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Horrible Histories (2015 TV series) facts for kids

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Horrible Histories
Horrible Histories (2015 Revival) - Title Card.png
Logo used for Series 6 and "The Specials II"
Genre Comedy
Based on Horrible Histories by Terry Deary
Written by
  • Ben Ward
  • Dave Cohen
  • Gerard Foster
  • Steve Punt
  • George Sawyer
  • et al.
Directed by Simon Gibney
Ian Curtis
Starring Tom Stourton, Jessica Ransom, Jalaal Hartley
Voices of John Eccleston (Rattus Rattus)
Jon Culshaw
Jess Robinson
Theme music composer Richie Webb
Matt Katz
Composer(s) Richie Webb
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 3
No. of episodes 43 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Melissa Hardinge
Richard Bradley
Bill Hobbins
Producer(s) Tom Miller
Editor(s) Adam Windmill
Will Peverett
Running time 30 minutes
Production company(s) Lion Television
Release
Original network CBBC
Original release 7 February 2015 (2015-02-07) – present
Chronology
Preceded by Horrible Histories

Horrible Histories is a British sketch comedy children's television series, the second live-action iteration of the book series Horrible Histories written by Terry Deary.

Produced by Lion Television for the CBBC, it is a revival of the previous live-action TV series, which had formally ceased production in 2013, and treated as a continuation of the show's previous incarnation beginning with "Series 6". Despite this, episodes from Series 6 and "The Specials II" utilize the Horrible Histories Special title card which the earlier series used for one-off programs.

In 2014 CBBC executives announced that, owing to the critical and popular success of the original, discussions were underway regarding some form of return. Original series star Mathew Baynton subsequently confirmed that he and the other five members of the starring cast would not be reuniting as a team for the new project.

The resulting series, while sharing the same core concept, genre and sensibilities as its predecessor—including an original parody song in each episode—follows a notably different format. In lieu of the previous short, unconnected sketches from randomly-selected time periods, the new series consists of specials focusing on the specific life and times of one prominent historical figure. It will also involve a largely all-new production team and cast, while still retaining Greg Jenner as lead historical consultant and many of the original series's writers. In addition, original stars Sarah Hadland, Simon Farnaby, Lawry Lewin and Jim Howick returned in limited roles, with Farnaby in particular reprising his role as Death. Several prominent UK comedy veterans, including Ben Miller, Kathryn Drysdale, Kevin Eldon, Tom Rosenthal and Rowan Atkinson, guest-starred as the spotlighted figures.

In February 2015, the new series debuted with an episode drawing on the events leading up to the signing of Magna Carta, timed to coincide with the BBC's larger commemoration of the document's 800-year anniversary before being followed by a run of fourteen episodes. 2016 saw the broadcast of three specials to mark certain events throughout that year: 400 years since Shakespeare died, the BBC's "Love to Read" campaign, and 350 years since the Great Fire of London. There was a slight change in cast where the main stars Jalaal Hartley, Tom Stourton and Jessica Ransom continued with some of the supporting cast, while a number of the sixth series cast, including the two original members Jim Howick and Simon Farnaby were absent.

A full-length seventh series was aired every Monday on CBBC from June 2017, and it continued into 2018. Hartley, Ransom and Stourton continue alongside Gemma Whelan and Richard David-Caine who stayed on from the 2016 specials; Ryan Sampson now makes up the sixth main cast member. This time, Series 7 focuses each episode on a theme, e.g. music, explorers, medicine, presidents etc. The format is very much the same with recurring sketches, a song or two each episode (with the main songs now placed at the end of each episode, except for Ruthless Rulers and Series 8's Mind Your Manners), animated characters in-between sketches and quiz questions asked by various historical figures. One notable difference is that of host Rattus Rattus, who has his own storyline based on the theme of the episode and is appearing in many different costumes. Guest-stars include Sanjeev Bhaskar with various roles, as he did in Series 6, and First Dates host Fred Sirieix who appears for 'Historical First Dates' sketches to host.

