hibernating with Henry

NOVEL ENTERTAINMENT LAUNCHES ‘STORY A DAY’ FREE AUDIO CONTENT INITIATIVE 

Oxford 29 January 2021. Novel Entertainment is launching a month-long ‘Story a Day’ offering as part of their Hibernating with Henry initiative, which will see a free audio story posted daily on internationally renowned Horrid Henry’s brand new website (https://www.horridhenry.me/). Starting from Monday 1 February, the first title available will be ‘Horrid Henry and the Antiques Rogue Show’ with additional stories including Horrid Henry Computer Whizz and Horrid Henry’s Favourite Day to follow; all stories will go live daily at 1600 GMT.  

‘Story a Day’ is part of Novel Entertainment’s current ‘Hibernating with Henry’ campaign, which is offering online resources and activities to keep children and families entertained and active during the current pandemic. Further activities will be announced in the coming weeks.  

Lucinda Whiteley, Creative Director and Co-Founder of Novel Entertainment, said:

“Henry’s been hard at work, thinking up ways to share his top hibernation tips. Of course, being Henry, he’s full of ideas, but first up we’re excited for Henry fans to be able to settle down after finishing their school day, with or without their grown-up, and listen to a different story every day throughout February.”   

Novel Entertainment first launched Horrid Henry audio content in Spring 2020 and continues to expand the offering for fans. Most recently, Novel Entertainment launched a ‘Horrid Henry’s Winter Wonderland’ audiobook compilation featuring Horrid Henry’s Christmas, Early Christmas Present and Winter Wish titles, and the ‘Super Scary One’, which includes Horrid Halloween, Horrid Henry and the Weird Werewolf and Horrid Henry’s Haunted House. These latest offerings are available on major platforms including Audible, Amazon and Spotify and join the initial six ‘Totally Horrid Collections’ which debuted last year.  

Novel Entertainment’s Horrid Henry audio content takes the form of dramatisations from its hit Horrid Henry TV series, featuring the show’s voice talent with additional narrative from Henry (voiced by Elizabeth Waterworth-Santo) and songs. A Horrid Henry podcast also launched in 2020 which is titled Horrid Henry Unlocked and presented by radio host Sean Thorne, voice actor Lizzie Waterworth, and Henry himself. It offers fans insights into the inner workings of the world of Horrid Henry.  

Since the start of the pandemic, Novel Entertainment has created over 100 pieces of fresh content for Horrid Henry, produced under the banner of Horrid Henry Unlocked which is designed to offer a familiar environment for fans to discover how the Horrid Henry family is responding to the current crisis. As well as the Horrid Henry podcast and audio stories, material includes Horrid Homework in the form of activities, projects, challenges, puzzles, and bespoke videos including newly created songs, short videos and behind the scenes content and interviews.  

Novel Entertainment also recently brought fans new long-form animated content including Horrid Henry’s Gross Day Out, a new 65’ action-adventure film which launched globally on Netflix in September 2020, alongside Horrid Henry’s Wild Weekend which debuted on Netflix in the UK last June and Nickelodeon UK in December 2020, and for Sub-Saharan Africa, Viacom/Nickelodeon has acquired the rights to Seasons 1-4 of Horrid Henry.  

 Season 5 of Horrid Henry is currently airing on Netflix in the UK, and also on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons UK & Ireland. A total of 250 Horrid Henry episodes are now available with recent sales including MBC (Middle East), Alati International (Russia), Atlantic Digital Networks (Canada), TG4 (Ireland), Amazon Prime Video (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), P&P (Bosnia), Produkcija (Slovenia), Kids Network (Latvia and Estonia) and Emirates (UAE and Middle East). Renewals include Turner Broadcasting System (Asia Pacific), Mediacorp (Singapore), POP TV (Slovenia), E-Vision (Middle East), Asiana (Korea) and Netflix (US, Canada, France, India, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland and Belgium). 

For further information please contact: 

Janet Balmforth at DDA Blueprint PR  

Tel: + 44 (0)7748 185656 or email: janet@ddablueprint.com 

NOVEL ENTERTAINMENT GETS READY TO ROCK WITH VIRTUAL HORRID HENRY ‘SUMMER OF SLIME’ FESTIVAL

Event taking place this weekend will include performances, new content, live acts, competitions and more

Oxford 27 August 2020. Novel Entertainment is hosting its first-ever Horrid Henry ‘Summer of Slime’ festival which will run virtually over the UK bank holiday weekend (August 29th – August 31st). Available to fans worldwide through a  on Horrid Henry’s YouTube channel and on the brand’s social media channels, the festival will feature exclusive behind-the-scenes content, specially commissioned videos, competitions, readings, live performances and more.

