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Horrid Henry is a British animated television series based on the book series by Francesca Simon produced by Novel Entertainment and Nelvana Limited (series 1 only), broadcast from 2006 to 2020 on CITV in the UK. The show ran for 5 series and 250 episodes, making it one of the most popular CITV shows.

This TV show is about a child named Horrid Henry who is, well, horrid of course. He also has a brother named Perfect Peter, who is just the opposite of Henry. Or maybe not. This show is known as one of CITV's most well known shows. Not to be confused with Horrible Harry.

As of 28 May 2018, it's airing on Nicktoons in the UK and Ireland, and has proved to be a huge success on there as well.

A website for the Show Within a Show Gross Class Zero can currently be found on the Novel Entertainment page, implying a Defictionalization of the show is in development following the special Horrid Henry's Gross Day Out.

This show is an example of:

• Abusive Parents: Horrid Henry's Mother and Father are like this to Henry, and while he can be a 'horrid boy' he's also just a kid. Several times Henry is scolded for no reason, and gets punished harshly for accidents and things that are beyond his control. He's the Unfavorite in the household and sad thing is that Henry knows it.
• Accidental Misnaming: Henry is referred as 'Henrietta' by his great aunt Greta.
• Achievements in Ignorance: After being spooked by Rude Ralph's shark prank during a swimming lesson as part of a bet, Henry finds out that not only he swam enough meters to earn his badge, he also broke a country record while doing so.
• Afraid of Needles: Henry, and his entire class minus Moody Margaret during injection day.
• Age Lift: While Clever Claire was in Henry's class in the books, for the series she was moved to Peter's class, though she still looks the same.
• Alliterative Name: Almost every character has a nickname like 'Sour Susan', 'Brainy Brian', etc.
• All Up to You: Such is the case for Henry in the episode, Horrid Henry and the Birthday Present. Henry bravely gets a Triple Trouble Blaster toy, takes a well-aimed shot at a thief who was trying to steal a pricey necklace from the store Henry was shopping at with Rich Aunt Ruby and Stuck-Up Steve, and manages to foil the thief's theft and have the thief captured. Henry is later rewarded for his heroics in preventing what would've been a successful theft, had Henry not intervened.
• Alpha Bitch: Moody Margaret is a primary school aged example of this trope.
• Always Someone Better: Mr. Mossy to Horrid Henry in Horrid Henry and the Dinner Guests. Said word-for-word at the end of the episode. Subverted, as Henry pranks him in the end.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Perfect Peter, so much.
• Anti-Hero: Guess who!
  • However, Henry inverts this trope in some episodes.
• Anti-Role Model: Horrid Henry and Moody Margaret.
• Anti-School Uniforms Plot: In one episode, students are made to wear blazers. Henry notices that the blazers look alike and uses it to get away with raiding the confiscation cupboard. The teachers realise this too, abolishing school uniforms to prevent similar events from happening.
• Art Evolution: The animation seems to improve in series 3.
• Art Shift: Series 5, being animated by Blue Arts in China, alternates between using traditional animation and flash animation.
• Artistic License – Education:
  • While some schools forbid exessively unhealthy food from being taken onto school grounds, they are at least expected to give any confiscated snacks back to students at the end of the day. Greasy Greta the dinner lady taking the kids' snacks and eating them in front of them is stealing, and would get her fired in real life.
  • In one episode, Soggy Sid sends Henry to detention on the spot after he spills coffee on him, and at lunch time, Ralph comments on the length of said detention, saying he thought he'd be out by break time, implying that the school detains students over classes with no such thing as a schedule. In real life, detentions are assigned to be served specifically during free periods.
• Ascended Fanboy: One episode features Henry joining the Killer Boy Rats, his favourite band.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Don't ever take Peter's Bunny and tease him with it.
  • Never sit in Mr. Smythe's chair. It is the single rule in Margaret's household.
• Big Eater: Greedy Graham, natch. He was even said to have eaten a comic book in one episode. ("Don't ask.")
• Big "NO!": Henry at the start, or end of every episode if something goes wrong. It would show him shouting "No!" and then it would zoom into his mouth, and then the title card appears. Besides Henry, Peter and some of the characters did this as well.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: Henry may be horrid, but his family is pretty awful too.