An eighth series began filming in September 2018, and began airing on 3 June 2019 on CBBC, with a similar concept to Series 7 (each episode focusing on a theme) whilst also occasionally featuring guest co-hosts. The series had two special episodes: the first one being Football with Alex Scott, a special where a guest star and footballer named Alex Scott appeared and hosted her own episode and recounted skits in the show about football (US: soccer) from seasons from the original 2009 Horrible Histories show and the sixth season of the 2015 reboot. The second special episode is the newest episode to come out of Horrible Histories, being aired on CBBC on 15 August 2019 – guest star, actress and comedian Emily Atack hosted her own episode called Back to School with Emily Attack. The episode consisted of her recounting skits from the original 2009 Horrible Histories and the 2015 reboot's seventh season relating to school and education.

On 19 December 2019, It was announced that the remaining episodes of series 8 will air during 2020, however a new ninth series will also be set to air sometime in the year.

Cast

Further information see: List of Horrible Histories cast members

These are the cast who have appeared in all or most of the episodes:

Starring Actor Roles (recurring only)
Richard Atwill (2016 Specials) Gabriel Spenser (2016 Specials), Robert Hooke (2016 Specials), John Shakespeare (2016 Specials)
Richard David-Caine (2016 Specials – present) Abraham Lincoln, St. Valentine, Horatio Nelson, Gioachino Rossini, Peter Freuchen, Guy Fawkes, Salvador Dalí, Raphael, Ismail ibn Hammad al-Jauhari, Walter Raleigh, James Cook, Eric XIV of Sweden, Rasputin, Vishnu Sharma, Karl Marx, Thomas Farriner, Robert Boyle, Leon Trotsky, Walter Ulbricht, Charles-François Félix, John Harvey Kellogg, Louis Pasteur, Thorkell the Tall, William Nightingale, Tsar Peter III
Simon Farnaby (Series 6) Death, George III (Series 6), Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (Series 6), Benjamin Disraeli (Series 6)
Jalaal Hartley (Series 6 – present) Charles II of England, James I of England, Daniel Steibelt, William Gladstone (Series 7), Douglas Bader, Matthew Hopkins, Winston Churchill (Series 7 – present), Thomas Cromwell, Charles Dickens, Thomas Jefferson, Phillip II of Spain, Ernest Shackleton, Ptolemy XII Auletes, Caligula, Asser, Æthelberht, King of Wessex, Francis Walsingham, Ivan the Terrible, Vladimir Lenin, Christopher Columbus, Jackson Pollock, René Magritte, Orville Wright, Joseph Stalin (Series 6), John Cage, C. Auguste Dupin, Christopher Marlowe, Donatello, John Logie Baird, Alexander Fleming, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Pierre Curie, Claudius, Henry II (Season 7)
Harrie Hayes (Series 8) Elizabeth I of England (Series 8 – present)
Jim Howick (Series 6) George IV of the United Kingdom (Series 6), Napoleon Bonaparte (Series 6), Winston Churchill (Series 6), Mr. H, host of “History’s Craziest Fools”
Samson Kayo (Series 7) Jimi Hendrix, Chris Ofili, Martin Luther King Jr., Barack Obama, George Crum, Shaka Zulu
Naz Osmanoglu (Series 6) Henry II of England (Series 6), Thomas Wolsey (Series 6), Nero (Series 6), Octavian (Series 6), Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator (Series 6), Ethelstan (Series 6), Charles the Fat (Series 6), Saladin (Series 6), Suleiman the Magnificent (Series 6), Prince Albert (Series 6), Francis II of France (Series 6), Chris Staycalmer
Jessica Ransom (Series 6 – present) Mary, Queen of Scots, Queen Victoria (Series 8 – present), Cleopatra (Series 7 – present), Hedy Lamarr, Marie Antoinette, Bridget Holmes, Florence Nightingale, Eleanor Roosevelt, Grace Bedell, Catherine of Aragon, Catherine Parr, Frida Kahlo, Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Clementine Churchill, NoMerit Vynall, Elizabeth Cromwell, Anne Hathaway (wife of Shakespeare), Beatrix Potter, Mary Shelley, Margaret Nicholson, George Eliot, Barbara Hepworth, Charlotte Bronte, Joan of Arc, Eve Curie, Catherine the Great, Pauline Bonaparte, Maria Amalia
Adam Riches (Series 6) Geoff Reason, Julius Caesar (Series 6), Host of “Historical Grand Designs” (Series 6), Richard I of England (Series 6), Æthelwulf, King of Wessex (Series 6), Henry VII of England (Series 6), Charles I of England (Series 6), Pope Stephen VI (Series 6), Edward the Confessor (Series 6), Edward Jenner(Series 6), Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (Series 6)
