Horrible Histories Interactive is a ground-breaking online experience for children. It was commissioned by CBBC as part of their multiplatform approach to the high-rating children’s comedy sketch show.
The television series is based on the best-selling books from Scholastic written by Terry Deary and illustrated by Martin Brown. It combines comedy and historical fact to bring the past alive with sketches, songs, cartoons and quizzes.
The television series is led by a talking rat, who guides viewers on a hilarious romp through the ages, revealing disgusting facts, crazy inventions, gory deaths and gruesome punishments.
The interactive offering includes the game Horrible Histories: Terrible Treasures, which was co-produced with BAFTA award-winning Littleloud Studios. Now in its second series, there are four adventures to play. Each is set in a different historical era: Rotten Romans, Terrible Tudors, Measly Middle Ages and Awful Egyptians.
Created for a sophisticated children’s audience, Terrible Treasures combines the fun of gaming with visually rich environments and lots of video. Like the television series, it has a unique “soft-learning” approach to historical content.
The game is also wholly integrated with the television series, retaining the successful comedy style with the same writers and actors.
The aim of the game is to help the Horrible Histories rat who has lost pieces of a treasure map and needs to find them.
Players explore the rich 3D environment searching for the map pieces. They play games, learn facts and watch video clips. They meet characters – played by actors from the television series – who they can interact with, by asking questions and getting clues.
Each era features three locations. For instance, in Terrible Tudors, players explore a market place, outdoor theatre and dark dungeon.
The actors were filmed entirely on green screen and then composited on the detailed backgrounds.
The result is a highly entertaining, visual and deeply immersive experience.
When the players have completed all four adventures, they can take the Time Sewers Challenge to become a true Horrible Historian. This is a replayable, addictive game which opens the door to the vault where all the treasure is stored.
The online experience is further enhanced with a wealth of video content offered on the website. This includes 12 exclusive Behind the Scenes clips such as actor Mathew Baynton interviewing himself, a Dance Masterclass taken by the three male lead actors, and a day in the life of actor Ben Willbond with a wildlife documentary style narration.
All the hugely popular songs from the series are offered as video and lyrics.
The Red Button platform also offered these Behind the Scenes videos and the Songs, allowing the audience to access this additional content in multiple ways.
Horrible Histories is one of the most popular programme websites on CBBC. Since the website launched it has received more than 25 million views. The team are currently in production on Series Three, with a new suite of fun games and videos to launch in 2011.
Horrible Histories Interactive won Best Interactive Production at the History Makers Awards 2011.
Horrible Histories Website