Characters / Horrid Henry

Main Characters

Horrid Henry

The main protagonist of the series. Henry is a selfish, greedy troublemaker who likes to play tricks on people.

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• Abusive Offspring: In some stories in the books, he is abusive to his parents whenever they don't let him have something that he wants. This doesn’t play well and will both end up punishing him for insulting them:
  Henry: You're the meanest parents in the world and I hate you!
  • In the TV version, his outbursts at his parents were toned down, with Henry simply saying to them that they’re the worst. Most of the time, he refers to them as being mean and horrible to the audience.
• Adaptational Heroism: Henry is notably a lot worse in the original books, often displaying some sociopathic traits and reaching Creepy Child levels. He physically attacks his brother, never shows remorse for any of his actions, bullies other kids just for the fun of it and seems to legitimately hate his own family (he even says this to their faces). Many of these aspects were taken out in the show, unsurprisingly.
• Adaptational Karma: There are certain stories in the books where he's a Karma Houdini but in the television version, some of these stories actually change it to him getting punished.
  • "Horrid Henry's Dance Class": In the book, he's kicked out of Miss Tutu's class for spoiling the performance which to him wasn't really a punishment because it meant he could go to Karate Class but in the TV show, he ends up having to go to dance class twice a week.
  • "Horrid Henry's Hobby": Henry received little, if any punishment for trashing the cereal aisle all for some golden gizmos at the end of the story, but at the end of the cartoon version, it turns out that he can't trade any of them with his classmates because they have golden gizmos themselves.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Henry is still a troublemaker in the TV series but some of his more disturbing Troubling Unchildlike Behavior is omitted from the show. Justified as a child physically attacking their younger brother, bullying other kids just for their own amusement and admitting to outright hating their own parents wouldn't fly on a kids' show.
• Afraid of Needles: The only thing that truly scares him is getting an injection.
• Ambiguously Bi: Although Henry sometimes shows interest in girls (he had a crush on Nasty Nicola until he realized what a despicable monster she was), he and Ralph are definitely closer than most male friends would be in real life. Henry enjoys having Ralph as his dance partner, they sometimes hold hands in public and they have no problem sharing their feelings with each other. Henry actually kissed Ralph on the cheek once (when Ralph was pretending to be Peter) and he seemed to like it very much.
• Ambition Is Evil: He's not quite heinous enough to be evil, as he's mostly a sadistic bully, but he wants to rule the world one day and make things the way he wants them to be.
• Anti-Hero: Of The Nominal Hero variety.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Has his moments with Peter.
  • For instance, when Peter is about to have an entire shelf with objects fall straight on him, Henry lets out the "NO!" that is he known for, hurriedly pushes Peter out of harm's way, and winds up taking the injuries that Peter would have gotten, if not much worse.
    • Another example is when Henry decides to mentor Peter in how to put a bully in his place, namely Bossy Bill. When all of Henry's attempts to train Peter flounder, Henry then gets the idea to use Peter's rabbit as a means to help Peter get back at Bill, which Peter does after Bill taunts Peter with the rabbit like Henry did, not knowing that he was playing a very dangerous game by doing so. As a result, Peter enlarges in size and then proceeds to kick the living crap out of Bossy Bill and then use him as a chair, like Bill tried to do to him at the beginning of the episode.
• Big Brother Bully: Henry is very mean towards his brother Peter, moreso in the books than the animated series.
• Big Brother Instinct: Despite bullying Peter, Henry actually does care for him, as seen in "Trapped" where he saved him from a shelf falling on top of him and in a flashback in the same episode, he saved Peter from getting mauled by an aggressive dog.
  • He also took the blame for Peter breaking a vase in "Horrid Henry: Nothing But The Truth" so Peter wouldn't get in trouble with Mum and Dad.
• Big Eater: Henry loves eating as much as he loves pranking people. Whenever there’s lots of delicious food, he gobbles it down like there’s no tomorrow.
• Big "NO!": This is practically his catchphrase.
• Birds of a Feather: Henry and Ralph are quite close, given their similar personalities and feelings. They are even implied to have romantic feelings for each other.
• Break the Cutie: This happens to him quite a lot in the TV show (especially in later seasons).
• Brutal Honesty: Henry always speaks his mind, regardless of how others feel about it.
