[5][28][29] The show's effectiveness in this respect was endorsed by historical scholars, including presenter Dan Snow. "[67] Dent in The Guardian, while conceding what she called the show's "frankly slapdash, dumbed-down approach to history", also argued that "in Horrible Histories there are always serious messages lurking amid the silliness. [2][4][7][9] She meticulously gathered data on relating death tolls in hospitals to cleanliness, and, because of her novel methods of communicating this data, she was also a pioneer in applied statistics. Florence Nightingale (May 12, 1820-August 13, 1910) was a pioneer of modern nursing and a noted statistician. In the absence of any proven knowledge about how to treat this virus and in the face of soaring mortality rates, many people were willing to try anything to protect themselves and their families.

When you’re eight years old you get told what to do by everyone, so being able to teach your dad something is amazing.". The black rat puppet "host", Rattus Rattus, appears in short bridging segments, explaining the factual basis for each sketch. "[19], In its debut week of 15 June 2009, the show topped the UK children's TV viewing figures with 191,000 viewers. Perhaps most explicitly, Scots-Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole was deliberately championed in both a sketch and later song as a forgotten heroine in the shadow of Florence Nightingale. The geographical reach of the virus was intensified by the mass movement of people and livestock, as fighting came to an end and troops began to go home. Good general nursing was one of the only things that helped. In the fourth series, Gatiss, Shearsmith and Pemberton of The League of Gentlemen joined the show, playing the panel of Hollywood producers for the "Movie Pitch" sketches. "[2] Writing in The Independent, Tom Sutcliffe noted that "As a grown-up you might quibble with the fact that they don't always distinguish between things that genuinely are true and the things that people would like to be (sadly, there's no hard evidence that Aeschylus was brained by a tortoise dropped by an overflying eagle)", but added that "children and adults alike should enjoy the gleefully anachronistic way in which the information is presented. If a patient began to show signs of cyanosis it often meant death was close. The timeline for the most part ended at the Woeful Second World War. Some patients lost hair, fingernails and skin, or developed heart or lung complications, while others suffered severe depression.

[31] It was produced for the BBC by LionTV and Citrus Television,[note 4] with post-production being handled by Platform Post Production. These were rewritten as needed under Norris' supervision to ensure as much factual information as possible was included. [72][73], All five series of the original show, plus the "Scary (Halloween) Special", "Ridiculous Romance" & the "Frightful First World War Special" and "Horrible Christmas" have been released on Region 2 DVD by 2entertain for the BBC, both individually and as boxed sets. Public services collapsed under the strain, by mid-October the city’s morgue housed 500 bodies awaiting burial. Those performers with additional speaking parts are listed below: Puppeteer John Eccleston, operates the puppet rat host, Rattus Rattus, whilst also supplying his voice. This animation created for Florence Nightingale’s 2018 exhibition Spanish Flu: Nursing During History’s Deadliest Pandemic looks at the pandemic through the experiences of Dr Basil Hood and his nursing staff at St Marylebone Infirmary in London. [26], Taking cues from what Deary describes as his "seriously subversive" attitude towards the mainstream British history education model[5] meant that the show inevitably incorporated sociopolitical comment. In America the city of Philadelphia was particularly badly hit, with the Health Bureau recording 75,000 cases during September 1918 alone. Commentators cite the apt cleverness of the various historical/musical parody match-ups, and the complexity and skill with which the musical elements are executed. Horrible Histories is a British children's live-action historical and musical sketch comedy television series, based on the bestselling books of the same name by Terry Deary. He repeated the hot drinks of milk and brandy also hot enamel plates all through that night and early morning.”.

The starring troupe are Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, Sarah Hadland and Ben Willbond, alongside a large supporting cast headed by Katy Wix, Lawry Lewin, Alice Lowe and Dominique Moore. [4][47] Eventually this led them to continue working together after Horrible Histories ceased full-time production, creating, writing and starring in the TV series Yonderland and feature film comedy Bill.[47][48]. 8 in a similar Top 50 list presented later the same year by Channel Five. The data used to generate the Diagram of the Causes of Mortality in the Army in the East can be found in Mathematics of the Coxcombs. [32], Six performers (Baynton, Howick, Rickard, Willbond, Howe-Douglas and Farnaby) were credited as main or starring cast throughout the show's run; a seventh, Sarah Hadland, left after the second series but returned with an "also starring" credit for the fourth and fifth.

", "Horrible Histories to be remade for adult audience", "Miranda leads winners at British Comedy Awards 2010", "Peppa Pig, Bob the Builder join ranks of top children's TV show", "Channel 5 reveals Greatest Kids TV Shows results", "Children's BAFTA award winners and nominees in 2009", "RTS Announces Winners for the Programme Awards 2009", Association for International Broadcasting, "2010 Children's BAFTA Kids' Vote – Television", "PRIX JEUNESSE INTERNATIONAL 2010 Prize Winners", "Children's BAFTA award winners and nominees in 2011", "British Comedy Awards 2011 winners announced", "In Full: Broadcast Awards 2011 Winners – TV News", "Nominees for the 2011 Royal Television Society Programme Awards announced", "Children's BAFTA award winners and nominees in 2012", "British Comedy Awards 2012 – Full Results", "And the 2012 Kidscreen Awards go to ...", "Rose d'Or 2012 comedy winners announced", "RTS ANNOUNCES WINNERS FOR CRAFT & DESIGN AWARDS 2011/2012", "Children's BAFTA award winners and nominees in 2013", "British Comedy Awards 2013: List of nominees in full", "Stars of Horrible Histories to make Shakespeare film", "Horrible Histories heads to the big screen", "Yonderlanders: Celebrating the collective art of Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, and Ben Willbond", Horrible Histories: Ruthless Romans (video game), Horrible Science of Submarines exhibition, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Horrible_Histories_(2009_TV_series)&oldid=981385968, 2000s British children's television series, 2010s British children's television series, British children's comedy television series, British television shows based on children's books, British television shows featuring puppetry, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, 65 regular episodes, 6 full-length specials, 3 shorts. Discussion.

[5][15] They often fall under a recurring banner—usually with its own short title sequence—but otherwise vary widely in length, visual style and approach. The show has attracted several special guest stars. The exhibition was awarded ‘Temporary or Touring Exhibition of the Year’ at the 2019 Museum and Heritage Awards.