Based on Terry Deary and Martin Brown's bestselling books for children (and for adults, but they just won't admit it), Horrible Histories is an energetic, surprising and unconventional take on history's most gruesome, unpleasant and funniest moments.
About
Literally splattered with guts, blood and poo, Horrible Histories romps through the ages from the Savage Stone Age through to the Troublesome 20th Century, with a collection of sketches, songs and quizzes. All linked, of course, with host Rattus Rattus (the talking rat).
Get ready for the funniest, nastiest and daftest ride through history you're ever likely to see.
The creative team was largely recruited from the mainstream adult UK comedy scene. They took inspiration from British historical-comedy classics, such as Blackadder and the Monty Python films. The BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning series is now on its tenth series.
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The show is produced by Lion Television (formerly with Citrus Television) for CBBC and is now on its tenth series.
The songs are a key part of Horrible Histories, each episode featuring a musical number by the cast. "Music from Horrible Histories" was chosen as the 2011 theme of the BBC Proms' annual children's concert. ​In the first series the songs generally had no particular satirical slant. However, the success of the exception, Born to Rule, saw the direction follow in a similar style. Historical concepts were matched to a diverse range of modern musical references and parodies, and the results showcased as self-contained music video parodies. From series two a songs special has been reserved, featuring a compilation of that series' outstanding videos.
Richie Webb and Matt Katz have recorded and produced every song in Matt’s own 700-square-foot Noisegate Studios, built within an industrial unit in Warwick. Each song is commissioned by the Horrible Histories production team, which decides during pre-production meetings which element of the episode’s main theme will make the most entertaining lyric, song pastiche and music video take-off.
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Once the theme and song style have been decided upon, the programme’s researchers provide series writer Dave Cohen with a booklet of historical information to help him construct a song lyric, which Richie, armed with the same booklet, turns into a song.