Ryan Sampson (Series 7) Joseph Stalin (Series 7), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Series 7), Nero (Series 7), Simon Cowell (Series 7), Francis Drake (Series 7), Frederick, Prince of Wales (Series 7), Louis XVI (Series 7), William Clark (Series 7), Phidias (Series 7), Pablo Picasso (Series 7), Andy Warhol (Series 7), Rameses the Great (Series 7), Al Capone (Series 7), Steve Biceps (parody of Steve Backshall), Buzz Aldrin (Series 7), Thomas A. Watson (Series 7), Charles Babbage (Series 7), Benjamin Franklin (Series 7), Napoleon Bonaparte (Series 7), Theodore Roosevelt (Series 7), John F. Kennedy (Series 7), Ronald Reagan (Series 7), Vlad the Impaler (Series 7), Charles I of England (Series 7), Francis, Duke of Anjou (Series 7), Louis XIV (Series 7), Xerxes the Great (Series 7), Michelangelo (Series 7), Vincent van Gogh (Series 7), Nikita Khrushchev (Series 7), Edward Jenner (Series 7), King John of England (Series 7), Henry Richardson Labouisse Jr. (Season 7), Gonzalo Pizarro (Series 7)
Tom Stourton (Series 6 – present) Raynald of Châtillon, Edward Coke, Æthelred I, King of Wessex, Harold Godwinson, John Harrington, Tycho Brahe, Mark Antony, George Washington, Catus Decianus, Adrian Carton de Wiart, Sir Thomas Fairfax, William Shakespeare, D. H. Lawrence, Roald Dahl, Sherlock Holmes, Samuel Pepys, Ludwig van Beethoven, Elvis Presley, Merriwether Lewis, Leif Erikson, John Davis, Henry VIII (Series 7 – present), Nicholas II of Russia, Giacomo Casanova, Leonardo da Vinci, Swill Gumbitz, Joshua Reynolds, Rembrandt, Neil Armstrong, Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, Roderick Maclean, Johannes Gutenberg, Wilbur Wright, Alexander Graham Bell, George Washington, George III of Great Britain (Series 7 – present), Jefferson Davis, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Robert Dudley, Attila the Hun, Canute the Great, Lord Cardigan, Maxim Gorky, St. Jerome, Richard the Lionheart, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, George V of the United Kingdom, Captain Robert Falcon Scott
Thom Tuck (2016 Specials) Ben Jonson (2016 Specials), Lewis Carroll (2016 Specials), Alfred Lord Tennyson (2016 Specials), Branwell Bronte (2016 Specials)
Mike Wozinak (Series 8) Wilhelm II of Germany
Gemma Whelan (2016 Specials – Series 7) Enid Blyton, Emily Bronte, Gertrude Bell, Lucy Walker, Amy Johnson, Anne Boleyn, Josephine Bonaparte (Series 7), Anne of Cleves, Vigée Le Brun, Mona Lisa, Lisa del Giocondo, Nefertari, Hatshepsut, Agrippina the Younger, Mary I of England, Ada Lovelace, Parthenope Nightingale, Eleanor of Aquitaine (Season 7), Marie Curie, Maria Theresa, Margaret of Anjou
Michael Abubakar (Series 8 – present)
Lolly Adefope (Series 7) Head Teacher Hannah Lawrence, Harriet Tubman, Mary Bowser, Mary Seacole, Irène Joliot-Curie
Sanjeev Bhaskar (Series 6) Dean Mahomet (Series 6 – Series 7), Mahatma Gandhi (Series 6 – Series 7), Greek Man (Series 6 – Series 7), Shah Jahan (Series 6 – Series 7), Indian Man (Series 6 — Series 7)
Louise Ford (Series 6 – Series 7) Eleanor of Aquitaine (Series 6), Elizabeth I (Series 6 – Series 7), Antoinette de Bourbon (Series 6 – Series 7), Catherine Howard (Series 6 – Series 7), Jane Seymour (Series 6 – Series 7), Pocahontas (Series 6 – Series 7), Edith Roosevelt (Series 6 – Series 7), Mary II of England and Scotland (Series 6 – Series 7), Frances Nightingale, mother of Florence Nightingale (Series 6 – Series 7), Maria Anna Mozart (Series 6 – Series 7)
Katherine Jakeways (Series 6) Catherine de Medici (Series 6), Anne of Cleves (Series 6)
Lawry Lewin (Series 6) Brian, host of “Amazing Scientists” (Series 6), Oliver Cromwell (Series 6)
Jason Lewis (Series 6) Jamie Castle
Bhavna Limbachia (Series 6) Egyptian in Horrible Histories Health Direct (Series 6)
Dan Li (Series 6) Genghis Khan (Series 6 – Series 7), Emperor Zhengde (Series 6 – Series 7), Qin Shi Huang (Series 6 – Series 7), Confucius (Series 6 – Series 7)
James McNicholas (Series 7 - Series 8) Charles Darwin (Series 7 - Series 8), Louis VII of France (Series 7 - Series 8), Edward VI (Series 7 - Series 8), Henry VI (Series 7 - Series 8), William III of England (Series 7 - Series 8), Augustus (Series 7)
  • Richard Atwill (2016 Specials)
  • Richard David-Caine (2016 Specials – present)
  • Simon Farnaby (Series 6)
  • Jalaal Hartley (Series 6 – present)
  • Harrie Hayes (Series 8)
  • Jim Howick (Series 6)
  • Samson Kayo (Series 7)
  • Naz Osmanoglu (Series 6)
  • Jessica Ransom (Series 6 – present)
  • Adam Riches (Series 6)
  • Ryan Sampson (Series 7)
  • Tom Stourton (Series 6 – present)
  • Thom Tuck (2016 Specials)
  • Mike Wozniak (Series 8)
  • Gemma Whelan (2016 Specials – Series 7)

