Quite simply, Horrible Histories is my favourite TV show. Ever. It is indisputably the greatest historically accurate historical comedy sketch show ever made. If you like history and British humour, you need to give it a look. Oh, and the cast are not bad-looking either. Which is not, of course, my chief reason for watching the show, but it's a nice bonus. (I'm a Willbond fan, myself. The world needs more adorable Gene Kelly-lookalikes like Ben Willbond.)
~A Brief History of Horrible Histories~
The first series of Horrible Histories aired on CBBC (the BBC's children's channel) in 2009. Inspired by Terry Deary's bestselling Horrible Histories books, the program featured excellent writing and acting, and ingenious songs and pastiches of popular TV shows. It was a huge hit with children across the UK. A second series was commisioned, and with Series 2, the show's success exploded. It became the first children's program ever to win a British Comedy Award, winning the Best Sketch Show category. While the third series was shown on CBBC in 2011, a revamped version of the show - featuring Stephen Fry as host, presenting the best sketches from the first two series - was being aired on Sunday nights on BBC1. In July 2011, the cast presented the Horrible Histories Prom, which blended a selection of HH songs and classical music favourites (for American readers - The BBC Proms are essentially a classical music festival, held every year at the Royal Albert Hall). As of October 2011, a fourth series is currently being filmed, and the Horrible Histories fanbase continues to grow!
The secret to Horrible Histories' success? While it is ostensibly a "kids show", in reality it is one of the cleverest, funniest comedy shows currently on TV. It has a very talented bunch of people behind it, including writers, producers, actors, and the fabulous costume department. Producer Caroline Norris has said that the makers of HH have made it their goal from the outset to create a quality program that was funny and educational for all ages, not just children. Well - they succeeded.
While Horrible Histories is immensely popular with children across the UK and Australia, it has also become a cult hit among teens and adults. It has an obsessive passionately dedicated online fanbase, and dozens of HH sketches and songs have passed the 100k views mark on Youtube, with several videos approaching 1 million views.
The songs have always been one of the highlights of Horrible Histories. There have been parodies of Lady Gaga, Westlife, The Bee Gees, Adam Ant, Michael Jackson and Eminem. . . to name a few. Here are some of the best.
~Scintillating Sketches~
Featuring excellent writing and ever-brilliant performances from the cast.
Oh, I absolutely love Horrible Histories! I used to read the books when I was younger and I completely agree with everything you said about the show :')
The Charles II rap is my favourite, along with the Henry VIII song and the 4 Georges one: I can quite confidently say that me and my brother know them all by heart! And the Causes of WW1 sketch always has me in tears (of laughter, that is!)
I think that one of the reasons why they're so popular is that they are both factual and funny, which means you can learn and have a laugh at the same time :)
1 comments:
Oh, I absolutely love Horrible Histories! I used to read the books when I was younger and I completely agree with everything you said about the show :')
The Charles II rap is my favourite, along with the Henry VIII song and the 4 Georges one: I can quite confidently say that me and my brother know them all by heart! And the Causes of WW1 sketch always has me in tears (of laughter, that is!)
I think that one of the reasons why they're so popular is that they are both factual and funny, which means you can learn and have a laugh at the same time :)
~Abby
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