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BBC axes entire 'Horrible Histories' episode covering slavery because it breaches its own guidelines

From the Newshound archive · first published 28 September 2026 · last updated 29 September 2026.

BBC axes entire 'Horrible Histories' episode covering slavery because it breaches its own guidelines

The BBC has removed a full episode of its Bafta-winning children's series 'Horrible Histories' from iPlayer, with the axed instalment covering historical slavery, Victorian child workers and young chimney sweeps. The cuts also include a sketch depicting Madame Tussaud crafting wax death masks from severed heads of French Revolution victims. The episode is among several pulled or edited across BBC programmes as the corporation enforces its content guidelines.

Historian Guy Walters called it 'an insane decision', saying the BBC 'has absolutely no idea what children like — children love horrible things.'

The cuts follow similar edits to 'Mitchell and Webb' sketches, and previous removals from 'Little Britain', 'The League of Gentlemen' and 'Fawlty Towers'.

The show's entire purpose — making history visceral and educational — is reportedly destroyed by sanitising it.

MoreDaily Mail NewsHistory WAS horrible, so what gives the BBC's cultural commissars the right to censor Horrible Histories?GB News'Insane!' BBC removes entire Horrible Histories episode because it features slaveryMetroBBC removes Horrible Histories episode featuring slavery and child workers
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