Horrible Histories

The four King Georges performing as a boy band, Henry VIII's murderous reign as an episode of This is Your Life, a medieval washing powder commercial advocating the cleansing properties of wee, a Stone Age arts magazine informing viewers how to preserve a beloved relative's skull in plaster. Welcome to the world of Horrible Histories.

Based upon the best-selling series by Terry Deary, Horrible Histories scours the past for interesting, bizarre, unpleasant and unpalatable facts and uses them as the basis for some seriously funny, beautifully performed and endlessly inventive sketches.

Unsurprisingly, sewage, savagery and bloodshed feature prominently and there are plenty of crowd-pleasing fart and poo gags. There is even a talking rat. All guaranteed to keep a CBBC audience entertained, amused, appalled and disgusted. Who knows, the little buggers might even learn something. For example, Vikings used to take Saturdays off from murder and pillaging to attend to their personal grooming. Didn't know that, did you?

I have one criticism of the show. The poo used to shower the medieval town councillors was totally unconvincing. Wrong colour, wrong consistency, wrong texture. If the BBC special effects department aren't up to the job, there is only one way to ensure authenticity. When it comes to our children's education there should be no half measures.

Harry Venning, The Stage, 27th April 2009

Horrible Histories Review

It was everything that Blue Peter isn't: fun, filthy and genuinely engaging in a peer-to-peer way.

Alice-Azania Jarvis, The Independent, 17th April 2009

Kids can learn to love history just so long as it's told to them in a way that brings it to life. And this new series, based on the colourful books by Terry Deary and Martin Brown, does precisely that, with Sarah Hadland, Steve Punt and Meera Syal among the cast re-enacting some gory ancient tales.

Mike Ward, Daily Star, 16th April 2009