“I”t needs to be horrifying, funny and true,” writer Terry Deary said of the adaptation of his multimillion-selling book series Horrible Histories for TV. First broadcast on CBBC in 2009, the show is now in its 11th series. It has won nine Baftas and two British Comedy Awards under his belt, last week he added a Bafta special award – the only children’s show to win a single date. The International Youth Prize named the best non-fiction children’s show of the last 50 years.
Goofy, subversive and obsessively scatological, Horrible Histories is more successful than the scholastic sketch comedy for kids it deserves to be. A wicked combination of Blackadder and Monty Python, it changed children’s television. There were film screenings and plays across the country, two tumultuous Proms and a . grouse’s river journey along the Thames.
Descendants of children can now recite the kings and queens of England by grace 2011 Song of the Monarchs, remixed coronation in 2023. Other greatest hits include Norman stylein which William the Conqueror acts and shows off his Gangnam Style Born 2 Rulesung by the boy band the 4 Georges. Boudicca became a mini-feminist anthem and Beatrix Potter, Enid Blyton, Jacqueline Wilson and Malorie Blackman came together. Storyteller’s Little Mix sketch“She can be a hero too!” No wonder kids give full marks.
It is indeed horrible and ridiculous, but is it true? AJP Taylor, it may not be, but Horrible Histories pride themselves on ensuring accuracy, never sacrificed for a good rhyme or joke. And not just with gowns. As the show’s executive producer, Richard Bradley said, “Horrible history has a political aspect with little p. At a time when career and the literary canon are being scrutinized more intensely, the show takes on the most serious questions.
She’s not afraid to take on the darker side of history, consistently defending the representation of women and diversity (with references to author figures like Rosa Parks and Mary Seacole) and arming the British colony. Although Carus doesn’t write scripts, the books take a similar chance. In an conversation for adults the first book; History of the Britons in Ten Enemiespublished in October, he said that the British government was “passionately” fired.
In 2020, the Daily Mail accused Horrible Stories of “trashing Britain“After the airing of” British Affairsa song to mark the day Britain left the EU, in which Queen Victoria’s servant sings: “Your British possessions are abroad, and most of them are frankly stolen.” (Sarram Hadland’s sketch of the stars, which tightly wraps the sequins victory as a competitor in this year.
For Horrible Histories It’s a very British thing, part of a long tradition of self-parody. This may explain why the model was not copied abroad. Fifteen years after it first exploded onto our screens, it’s still nothing like it.
Free employee at the time. With more entertainment choices at their fingertips than ever before, young viewers are migrating to online platforms. But the history of horror prevails. Next spring, the team will release Horrible Science – Expect Blood, Poo and Death. Why are you changing the winning formula? With its own motto “laughter is the best”, the show is a tonic for our anxious times.
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