• Book Dumb: Henry is not only horrid, but he is illiterate as well. Some people believe this is because he has some sort of learning disability, not just because he is lazy and hates school.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Henry doesn’t pay much attention in class, and never does his homework, and as such Miss Battle-Axe, his parents and many of his classmates assume he is simply stupid. However, Henry actually can do some of the work. When Peter fell asleep and had not completed all the homework Henry had tricked him into doing for his new business, Henry’s Uber Homework, Henry completed the rest of the homework himself and he seems to know a bit about Science, when he knew that his Dungeon Drinks Kit would change the colour and state of the water and he blew up the Science Lab at one point with an unknown substance, that probably had something to do with combustion.
• Cain and Abel: Most of the time (especially in the original books, where he is shown to have outright attempted to kill him), he's the Cain to Peter's Abel, although there have been more than a few occasions where he's been the Abel to Peter's Cain.
• Catchphrase: He routinely says...
  • NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
  • It's not fair!
  • Eureka! That's It!
  • He frequently says "Out of my way, worm!" to Peter whenever he doesn't want him intruding on something he's doing.
• Can't Get Away with Nuthin': He hardly ever goes unpunished.
• Characterization Marches On: Henry becomes more of a dork and occasional Deadpan Snarker than a mean troublemaker as the television series progresses.
• Childish Older Sibling: Henry and Peter are both unsympathetic and selfish, but Henry is more reckless and juvenile than Peter.
• Creepy Child: Henry is much more depraved and horrid in the books.
  • As a baby, he screamed day and night, constantly threw things around, almost never smiled, and never went to sleep.
  • He actually tried to murder Peter as soon as he was born and attempted to do so in various ways, such as sending him down a very steep hill or sending him flying away on a kite.
• Did You Think I Can't Feel?: In “Horrid Henry and the New Best Friend”, when Henry finds out that Nicola was just using him, he is truly heartbroken.
• Dirty Coward: When the going gets tough, Henry usually just backs out.
• Disappointing Older Sibling: Because of how Henry treats him, Peter has no respect for his older brother.
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • He often gets back at the people who anger him in a very harsh way (especially in earlier seasons). An good example of this is in "Horrid Henry and the Mega-Mean Time Machine", where he tricks Peter into believing he can travel through time just because he wanted to play in the big cardboard box Henry was using.
  • Ironically, Henry himself becomes the victim of this sometimes, especially when Margaret comes into the picture.
• Fair-Weather Foe: Henry usually dislikes Moody Margaret and Sour Susan, but in "Horrid Henry Changes a Nappy", he asks them for advice on changing his baby cousin Vera, believing that girls know more about chores than boys.
• Foil: To Peter, as he is horrid and Peter is perfect.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Henry is the Foolish sibling to Peter’s Responsible Sibling, as Henry often neglects his chores and homework, whereas Peter is diligent and always gets things done.
  • That being said, Henry could be the Responsible sibling to Peter’s Foolish sibling, as Henry knows when he’s being messed with, is street smart and able to defend himself, while Peter is (however intelligent he might be) naive, often believes his brothers far-fetched stories, and let’s himself be walked all over by people like Bossy Bill.
• Fourth-Wall Observer: At times in the cartoon, he breaks the fourth wall. At one point, Peter asks "Who are you talking to?"
• Friendless Background: Because he’s a rude, insensitive bully, he has no actual friends, except for Ralph.
  • This changes a bit in season 2, and a lot more in season 3, 4 and 5; as he becomes nicer, the other members of the Purple Hand Gang are genuinely friendly to him.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Rude Ralph, Wheely Walter, and Pimply Paul are the only people who genuinely like Henry, but even they turn on him now and then.
• Freudian Excuse: He’s horrid, but can you blame him? His brother is a spoiled brat who likes getting him in trouble, his parents blame him for anything bad that happens, his other relatives despise him, and he lives next door to a heartless shrew.
• Genius Ditz: Although he's not very smart and barely knows how to read or write, he is fully capable of planning out pranks.
• Goal in Life: To take over the world and become “King Henry the Horrible.”
• Go to Your Room!: He's often sent to his room as punishment.
• Hair Color Dissonance: Many works depict Henry's hair as being brown, while in other appearances, his hair is more of a reddish color.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He has a lot of anger issues.
• Hated by All: In the books, everyone seems to genuinely despise Henry, due to his his horrid behavior, with Ralph being his only friend. This was taken out of the show, of course.
• Hates Everyone Equally: In the books, Henry seems to hate everyone and everything, to the point where he says it to their faces.
