“Meit has to be horrible and funny and real,” writer Terry Deary said of adapting his multi-million-selling Horrible Histories series of children’s books for television. First broadcast on CBBC in 2009, the show is now in its 11th series. With nine children’s bafts and two British Comedy Awards under his belt, last week added a BAFTA Special Award – the only children’s show to win one so far. The Jeunesse International Award called it the best non-fiction children’s show of the last 50 years.
Silly, subversive and obsessively scatological, Horrible Histories is more successful than an educational comedy sketch show for kids deserves to be. A wicked mix of Blackadder and Monty Python, it transformed children’s television. There were separate films and plays across the country, two wild proms and one terrible river tour along the Thames.
A generation of children can now recite the kings and queens of England thanks to 2011 Song of the Monarchs, remixed for the 2023 coronation. Other greatest hits include Norman stylein which William the Conqueror shows off his Gangnam Style moves and Born Rule 2sung by boyband the 4 Georges. Boudicca has become a mini-feminist anthem and Beatrix Potter, Enid Blyton, Jacqueline Wilson and Mallory Blackman come together in Storyteller’s Little Mix skit: “a hero can be a woman!” No wonder the kids give him full marks.
It is undeniably horrible and funny, but is it true? It may not be AJP Taylor, but Horrible Histories prides itself on ensuring that accuracy is never sacrificed for a good rhyme or joke. And it’s not just tights and togas. As the show’s executive producer, Richard Bradley, said, “Horrible Histories has a political dimension with a small p.” At a time when the curriculum and literary canon are under intense scrutiny, the show provides a light-hearted look at the most serious issues.
It’s not afraid to take on the darker aspects of history, consistently championing the representation of women and diversity (with sketches of pioneering figures like Rosa Parks and Mary Seacole) and dealing with Britain’s colonial legacy. Although Deary did not write the sketches, the books take a similar stance. In an an interview for his first adult book, A History of Britain in Ten Enemiespublished in October, he said he hated the British Empire “with a passion”.
In 2020 The Daily Mail accused Horrible Histories of “smashing Britain” after the broadcast of British stuffa song to mark the day Britain left the EU, in which Queen Victoria’s servant sings: “Your British stuff is from abroad, and most of it is plainly stolen.” (The skit features Sarah Hadland, who has changed from a sequined Victorian mourning dress as a contender on this year’s Strictly.)
in fact Horrible stories is a very British phenomenon, part of a long tradition of self-parody. This perhaps explains why the model was not copied abroad. Fifteen years after it first burst onto our screens, there’s still nothing quite like it.
Children’s television is in crisis. With more entertainment choices at their fingertips than ever before, young viewers are migrating to online platforms. But Horrible Histories continues to thrive. Next spring, the team releases Horrible Science – expect more blood, feces and death. Why change a winning formula? With its unofficial motto “laugh smart”, the show is a tonic for our anxious times.
