# Horrible Histories (2009)

> A British sketch comedy that gleefully recounts the grisliest and funniest moments of history for children.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/29836

## Facts

- Seasons: 11
- Episodes: 154
- Episode runtime: 92 min
- Status: Returning Series
- Genres: comedy, family
- Created by: Terry Deary
- Network: CBBC
- Cast: Ben Willbond, Mathew Baynton, Laurence Rickard, Jalaal Hartley, Jessica Ransom, Jess Robinson, Jim Howick, Gemma Whelan
- TMDB rating: 8.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1400819/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: mild
- Tone: anarchic, irreverent, playful, gleeful, gross out, cheeky

## What critics say

Viewers broadly consider Horrible Histories an anarchic, gleefully gross and funny way to teach British and world history to children, with its best seasons rated highly and a weaker later run.

## Synopsis

Horrible Histories (2009-present) is a British children's sketch comedy series created by Terry Deary for CBBC. Adapted from Deary's best-selling books, it is an anthology of self-contained sketches in which a rotating ensemble of comedians, including Ben Willbond, Mathew Baynton, Jim Howick and Martha Howe-Douglas, plays a parade of historical figures, victims and villains. Each episode of roughly ninety minutes stitches together short comic bits that revisit the Stone Age, the Egyptians, the Romans, the Middle Ages and other periods, with the grisliest details kept deliberately front and center. The engine is pure gleeful irreverence: the cast mines gore, bodily fluids and royal scandal for laughs while keeping the facts intact enough to stick. Its tone is anarchic, playful and cheeky, with a sly wink to adults watching alongside children. Each sketch stands on its own, so viewers can jump in anywhere across its eleven seasons. Fans of Monty Python's Flying Circus and Little Britain will find the same anarchic sketch energy, and the series sits comfortably in the lineage of British edutainment.

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