• Birthday Episode: Four of them; two for Henry, one for Peter, and henry's cousin Steve had one too.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  • Henry usually addresses the viewers. In one episode, Henry asked the viewers he needed help with the picnic that his father made, he then replied with "What do you mean ''no?'".
  • Peter did this too in some episodes about him.
  • Margaret did this once.
  • Even Henry's Mum does it.
  • In "Horrid Henry's Mighty Mission", it takes about three minutes for Henry's pretend mission to begin, due to the other members of Henry's team joining halfway though his explanation of the mission. He lampshades this by saying that the episode will be over by the time the mission begins.
• Brick Joke: In Horrid Henry's Sick Day, he was told to leave the taps on in the bathroom. At the end of the episode, his father opened the door for the bathroom, and then the house got flooded.
• The Cameo: Roly Mo from The Fimbles, another show produced by Novel Entertainment, makes several appearances. The most blatant being in a snowglobe Henry's friends give him as a going away present in Horrid Henry Says Goodbye.
• Catchphrase:
  • "Don't be horrid, Henry!"
  • "I dunno."
  • "It's not fair!"
• Cats Are Mean: Fluffy the cat in some episodes.
• Character Name and the Noun Phrase: Most of the titles are like this.
• Character Tic:
  • Gorgeous Gurinder twirls her hair.
• Christmas Episode: Horrid Henry's Christmas
• Comic-Book Time: Not to the extent of The Simpsons or South Park, as the Horrid Henry TV series,but it ran from 2006 to 2019 for 5 series and none of the characters ever aged a day.
• Companion Cube:
  • For Peter, it's his stuffed 'Bunny'.
  • Henry also has a stuffed animal, a bear named 'Mr. Kill'.
• Company Cross-References: The Fimbles is a BBC live-action preschool series that ran from 2002 to 2004 (with reruns until 2012) and notably marked the first production by Novel Entertainment, who would later go on to produce Horrid Henry. As a result of this shared production history, Fimbles is referenced multiple times throughout Horrid Henry: Roly Mo is featured or mentioned from Series 2 onward, while Yugo and Migo from The Roly Mo Show appear as party entertainers in "Horrid Henry’s Birthday Bonanza". Songs originating from Fimbles are reused, including “It’s Your Birthday Today,” “It’s Good to Have Friends,” and the “Fimbling Feeling” tune, sung by Peter in various episodes. The connection is further reinforced through Horrid Henry social media and the "Horrid Henry: Unlocked!" podcast, where it’s established that Perfect Peter is a fan of Fimbles, with Henry even referencing the show while promoting Novel’s official Fimbles Twitter page.
• Cross-Dressing Voices: Lizzie Waterworth and Emma Tate as Henry and Peter receptively in the animated series.
• Cultural Translation: The French dub changes mentions of pounds (the currency) to euros, and even scales the number in question to match the value (For example, in "Horrid Henry Eats Out", Dad offering Henry two pounds as a reward for good behaviour is changed to four euros)
• Denied Food as Punishment: It's not uncommon for Mum to send Henry to bed without tea (Or dinner, British cartoon).
• Depending on the Writer: Mum and Dad often have moments that fuel the fanbase's perception of them as Abusive Parents whether it's fair or not, but there are several episodes where they provide no such ammo to be used against them, and treat Henry very nicely. Examples of this involve "Horrid Henry and the Go Kart", "Horrid Henry Goes Fishing" and "Horrid Henry and the Lucky Thing".
• Downer Ending: Quite a lot of episodes end with a low note for Henry and other characters.
• Eagleland Osmosis: In Horrid Henry Goes to Work, it's Take Your Kid to Work Day and Dad takes Henry with him to his workplace while Mum takes Peter to hers. In real life there's no such thing as Take Your Kid to Work Day in Britain.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: A few episodes from Series 1 had Ralph be hostile towards Henry which can come across as odd as they're usually loyal towards each other.
  • Weepy Williams tears had teardrop effects in two early Series 1 episode which are never used again.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Henry in any episode.
