Rowan Atkinson to guest star in Horrible Histories

Speaking to Radio 2, Greg Jenner, the historical consultant for Horrible Histories, revealed that the comedy legend will appear in series six of the brilliantly irreverant kids' show, playing the rotund despot Henry VIII. And he’s going to sing a song, but probably not about little goblins.

As Jenner noted, it’s “Rowan Atkinson in tights for the first time since Blackadder.”

The news comes just as Damian Lewis is also preparing to bulk out and play the king in Wolf Hall, although Mr Bean’s portrayal is likely to be less cartoonish.

Also lined up to appear in the new series are Ben Miller as bad King John, Kevin Eldon as William The Conqueror and Sanjeev Bhaskar in an unannounced role.

However, Jenner had possibly less welcome news on his Twitter feed, saying the cast will undergo some changes.

Although original horrible historians including Jim Howick, Simon Farnaby and Sarah Hadland will make a few appearances, a fresh new crop of comedians will take their place as the main players. They are: Jessica Ransom, Adam Riches, Naz Osmanoglu, Jalaal Hartley, Louise Ford, Natalie Walter, Tom Stourton and Tom Palmer (together known as Totally Tom).

Many of the original cast are now busy with other projects like Bill, a comedy about the life of William Shakespeare. Which reminds us…