Ahead of the release of Horrible Histories: The Movie, we spoke to Sebastian Croft – who plays young Roman Atti – about shooting the film, slimy sets and how he first got into acting

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I’ve been acting since I was about seven, and started my acting journey at [drama school] Stagecoach. I wouldn’t be doing what I am now if it wasn’t for it and Julia Howson, who was head of Stagecoach Abingdon.

Were you a Horrible Histories fan growing up?

I was a big Horrible Histories fan. I’m very dyslexic, and they were the only books that I really enjoyed reading; because they’re such fun and engaging books you learn without realising it.

As someone that struggled in the classroom with this, it was a fun outlet to learn about history and got me really engaged in the subject.

Did things ever get messy on set?

I wouldn’t say messy… but there were a lot of poo scenes. The make-up team had a little cupboard for poo and different types of slime.

What was your favourite scene to film?

I really loved shooting the songs. I thought they were really good fun and getting to sing and dance with all these amazing actors was all very surreal and weird.

My other favourite scene was the chase scene with Emilia (who plays Orla). There’s a horse and cart that I have to chase after, and in my head I felt like Tom Cruise, even if I knew it didn’t really look like that.

You and Emilia Jones were friends before the film weren’t you?

Yeah, we’d wanted to do a film together for ages. Whenever I got a script through, if it had a girl part, I’d always send it to her.

It was a real life goal for us to do a film together and we didn’t think it would happen this quickly but it did and it was amazing.

Why should people go out and watch Horrible Histories: The Movie?

It’s in keeping with everything that I loved about watching and reading Horrible Histories as a child. We had the most amazing cast and it’s a really fun family film.

There are lots of poo jokes but you’ll also learn a lot. It’s such a fun way of learning and I think for a lot of kids who may struggle in the classroom as I did, making learning fun is really important.

Horrible Histories The Movie: Rotten Romans is released on Friday 26 July 2019. Book tickets here.