  Henry: Eureka! That's it!
  • Even Peter himself has one of these moments. For example, in an episode known as Horrid Henry, Nothing but the Truth Peter says the very phrase that Henry is known for saying after having an idea to expose Henry for his obviously horrid character traits.
• Everyone Has Standards: In Horrid Henry's House Party when their senile great aunt serves them cat food, Henry pours both his and Peter's into Fluffy's bowl. As mean as he is to Peter sometimes, he's not going to have him eat cat food.
• Excited Episode Title!: Happy Birthday, Peter!, Happy Birthday, Steve!, Horrid Henry, This Is Your Fault!
• Faint in Shock: In Horrid Henry and the Injection, Henry faints out of his fear of injections after listening to Peter talking about how the injection process works.
• Felony Misdemeanor: In Horrid Henry, It's All Your Fault Miss Oddbod, a cat lover, ignores Margaret being rude to the dinner lady but gives her detention for using the phrase "like a kitten on a hot tin roof".
• Foul Cafeteria Food: Henry has been seen complaining about the canteen food from time to time and usually prefers having a packed lunch instead. In one episode, he is made to get school dinner, where he is served a red noodle-like food which he imagines being eaten by. Of course, it doesn't help that the dinner lady there is a sadistic and cruel woman who bans treats when she is told to watch over the packed lunchroom.
• Framing the Guilty Party: In Moody Margaret Moves In, in addition to putting Peter in a trash can in an attempt to frame Henry, Margaret also gets in trouble for throwing Henry's stuff out of his bedroom window, which he did himself to frame her.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Margaret treats her friends like total crap.
• Gassy Gastronomy: In "Horrid Henry and the Green Machine", Henry gets the idea to eat beans and fart in the direction of their new wind turbine to generate energy for the house. It causes the turbine to move slightly, but the plan collapses under the fact that if Henry is farting outside, then he can't use his technology inside.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: In "Perfect Peter's Horrid Day" Peter has two shoulder angels. The Devil encourages him to be horrid, and the Angel tells him to be perfect.
• Go to Your Room!: Henry often gets this punishment.
• Gray-and-Grey Morality: Henry and Margaret see each other as arch-enemies, though they're probably both as mean and badly-behaved as each other.
• Halloween Episode: Horrid Henry Tricks and Treats.
• Huge Schoolgirl: Clever Claire is the tallest kid in Peter's class.
• I Just Want to Be Special: At least a couple of episodes have involved Rude Ralph wishing he had a special talent.
• Imagine Spot: Henry often gets one, usually involving him turning into a predatory animal and harassing Peter.
• Irony: In the girls' song "Girls Rule" Gurinder gets the line "Girls can do the toughest maths" when she's actually The Ditz.
• Leitmotif: The main characters seem to have a recurring theme playing throughout their scenes. Henry's is a rude sounding rock guitar, Peter's is a cheerful sounding flute (sometimes accompanied with renditions of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star), Margaret's is a bossy sounding trumpet, and the Mum and Dad is a calm sounding guitar.
• Lighter and Softer: Some of the books darker elements are omitted from the show and Henry himself is much less vile in the show than he is in the books.
• Long-Runners: How many episodes for a show with 5 series? 220 episodes.
• Lower-Deck Episode:
  • "Moody Margaret, Superstar" to "Horrid Henry and the Fashion Show", focusing on Margaret and her friends.
  • There's also Horrid Henry and the Special Spa Day to Perfect Peter's Perfect Day, showing where Peter and Dad went to while Henry and Mum were at home.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Some episodes show Fluffy supposedly raising the sun in the morning with the TV remote.
• Meaningful Name: All of the characters nicknames describe their personality.
• Mirror Character: Pimply Paul and Henry don't normally get along, but they are more alike then they think and they even develop a father-son relationship over the course of the show.
  • In "Horrid Henry Goes to the Movies", neither of them wants to see the kiddie film Polly's taking them to, so they work together to sneak into a horror movie.
  • Then, there is the time that Henry was forced to work alongside Pimply Paul in the episode, Horrid Henry Delivers the Milk. Paul even gives Henry a compliment of all things when Henry encourages Paul to challenge Eddie Edwards, a rival milk delivery man who had been trying to take over Paul's delivery patch. Henry even shows how to beat Eddie Edwards at his own game: go in the opposite direction that Eddie would go.