Horrid Henry fans will be able to enjoy acts including:

  • Premieres including: ‘Sunshine Special’; a compilation of new videos alongside favourite episodes; ‘Tales from Toon Island’, the true story behind Henry’s recent visit to Toon Island; and the ‘Imaginary Friends’ video which is helping to raise awareness of the NSPCC’s Childline service.
  • Exclusive ‘behind the scenes’ chats with Horrid Henry creatives Gary Andrews (director), Lester Barnes (composer) and Sue Elliot-Nichols (voice of Moody Margaret, Anxious Andrew and the Demon Dinner Lady)
  • New make and do videos including a supersonic slime recipe
  • Cooking themed videos and recipes including Precious Pauline’s Booger Bogey Flapjacks and Marvellous Molly’s Slime Slurper
  • A specially commissioned Air Guitar performance from the UK’s 2018 Air Guitar Champion Sparkly Sven Spandex, featuring a brand new Horrid Henry song called ‘Dinosaur Roar’
  • The Ultimate Guide to Air Guitar by Mighty Lee Mann, Horrid Henry’s very own Air Guitar Expert
  • A live show with world famous entertainer Magic Gareth and prizes from newly launched website Deckchair Adventures
  • Exclusive first look at new Horrid Henry content

Fans will also have the chance to win a variety of prizes linked to the ‘Summer of Slime’ festival including the obligatory festival wellies from Grass & Air, school shoes to rock out in from Start Rite, a selection of Jaques of London wooden toys, and glow-in-the-dark Playfoam from Learning Resources.

To encourage fans to have fun preparing for Summer of Slime, Novel Entertainment has created a ‘Get Festival Ready’ booklet which is available to download for free on www.horridhenry.me. The booklet features interactive activities including brand new puzzles, challenges and crafts.

Lucinda Whiteley, Creative Director and Co-Founder of Novel Entertainment, said:

“After a challenging few months, we wanted to provide children with a moment of celebration before they return to school and a virtual festival felt like a natural extension to the activities we’ve been working on during this time. Horrid Henry’s ‘Summer of Slime’ festival will provide families with the perfect opportunity to enjoy some holiday fun together, wherever they are. Never mind Glastonbury, this is Ashtonbury!

The ‘Summer of Slime’ festival is part of Novel Entertainment’s recently created content output, produced under the banner of Horrid Henry Unlocked and designed to offer a familiar environment for fans to discover more about their favourite Horrid boy. As well as the recently launched Horrid Henry podcast and audiobooks, new content includes Horrid Homework activities, creative projects, puzzles and challenges and bespoke videos including newly created songs, pop promos and behind the scenes content.

Novel’s four-time BAFTA-nominated Horrid Henry is one of the biggest children’s animated shows ever in the UK. The fifth season is currently on air in the UK and Novel is in production on new longer form content. The brand includes film, stage, radio and online extensions, as well as being at the heart of a successful licensing and merchandising programme.

Season 5 of Horrid Henry is currently airing on Netflix in the UK and also on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons UK & Ireland. A total of 250 episodes are now available with recent sales including MBC (Middle East), Alati International (Russia), Atlantic Digital Networks (Canada), TG4 (Ireland), Amazon Prime Video (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), P&P (Bosnia), Produkcija (Slovenia), Kids Network (Latvia and Estonia) and Emirates (UAE and Middle East). Renewals include Turner Broadcasting System (Asia Pacific), Mediacorp (Singapore), POP TV (Slovenia), E-Vision (Middle East), Asiana (Korea) and Netflix (US, Canada, France, India, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland and Belgium).

For further information please contact:

Janet Balmforth at DDA Blueprint PR

Tel: + 44 (0)7748 185656 or email:

About Novel Entertainment

Novel Entertainment was founded in 2001 by Mike Watts and Lucinda Whiteley. The company specialises in the creation and development of successful children’s character brands across a wide array of media.

Novel’s core programming includes Horrid Henry, Cinemaniacs, Fimbles, Rockit’s Pocket and The Roly Mo Show. Novel have produced more than 850 programmes for television and radio and their expertise extends into brand licensing and merchandising, computer games, interactive online content, music, theatre and film.

About Horrid Henry

Horrid Henry is a major multi-media brand. The TV show rapidly became CITV’s most popular series and is now Nickelodeon and NickToon’s most popular show.

The series is broadcast in more than 100 territories outside the UK and in 2011, Novel co-produced a live action feature film of Horrid Henry; the first ever British kids’ movie to be filmed in 3D.  Horrid Henry was the first UK children’s show acquired by Netflix for the launch of their UK platform in 2103.

There is an active licensing and merchandising programme in place and the property has also successfully been adapted for online, audiobooks and for computer games. The live stage show, Horrid Henry, Live and Horrid, ran for 285 performances in London’s West End and across the UK and the character’s official YouTube channel has attracted more than 600,000 subscribers and more than 1.5 billion worldwide views.