Horrible Histories to live on!

CBBC’s Horrible Histories is to continue with themed specials after the fifth and final series finishes this summer.

The future of the popular series was discussed during the Children’s Media Conference in Sheffield, with Lion TV managing director Richard Bradley saying the team is considering basing a future edition around the Magna Carta to mark the 800th anniversary of its signing in 2015.

“It definitely feels like the last iteration of this densely-packed, 13-part sketch show, but we’re finding new ways of looking at it,” he said.

CBBC controller Cheryl Taylor also revealed that the question of what could replace Horrible Histories was at the forefront of her mind, with an interest in something in the mould of Mr Bean and a female double-act to rival the likes of Dick and Dom. But she also warned producers against pitching “pale imitations” of Horrible Histories.

The lead cast, consisting of: Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond, will star in an extended 45-minute World War I CBBC special of the show in the Autumn – featuring a mix of new and old material, as part of the BBC’s wider commemoration of the 100-year anniversary of the end of the war. It will include a new sketch based on the famous moment when the English and German armies put down their weapons to play football.

The team will also begin filming later this year a new BBC comedy film ‘BILL‘, about Shakespeare – or how Bill, a hopeless lute player leaves his family and home to follow his dream in a tale of murderous kings, spies, and lost loves.