  Pimply Paul: You're not as horrid as I thought you were. (Henry smiles to that in response, and Paul amends his statement.) Okay, maybe you are, but you're certainly not stupid.
• Musical Episode: Horrid Henry, This Is Your Fault is like this. It had a few songs by some of the characters.
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between:
  • For the female students, Gorgeous Gurinder and Singing Soraya (nice), Moody Margaret and Sour Susan (mean), and Lazy Linda (in-between). Nasty Nicola is also mean.
  • For the female faculty members, Miss Lovely (nice), Miss Battle-Axe (mean), and Miss Oddbod (in-between). If including all known staff, Miss Lovely, Wheely Walter, Graham's Mum (nice), Greasy Greta, Greta's Twin, Miss Battle-Axe, and Soggy Sid (mean), and Miss Oddbod and Madame Tutu (in-between).
  • For Henry's classmates: Gorgeous Gurinder, Singing Soraya, Jolly Josh, Weepy William and Anxious Andrew (nice), Moody Margaret, Sour Susan and Nasty Nicola (mean), and Rude Ralph, Aerobic Al, Brainy Brian, Beefy Bert, Greedy Graham, and Lazy Linda (in-between). Henry himself started out mean, but became in-between later on.
• No Ending: Many episodes just end abruptly with little to no conclusion.
• Objectshifting: In "Horrid Henry and the Perfect Plane", Henry briefly transforms into a miniature airplane to buzz around Peter's head. This was probably just an Imagine Spot, though. Probably.
• Ocular Gushers: Weepy William is like this every time.
• Oh, Crap!: In one episode where Henry tries to watch a football match even though he has to go to Stuck-Up Steve's birthday party, he resorts to listening to it on a portable radio. The match gets so exciting he accidentally knocks the giant birthday cake over Aunt Ruby, when everyone yells "Henry!", the episode ends on Henry: "Oops".
• Once per Episode: Henry shouting a Big "NO!" in almost every single episode.
• Only the Leads Get a Happy Ending: Happens in some episodes most infamously in "Horrid Henry's Wedding.
• Overly Long Gag: Margaret's Big "NO!" in "Horrid Henry Mixes It Up".
• Partial Transformation: Henry appears to have the ability to transform into different animals.
• Passionate Sports Girl: Margaret is very good at football, possibly more than Al.
• Pet the Dog: Sometimes, Henry is shown to not be as bad as he makes himself out to be.
  • When Perfect Peter is having a sleepover, rather than try to sabotage it, Henry actually comes in and decides to have fun with Peter and his guests. Likewise, they legitimately begin to have fun with the sleepover. Until Floorboard Failure happens, thanks to Peter jumping on the bathtub during the "Grand Finale"
  • In "Perfect Peter Pumps Up", Henry helps Peter get the confidence to stand up to Bill, who has been bullying him.
  • See also some other episodes where Henry actually looks out for Perfect Peter.
  • He's also very kind to his best friend, Rude Ralph and helps him win an air guitar competition which gives Ralph confidence in himself.
  • Wheely Walter is paralyzed from the waist down and is one of the few teachers Henry actually gets along with and likes. That's mainly because he doesn't make Henry a scapegoat and is actually pretty competent at his job, unlike most of the other teachers.
  • After Henry manages to get all the events cancelled at a sports day, he picks up all the leftover trophies and gives one to Peter.
• Prone to Vomiting: Baby Vera throws up randomly and often, to the point where her nickname is "Vomiting Vera".
• Pyrrhic Victory: In "Horrid Henry Tidies Up", Henry and Peter are having a competition to see who has the most cleanest bedroom and whoever wins gets to go to their favourite restaurant (Henry: Gobble and Go & Peter: Virtuous Veggie). Henry does win the competition only find out that Gobble and Go changed hands and is now owned by Virtuous Veggie, so unless Henry got to make a change of plan due to this not being an expected factor, Peter does win after all.
• Questioning Title?: Horrid Henry, Who's Who?
