The BBC has made the decision to edit episodes of Horrible Histories, which featured sketches including child workers and slavery, after they failed to meet strict guidelines.
Episodes of Horrible Histories have been removed or edited by the BBC(Image: BBC)
The BBC has edited and removed sketches from Horrible Histories. The broadcaster decided to edit the programme after it failed to meet guidelines for children’s programmes.
The broadcaster has also removed an entire episode of the show featuring slavery, Victorian child workers and chimney sweeps. Horrible Histories is based on the bestselling book series of the same name by Terry Deary, which was intended to pique children’s interest in history.
The show, produced for CBBC, debuted in 2009 and aired 11 series before ending in 2014. At least seven sketches or scenes have been removed from the show, including one showing Madame Tussaud making wax masks from severed heads, according to The Times.
Another sketch, no longer available on BBC iPlayer, depicted white actors using darker makeup to portray ancient Egyptians or Incas.
Actor Mathew Baynton, who played characters including William Shakespeare and Guy Fawkes on the programme, previously said it could be argued the show did “blackface” in its depiction of Egyptians.
Speaking to The Telegraph in 2022, he said: “We didn’t do blackface, for example, but you could argue that we did. Because I played Egyptians, you know, for example, where you’d get a spray tan, essentially, and stand in your pants.”
The episode, which has been removed, is said to have featured a sketch teaching children about slavery in ancient Rome by depicting a Roman galley as an airline flight, with enslaved rowers chained to their oars and told they will not be allowed to escape if the ship sinks.
Another sketch showcased how children in the Victorian era were sent into dangerous and narrow chimneys, with one young boy being sent into the chimney and being told: “Try not to die.”
A spokesperson for the BBC said: “The edits to Horrible Histories were made seven years ago, in consultation with the programme makers, to ensure the series meets our editorial guidelines for children’s programmes.”
The news comes after the BBC removed several sketches from That Mitchell and Webb Look when the show aired on iPlayer, having decided that some of the material “no longer works today”.
The sketch comedy show, starring comedians David Mitchell and Robert Webb, who wrote and starred in the programme, originally ran for four seasons between 2006 and 2010. It also took home a BAFTA in 2007.
To celebrate the sketch comedy programme’s 20th anniversary, the national broadcaster added four seasons of the smash-hit show onto iPlayer for fans to enjoy – but with a few notable omissions.
A total of 11 sketches had been edited out amid fears of racism and ethnic stereotyping. “That Mitchell and Webb Look has been made available on BBC iPlayer,” the broadcaster said in a statement. “This is a 20-year-old sketch show; in consultation with the programme makers, we have included the ones that still work today and not the ones that don’t.”
As per The Times, material removed from the programme included scenes featuring war re-enactors in blackface, a joke about Jimmy Savile, and an indigenous tribe living in a garden centre.
One now-deleted sketch shows Mitchell playing a woman in a burka in a scene that sends up reality TV programming. The sketch then cuts to the pair – as themselves – discussing whether or not the sketch itself is actually offensive.
The Mirror has approached Horrible Histories author Terry Deary for comment.
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