THE PANEL
Richard Bradley
is chief creative officer of Lion Television, the production company that makes Horrible Histories, and was a key figure in bringing it to TV screens
Ben Ward
has been the show's head writer since its inception in 2009
Jessica Ransom
has starred in and written for Horrible Histories since 2012
The Horrible Histories TV show is a phenomenon, and is now in its 10th series. But let's rewind to the beginning. How did it start?
Richard Bradley: It began with a bedside chat with my son – who, to give you a sense of how long ago this was, is now 26. He absolutely loved Terry Deary and Martin Brown's hugely successful series of Horrible Histories books and said: “Dad, you make history shows on telly. Why don't you make the books as a TV show?” I thought it was a great idea, so we contacted the publishers, Scholastic, and got the rights to make it – but then we had to work out how to do that.
It was a huge, exciting challenge, but we had fantastic allies. [Director] Dominic Brigstocke and [producer] Caroline Norris came on board, along with the wonderfully gifted core cast – recently seen in [BBC sitcom] Ghosts. We worked out that we wanted to do a sketch show with a similar tone to Blackadder or Monty Python, but for kids. Our goal was the best show about history that had ever been made for kids.
Richard doesn't give himself enough credit,