• Recycled Soundtrack: A number of songs from the stage show Horrid Henry - Live and Horrid! have been reused in the series. Some of them more than once.
• Replaced the Theme Tune: The series had two completely different theme songs. The first song played for the first couple of episodes on television, and then were obviously replaced by the current theme song. The "original" can be found on some of the DVD releases and reruns on Nicktoons.
  • Starting from series 4, the intro looks a lot different.
• Shout-Out:
  • To David Bowie of all things in one episode of the TV series. Specifically a reference to "Ziggy Stardust".
  • There's also Roly Mo from The Fimbles, who not only has the same voice actor as Henry’s dad (Wayne Forester), but also has short appearences through series 2 as a stuffed toy, and in one episode of series 3 and the series 5 premiere, Peter was singing the theme song of The Roly Mo Show.
  • The winning tickets in The School Fair are both 42.
• Show Within a Show: There is an endless amount of shows which often get mentioned in several episodes, and the two most notable ones are Gross Class Zero and Happy Hippos.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: The show and the books are actually pretty mean-spirited and cynical, despite being aimed at kids.
  • The protagonist is a disgusting ill-mannered brat who likes to make everyone's life a living hell. His family and peers are no better either.
  • If you're sweet and friendly, you're bound to get tormented by either Henry, Margaret, or some nasty adult.
• Split-Screen Reaction: Henry and Margaret did this in a series 4 episode. They both screamed "No!".
• Spoiled Brat:
  • Stuck-up Steve, of course.
  • Moody Margaret as well.
• The Stool Pigeon: Perfect Peter.
  Horrid Henry: "You don't have to tell on me..."
  Perfect Peter: "Yes I do~ Muuuuuuuuuum!/Daaaaaaaaad!"
• Squirrels in My Pants: Henry in the episode “Horrid Henry’s Hiccups.” Peter and his club try to cure Henry’s hiccups by catching a frog and placing it down the front of his trousers, startling him.
• Suddenly Speaking: Fang in "Horrid Henry and the Snotslimer Redemption." Although he's always muttered "yeah, yeah, yeah", in this episode he speaks full sentences when surrounded by other hamsters.
• "Take Your Child to Work Day" Plot: "Henry Goes to Work" revolves around Henry's dad taking him to his work at the toothpaste factory and forcing him to work with his boss' son.
• Transatlantic Equivalent: Could be viewed as one to Caillou, both of them being kids shows revolving around a character whose behavior causes kids to copy said behavior, resulting in parents heavily disliking the show.
• Tripping Before the Finish Line: In "Horrid Henry's Hiccups", Henry is about to break the world record for the most hiccups. In fact, he is only one hiccup away when Peter gets the idea of putting a frog in his pants, which scares him enough that his hiccups go away.
• Unnamed Parent: All of the parents fall into this category, with the exception of Henry and Peter's father (Simon) and Steve's mother (Ruby).
• Vanity Is Feminine: Gurinder is a vain girl who also is obsessed with her looks and this is mainly what she concentrates on. If she concentrated half as much on her schoolwork she might be just as clever as Brian. Margaret is very vain as well, and wears makeup a lot as well, however she is also quite tomboyish.
• Verbal Tic:
  • Singing Soraya says everything in a sing-songy tone.
  • Aerobic Al says "cool" a lot.
  • Miss Lovely says "lovely" a lot.
• Vocal Evolution: For Beefy Bert. He had a low voice in the first series. But starting from series 2, his voice is now a lot higher-pitched than before.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The exact location of Ashton is not disclosed during the series. It was named after Ashton-Under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, but pretty much everybody in the show speaks with southern English accents. While some characters have accents such as Brummie, Welsh, Scottish, etc, they tend to be the only ones to have them, meaning they likely moved. The main accent implies that Ashton could be a town or suburb in a less busy part of London.
• Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Henry did this in Horrid Henry and the Bogey Babysitter before the title card.
  • Again in Horrid Henry's Injection.
• World of Jerkass: Like the books, the number of characters who aren't unpleasant in some way or other can be counted on one hand.
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: '2Cool4School' is an example.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Happens to Henry at the end of most episodes.