Horrible Histories black history shows have ‘true factor’

A Horrible Histories sketch showed Florence Nightingale turning down Jamaican-born Mary Seacole for work – BBC/Lion TV

A Horrible Histories producer has defended the accuracy of the show following its claims about black history.

The BBC children’s programme that gives humorous takes on history has drawn criticism for an episode that claimed that early Britons were black “before these isles were British”.

Other episodes covering aspects of the Empire and black British history, including false claims about Florence Nightingale, have also been criticised.

But Simon Welton, executive producer, has defended the show ahead of its 15th anniversary, saying that sketches are “really careful” about accuracy.

He said that the programme’s skits and songs are always based on a “true factor”, which may feature history that has been “re-examined”.

Mr Welton said:  “I think history can be very subjective; there are quite often two sides to history, particularly if it revolves around perhaps conflict or something like that.

“I think people can often choose to have different views of history, it can be quite particular in that sense.

“But I think everything that we do is checked… every sketch comes from a true factor and that true factor has been verified from a number of sources.

“And sometimes, of course, what you’ve also got to look at is, the show has now been going for 15 years, and in that time, history is constantly re-examined.”

The comedy series, inspired by author Terry Deary’s books, was launched on CBBC in 2009 to introduce young people to gruesome elements of history through irreverent sketches and songs.

One episode featured a song claiming that black people had been in Britain for 10,000 years

In 2021 the first Horrible Histories episode dedicated to black British history launched in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests the year before, with the episode including a song titled Been Here From the Start.

This song claimed that black people had been in Britain for 10,000 years, making the British Isles black “before these isles were British”.

It rested on research into the possible skin tone of the Western hunter-gatherer, who occupied Britain at this time. They may have had darker skin, but were not Sub-Saharan African.

The song also claims that Septimius Severus, a Roman Emperor, was black, despite the ruler merely being born in North Africa to parents from Italy and the Middle East.

Richard Bradley, creative lead at Horrible Histories with Lion Television, said at the time: “With the events of last summer, Black Lives Matter, the murder of George Floyd, and the Colston statue, it felt like the whole world had a moment to re-evaluate what we thought about the past.

“We thought it was a good moment to think about how Horrible Histories might tackle the whole area of black history.”

The programme caused upset with a 2014 episode featuring a sketch about Florence Nightingale, in which she was shown to have turned down Jamaican-born Mary Seacole for work.

This was found  to have breached accuracy guidelines, and the BBC said that there was no historical evidence that Nightingale “acted in a racially discriminatory manner”.

Mr Welton said that producers attempt to remain sensitive to the cultural significance of figures such as Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi because they may “feel a certain weight comes with that role”.

He added: “We will always pay great attention to that, it is a subject that obviously needs to be taken very seriously.”

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