• Hates Reading: Henry likes to read comics but doesn't like reading books. In fact, in "Horrid Henry Reads a Book", he has to read a bunch of books for a project and ends up reading one reluctantly and making a bunch of others up. Subverted in "Horrid Henry's Author Visit", where he's actually excited to go to school because his favorite book author TJ Fizz is visiting for the School Book Week.
• Hates Their Parent: In the books, there is a Running Gag where Henry tells his parents that he hates them when they don't give him what he wants (this is absent in the cartoon adaptation).
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: He’s a horrid boy, but he will help others when the plot calls for it.
• Hidden Depths: Some episodes suggest that Henry might actually be more self-conscious and insecure about himself and isn't quite as egotistical or conceited as he makes himself out to be. His bad behavior could even be seen as a cry for help.
  • An example is in "Horrid Henry Gets Married", where Henry sees himself as a Future Loser whilst everyone else has moderately successful lives. This was all a dream of course but it gets you thinking, maybe that's how Henry actually views himself. He probably thinks he’s a total failure who will never amount to anything in life, have nothing to live for, and will end up in a terrible marriage with an abusive future wife who hates him and parents who will despise him.
    • Given that Paul has a similar life to the one Henry dreamed of and how much the two have in common, it makes you wonder if this future will actually come true.
  • In “King Henry the Ninth”, when he finds out that he is not royalty after all, he openly says that there is nothing special about him and that he is worth nothing.
  • In “Horrid Henry’s New Best Friend”, he was completely heartbroken when he found out that Nicola didn’t love him and was just using him. Given how shocked Henry felt when he thought Nicola seemed to love him, it seems that he thinks no one could ever love him.
  • "Anything You Can Do" shows he's actually skilled at playing the cello without any practice. Only Peter finds out about this and Henry makes a deal never to reveal this skill so that Peter won't play the air guitar.
• Hide Your Lesbians: Henry and Ralph are implied to be smitten with each other. They are extremely close, very affectionate towards each other, and even hold hands in public. Sometimes when one of them bonds with another guy, the other will get jealous.
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Henry is always blamed for everything and his parents ignore his needs, but he has too much fun messing with them to really be bothered by it... sometimes.
• Hypocritical Humor: Henry frequently teases Peter by calling him a baby, yet whenever somebody tells him to do something or if he doesn’t get what he wants, he will always scream and throw a tantrum.
• Idiot Hero: He’s the star, but he’s not a very bright star.
• It's All About Me: Henry only does nice things if it means he will get something out of it.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: Some episodes imply this is part of the reason for his horridness.
• I Just Want to Be Special: Says this word-for-word in “King Henry the Ninth.”
• Insufferable Imbecile: Henry often tends to come off as airheaded in addition to being horrid.
• Interclass Friendship: Henry, a lower-class citizen, is best friends with Rude Ralph, the richest kid in his whole school.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Pimply Paul and Mr. Walter.
• Jerkass Has a Point: There are times when Henry is actually right about things behind unfair.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's horrid (it's even in his name), disgusting, insensitive, bullying, self-centered, and likes to remorselessly make everyone’s life a living hell. On his good days, however, he can do some decent things.
  • "Horrid Henry, Nothing But The Truth" is one notable example where he decided to cover up for Peter after the latter broke his mother's vase so he wouldn't get into trouble.
  • Another example is "Horrid Henry's Perfect Protest" where he was angry Moody Margaret and Fang were fired from a movie shooting at his school and then became disgusted when a film director wouldn't cast Wheely Walter (one of the better and more helpful teachers in Henry’s school because he’s in a wheelchair), so Henry starts a protest, to get the people who have wronged his teacher off of school grounds.
  • Unlike the books, where he actually hates Vera and dreams of seeing her behind bars, he seems to genuinely love and care for her in the show, even though he still dislikes changing her and her barfing on him.
  • In “Horrid Henry Delivers the Milk”, when Henry sees what a lousy job Paul has and all the oppression he has to go through everywhere he goes, he actually has a Jerkass Realization and decides to be nicer to Paul from then on.
• Lack of Empathy: In the books, Henry never shows any guilt for anything he does and continues being horrid. In the show, however, he will show you empathy if he likes you.
• Lazy Bum: He outright refuses to do his schoolwork or help around the house, just because he doesn’t feel like it.