Supporting cast:

  • Michael Abubakar (Series 8)
  • Lolly Adefope (Series 7)
  • Sanjeev Bhaskar (Series 6 – Series 7)
  • Louise Ford (Series 6 – Series 7)
  • Katherine Jakeways (Series 6)
  • Lawry Lewin (Series 6)
  • Jason Lewis (Series 6)
  • Bhavna Limbachia (Series 6)
  • Dan Li (Series 6 – Series 7)
  • Emily Lloyd-Saini (Series 8)
  • James McNicholas (Series 7 – Series 8)
  • Dominique Moore (Series 6 – 2016 Specials)
  • Tom Palmer (Series 7)
  • Daniel Lawrence Taylor (2016 Specials)
  • Giles Terera (Series 6)
  • Danielle Vitalis (Series 8)
  • Natalie Walter (Series 6 – 2016 Specials)
  • Ellie White (Series 7 – Series 8)
  • Sophie Wu (Series 6 – Series 7)

Guest starring:

Episodes

see List of Horrible Histories (2015 TV series) episodes

Awards

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2018 Horrible Histories Series 7 BAFTA Children's Award for Best Writing Nominated
2018 Tom Stourton as Henry VIII BAFTA Children's Award for Best Performer Nominated
2018 Horrible Histories Series 7 BAFTA Children's Award for Best Comedy Nominated
2018 Horrible Histories Series 7 Broadcast Award for Best Children's Programme Won
2017 Horrible Histories Special: Crooked King John and Magna Carta International Emmy Award for Best Kids Factual Won
2017 Horrible Histories Special: Sensational Shakespeare Broadcast Award for Best Children's Programme Nominated
2016 Horrible Histories Special: Sensational Shakespeare BAFTA Children's Award for Best Comedy Won
2016 Tom Stourton as William Shakespere BAFTA Children's Award for Best Performer Nominated
2016 Horrible Histories Special: Sensational Shakespeare BAFTA Children's Award for Best Writing Nominated
2015 Horrible Histories Series 6 British Comedy Guide Award for Best Sketch Show Won
2016 Horrible Histories Special: Crooked King John and Magna Carta Kidscreen Award for Best Non-Animated or Mixed Series Won
2016 Horrible Histories Special: Awesome Alfred the Great Broadcast Award for Best Children's Programme Nominated
2015 Horrible Histories Special: Crooked King John and Magna Carta BAFTA Children's Award for Best Comedy Nominated
2015 Jessica Ransom as Mary, Queen of Scots BAFTA Children's Award for Best Performer Won
2015 Horrible Histories Special: Crooked King John and Magna Carta BAFTA Children's Award for Best Writing Nominated
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