British Comedy Guide
Horrible Histories. Image shows from L to R: Gemma Whelan, Ryan Sampson, Tom Stourton
Horrible Histories

Horrible Histories

  • TV sketch show
  • CBBC / BBC One
  • 2009 - 2024
  • 139 episodes (10 series)

Hit sketch show based on surprising facts from world history, inspired by the hit children's book series. Stars Jim Howick, Simon Farnaby, Ben Willbond, Mathew Baynton, Martha Howe-Douglas and more.

  • Due to return for Series 11
  • Series 4, Episode 7 repeated at 9:20am on CBBC
  • JustWatch Streaming rank this week: 622

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Press clippings Page 8

Horrible Histories books have naturally come to an end

Popular children's book series, Horrible Histories, is to end after 20 years according to author Terry Deary.

BBC News, 2nd April 2013

Horrible Histories: 20 years of entertaining children

Horrible Histories has evolved into a phenomenon encompassing books, stage shows and a children's TV series as funny as anything aimed at adults.

Richard Preston, The Telegraph, 21st February 2013

Deary's attack on libraries branded 'ignorant twadle'

Authors, including artistic director of Bath Children's Literature Festival David Almond have criticised Horrible Histories author Terry Deary's comments that libraries are damaging the book industry.

Daisy Bowie-Sell, The Telegraph, 14th February 2013

Horrible Histories tours to Middle East

Horrible Histories - Barmy Britain, the children's history show currently showing in the daytime slot at the Garrick Theatre, will embark on a tour to the Middle East before returning to its West End home in October.

Kieran Corcoran, What's On Stage, 29th August 2012

Horrible Histories film in development

The producer of Horrible Histories has revealed that the team behind the show are working on developing a feature film spin-off.

British Comedy Guide, 24th August 2012

Terry Deary: The man behind the Horrible Histories

The wildly successful Horrible Histories books and TV shows - facts boosted by lots of jokes - are adored by children and adults alike. Writer Terry Deary thinks it's because his characters often subvert authority.

Jon Henley, The Guardian, 14th July 2012

Video: Horrible Histories 'Jubilee' rap

Have you ever wondered why the Romans never won MasterChef? Or what you would do if a Viking moved in next door?

The latest stage show by Horrible Histories could answer your questions.

Barmy Britain at the Garrick Theatre in London is proving as popular as the books and television series.

Two of its stars, Neal Foster and Alison Fitzjohn, joined the BBC Breakfast team as Anne Boleyn and Henry the Eighth and they had a special 'Jubilee' rap to share.

BBC News, 1st June 2012

You can't beat this series for fascinating facts underlining the fact that life in the past was often weird, cruel and smelly. But it's the songs that are often the best bit and today's is a winner for Kate Bush fans, as Mary Stuart tackles her own version of Wuthering Heights. Plus, we learn that the Normans changed the name of a town called Snottingham... by simply dropping the "s".

Geoff Ellis, Radio Times, 18th May 2012

The past has never looked so much fun or so funny as in this award-winning comedy, enjoyed by children, adults and even most history teachers. In this episode, King Edward III gets married, Julius Caesar reveals his not-very-secret tips on hiding baldness, we learn the tricks of the criminal trade on The Real Victorian Hustle and there's an insight into the inventions of Leonardo da Vinci.

Geoff Ellis, Radio Times, 11th May 2012

The best comedy of the week was to be found over on CBBC, where series four of Horrible Histories made its debut (confusingly, BBC1 is currently showing series two).

Based on the cheerfully bloodthirsty books by Terry Deary and Martin Brown, it plays a bit like Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time, if you replaced the visiting professor of history from Queen's College, Oxford, with a talking rat making jokes about wee.

There have been plenty of bloody revolutions featured in Horrible Histories, but the team's most recent coup was to reunite The League of Gentlemen for the first time in a bronze age. Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith turned up as craven Hollywood execs keen to panel-beat the messy lives of historical figures into award-bait biopics, and while Gatiss's American accent was pretty duff, the bickering spark between the three gentlemen remained.

Recruiting the league should not distract from the tireless efforts of the core cast, particularly Jim Howick, who has matured from being an off-model David Mitchell into a gifted comic actor in his own right. But ultimately, the highlight of this first salvo of new shows was a prancing Charles Darwin explaining the ch-ch-changes of evolutionary theory via an exquisite David Bowie pastiche. Horribly good.

The Scotsman, 17th April 2012

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