That’s horrible!
What brought Taskmaster mastermind Alex Horne to the set of Horrible Science?
BBC
- Gabriel Tate
Add Horrible Science to your watchlist
Ad
“Behind there, we have a couple of spaceships,” says executive producer Simon Welton, casually. Across the way is a familiar-looking time machine. But we’re not on set in north London for Doctor Who – well, not quite. We’re here for the second series of Horrible Science, the Bafta-nominated CBBC show that brilliantly blends songs, sketches and science.
Assorted incarnations of “Professor Who” (one is played by Nick Arnold, the author of the books that inspired the show) take turns to describe the properties of the planets in the solar system while twiddling a console. The time machine, apparently repurposed from a Norwegian sci-fi film, is huge on the outside and tiny on the inside. Its name? The Far Away Really Treacherous Travel in Space...
“It takes a certain type of person to be in this cast,” says Richard David-Caine, who later today will be swapping a Time Lord’s trenchcoat for a caveman’s loincloth in another sketch. “There’s
got to be a glint in your eye, because it’s incredibly silly. Do I understand what I’m saying in the show? Well, line learning is harder on this than anything else I’ve ever done. But I do talk to the chief boffins on site. If I can understand it, hopefully everyone can.”
Rose Johnson and Richard David-Caine. BBC
While this sketch may not feature Messrs Smith or Tennant, others have the explicit approval of those they spoof. Tour commitments ruled out a potential Ed Sheeran cameo, but this series does feature the Match of the Day team (“Let’s have a look at the [periodic] table”), the inevitable Gladiators crossover, plus Taskmaster’s Greg Davies and Alex Horne, challenging palaeontologists from the past to draw their idea of an iguanodon from the fossils available to them at the time.
“Alex and Greg did the links in the Taskmaster studio with a live audience, then we built the lab and Alex came down to act in the sketch with the scientists,” explains Welton. “Alex had a great time, because he used to watch Horrible Histories with his children.
Ad
“The real hope is that kids watch it with their families. Kids definitely learn best when they’re enjoying themselves.”
Authors
Gabriel Tate
Ad
Ad
Subscribe for £1 per week
Too much to watch this autumn? Let Radio Times magazine and app do the choosing, with expert picks across TV, streaming and film.
Ad