discovered that sticking as closely as possible to the historical truth made it easier for them to find the humour within it. They then introduced a comedy style relying on parodies of familiar modern media conventions as a means of making these historical details more immediately accessible.
To do the material full justice, Brigstocke and series producer Caroline Norris used their industry contacts to put together a creative team consisting mostly of veterans of the adult UK comedy community. The BBC readily agreed to this cross-demographic experiment. They also approved the adoption—insofar as was possible in a programme aimed at young children—of the core franchise precept of "history with the nasty bits left in", which frequently involved "gross-out"-style bodily function humour and comic violence.
The new creative team, while avoiding references aimed specifically at adults, was determined not to adapt the humour to children or otherwise patronise their audience. Instead, they sought to make the best use possible of the material. Norris said that her goal was "to make a show that people would say was too good for children... we started out with really high ambitions." To that end, adult historical satires such as Blackadder and the Monty Python films were shown at the first writers' meeting to demonstrate the proposed tone, and these influences would be visible throughout the show's run. Once the first series had aired and it was realised that the overall approach was working well, the creative team built on and significantly expanded the scope of the comedy elements for the second. This trend continued through each subsequent series. The net result was a show that immediately appealed to young children while also gaining the increasing respect—and viewership—of older audiences.
Episodes
Format The divisions by historical era or civilisation in the book series are carried over in the TV show, focusing on events in or directly affecting Great Britain and (to a lesser extent) the larger Western world. The Inca and Aztec empires are also featured in later series. Sketches are grouped under these divisions, named as in the books, beginning with the Savage Stone Age and including among others the Cut-throat Celts, Awful Egyptians, Groovy Greeks, Rotten Romans, Smashing Saxons, Vicious Vikings, Measly Middle Ages, Terrible Tudors, Slimy Stuarts, Gorgeous Georgians, Vile Victorians and Frightful First World War. The timeline for the most part ended at the Woeful Second World War. During the fifth and final series the show featured a handful of significant post-World War II (or "Troublesome Twentieth Century") events, including the civil rights movement and the Space Race between the US and the USSR. The most recent event referenced was the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing.
Each named division has its own title card that appears before each sketch (or group of sketches) set in that era or civilisation, along with a short introductory animation featuring a period-appropriate character. Throughout each sketch, small pop-up signs are used to affirm the truth (or otherwise) of any particularly implausible-seeming concepts mentioned onscreen. The live-action material is intercut with short animated sketches, quizzes and interludes with puppet "host" Rattus Rattus (performed by John Eccleston), who addresses the viewer directly as a presenter, commenting on and clarifying the factual basis behind the humour. Rattus also occasionally holds up pop-up signs himself during sketches.
Sketches were filmed en masse and then cut into episodes by the producers based on creative rather than chronological or other educational considerations, in the manner of a more traditional sketch-comedy series. They often fall under a recurring banner—usually with its own short title sequence—but otherwise vary widely in length, visual style and approach. Many are recognisable parodies of other popular media or celebrities, in formats ranging from spoof commercials to mock TV shows, newscasts, magazines, video games and film trailers. Notable parody inspirations included Masterchef, Wife Swap, Come Dine with Me, Gogglebox and The Apprentice. "Horrible Histories Movie Pitch", in which historical figures pitch their life stories to a panel of Hollywood producers played by League of Gentlemen actors Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, used the format of a former commercial campaign for Orange's cinema reminders to turn mobiles off.
The show also created several popular recurring characters and concepts, notably "Stupid Deaths", in which a skeletal, platinum-blond Grim Reaper amuses himself while processing souls for admittance to the afterlife by forcing candidates from throughout history to relate the embarrassing details of their demise. HHTV News' Bob Hale and his eccentric-but-erudite in-studio reports provide a broader picture on historical events (such as the Wars of the Roses and the French Revolution), in a style reminiscent of presenter Peter Snow. The "Shouty Man", a parody of a typically ebullient infomercial host (like Barry Scott), pitches unusual historical products.
Music Original music plays a significant role in the show and its popularity; "Music from Horrible Histories" was chosen as the 2011 theme of the BBC Proms' annual children's concert. Alongside various short intro themes and commercial jingles, each episode and each special contains at least one longer comedy song centred around a particular historical figure or theme and performed by the cast in appropriate character.
In the first series, the songs generally had no particular satirical slant, and were often intercut with sketches from the same era. However, after the creative team noted the critical and popular success of the major exception ("Born 2 Rule", which featured King Georges I–IV performing in the style of a boyband) the decision was taken from the second series onwards to continue in that vein. Historical concepts were matched to a diverse range of modern musical references, and the results were showcased as self-contained music video parodies. The thirteenth episode of the second and each subsequent series was retooled as a "Savage Songs" special, featuring a compilation of that series' outstanding videos.
The songs have since become among the most critically and popularly acclaimed elements of the show, especially among its adult audience. Commentators cite the apt cleverness of the various historical/musical parody match-ups, and the complexity and skill with which the musical elements are executed. Principal composer Richie Webb confirms that the songs became more sophisticated as a result of the show's increasing popularity with older viewers, as well as the demands of increased visibility online. Many of the videos have earned standalone popularity on YouTube.
The videos tend to run about three minutes, with two significant exceptions. "The Monarchs' Song", from the third series, lists all of the British monarchs since William the Conqueror, using a Chas & Dave-inspired cumulative format. The creative team wrote the song to challenge the show's young audience, after noting that the same youngsters had been inspired to memorise lyrics to previous songs. "We're History", styled as a grand finale for the show's final episode, uses stock footage from across the show's run to revisit every major era it ever featured in turn.
Content and educational value