Horrible Histories (franchise)

The Telegraph 21 Feb 2013.

Horrible Histories is an educational entertainment franchise encompassing many media including books, magazines, audio books, stage shows, TV shows, and more.

In 2013, Lisa Edwards, UK publishing and commercial director of Scholastic Corporation, described Horrible Histories as one of the company's "crown jewels", and said it is at an "advanced stage of evolution". She added: "We have covered every possible era that has a commercial outcome...We're now in the era of the box set, annuals, newly presented editions and licensed products".

Horrible Histories first began as a book series. The series began in 1993 with The Terrible Tudors and The Awful Egyptians, and the following titles continued the trend to describe British history through the context of the ruling dynasties, as well as explore significant worldwide cultures (often within the context of British history such as the Viking and Roman conquests on the British Isles). A series of specials and novelty books have been released, and the last book was announced to be released in 2013.

There is also a fiction-type of Horrible Histories books that were added to the series called Gory Stories. The first set of these books were published in July 2008:

Blackout in the Blitz is listed on Terry Deary's website as Bombs on Britain, but on Amazon.co.uk it is listed as Blackout in the Blitz, along with a cover.

Horrible Histories was adapted into an animated series, starting in 2001. It was about Mo and Stitch's adventures through time and how they learned lessons that could be applied to their modern-day situations.

A live-action series, styled as a sketch show, began airing on CBBC in 2009. It won many awards over its 5 series run, including some British Comedy Awards - the first children's show to do so.

Horrible Histories with Stephen Fry was an edited version of the 2009 series hosted by Stephen Fry instead of Rattus Rattus, broadcast in 2011, and was aimed at an adult audience.

A rebooted version of the 2009 sketch show aired in 2015, retaining some members of the original cast in guest roles but with each episode focusing on a particular historical figure. Actors in Series 6 included Ben Miller, Rowan Atkinson, Kathryn Drysdale, Kevin Eldon, Simon Farnaby, Sarah Hadland, Lorna Watson, Jim Howick and Jessica Ransom . This series was directed by Simon Gibney and Ian Curtis. This series won an International Emmy® Kids Awards in Cannes in April 2017 for the episode 'Crooked King John and Magna Carta’. Jessica Ransom also won a Children's BAFTA for her performance as Mary Queen of Scots.

...
Wikipedia