“Perfectly executed”: Horrible Histories Live (and Dead!)

Horrible Histories has well and truly earned its place in the children's TV show Hall of Fame. 

The Bafta Award winning BBC show first hit screens in 2009. 17 years later it is still adored by the kids of today and for the first time ever, playwright William Shakespeare came to Sheffield to put on the greatest show, bringing all of his historical mates with him.

Featuring a live band which included the writer of all of your favourite Horrible Histories songs, Richie Webb, Shakespeare takes the audience on a singalong journey through history. All seems to be going according to plan when he suddenly realises that there is no one to sing the big song at the end of the show. One problem: everybody wants the honour. 

Murderous monarchs and kooky characters battle it out to decide who will close the show. The selection of songs featured old favourites such as Henry VIII’s perfectly executed “Divorced, Beheaded and Died” and more recent numbers that I was unfamiliar with but were clearly very popular with younger fans, such as Mansa Musa’s “I Like To Spend It”.

Horrible Histories is known for its ability to cater to all ages and the show felt very pantomime-esque, with a couple of  “oh, yes it is!” gags and a few jokes that were clearly aimed at the more adult audience members. While I would not say that I, a woman in her mid twenties, was the target audience for this show, I still found myself laughing at the ridiculous jokes and singing along with the families around me. 

Not only did the cast have incredibly good comedic timing, they also had fantastic vocal abilities. Notable cast members included Richard David-Caine, who played a hilarious Shakespeare and made all the youngsters laugh with his brilliantly camp dance moves. Inel Tomlinson has a great voice and bantered excellently with fellow performers, and Alison Fitzjohn had remarkable range and made a really funny Queen Victoria (one was very amused). 

Horrible Histories Live (and Dead) is a self-aware piece of family friendly theatre full of nostalgia and humour. As someone who grew up watching the original cast on CBBC, I genuinely loved this version of it and it made me so happy to see that the songs and jokes are still enjoyed by and mean so much to young families today. And I know I was not the only person there who was my age belting out the words to the big song at the end of the show, “The Monarch Song” (which, to everyone’s complete and utter shock, was sung by everyone together - I love a happy ending). 

The show is on tour around the country until April 18th 2026 and you can grab your tickets here.