• Living Emotional Crutch: The only person who can bring out the best in Henry is his best friend (and possible boyfriend), Rude Ralph. In fact, the reason he doesn’t want to move away is because he doesn’t want them to be separated.
• Metalhead: He loves the Killer Boy Rats' music.
• Morality Pet: For a show about how selfish, rude, and horrible he is, Henry does have a handful of characters he is always kind to. Fang and Ralph are the most consistant examples, but he is also respectful to his teacher Wheely Walter.
• Never Learned to Read: Due to being lazy, he can’t even read the words on a stop sign and his handwriting is literally just a bunch of scribbles. Granted this may also be due to some sort learning disability as well as possibly not being taught in a way he could learn.
• Never My Fault: Henry never learns from his mistakes or admits when he’s wrong and is always looking for a scapegoat. In fact, he seems literally incapable of doing so.
• The Nicknamer: He's the one who gave everybody (including himself) their alliterative aliases.
• Not Me This Time: As mentioned below, there are times where he gets the blame for something bad that happens when he’s not at fault.
• No Social Skills: He’s not very good when it comes to attending parties or play dates.
• Out-of-Character Moment: In the very first story, he decides to not be horrid for the day just to see what it would be like.
• Parental Neglect: Henry is so horrid that Mum and Dad ignore his needs and dote on Peter.
• Pet the Dog:
  • He has a very soft spot for his best friend and possible boyfriend Rude Ralph, and would do anything for him. In fact, he’s the one person who can bring out the best in Henry and sometimes acts as his conscience.
  • Aside from his Big Brother Instinct moments, in the episode wherein Peter has a sleepover, Henry interrupts, but he actually isn't there to terrorize them - he comes in to have fun with the boys and show them how to really have a good time.
• Phrase Catcher: Sometimes, his behaviour prompts people to say...
  • "Don't be horrid, Henry."
  • "Henry, you horrid boy."
  • "Go to your room.
  • "Mom, Henry's being horrid".
• Politically Incorrect Hero: He clearly has a bias against girls and is extremely attuned to things that are stereotypically masculine.
• Sadist: He loves tormenting everyone and laughs at them when he’s done.
• Spoiled Brat: He throws a tantrum and tells his parents he hates them when they tell him what to do or don’t give him what he wants.
• The Scapegoat: Due to his naughty behavior, 90% of the time he's often blamed for anything bad happening in the household or just in general. He even lampshades it at the end of "Horrid Henry Gets The Blame."
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Peter's Sensitive Guy.
• The Slacker: He is always putting things off until the last minute.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Henry believes he’s entitled to one day rule the world as a tyrannical dictator and he should get everything he wants and thinks he deserves, despite the fact he’s not very smart or popular (outside of the purple hand gang) and has done rather horrid things to the people around him.
• Sociopathic Hero: He’s horrid and likes to hurt other people for fun.
• Straw Loser: Troubled kids are meant to identify with Henry and all the bad things he goes through every day.
• Surrounded by Idiots: In later seasons due to Henry's horrid behaviour being toned down while everyone still turns on him for minor things. Most of Henry's Deadpan Snarker comments usually come from him having to deal with the absurd logic of peers and adults alike.
• Sweet Tooth: Henry loves sugary snacks.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: Although he's not smart to begin with, he becomes noticeably more illiterate and dimwitted per season when compared to his earlier appearances.
• Took a Level in Kindness: In Series 3, he’s still pretty horrid at times, but he has toned down significantly compared to the previous seasons and is nowhere near as vile towards his friends and family (especially in comparison to the earlier seasons, where he would often turn against them or treat them badly). He becomes more of a dorky Kiddie Kid than an entitled brat. He also helps out his more timid classmates such as Anxious Andrew and Weepy William, as opposed to how he used to antagonize them.
  • This would inevitably continue in Series 4 and 5, when his behavior would become less bratty and obnoxious. He would only start acting up when provoked (well, mostly anyway).
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: As a baby, he screamed all day and night, threw things around constantly, rarely ever smiled and never went to sleep. He also tried to kill Peter in various ways such as pushing him off a steep hill or throwing him into a mailbox. Subverted in the TV series where he's given more Pet the Dog moments, compared to his Creepy Child book counterpart.
• The Unapologetic: Name one time when Henry has ever apologised to anyone.
• The Un-Favorite: Henry’s parents even go so far as to pretend Henry isn’t their son.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Henry never thanks anybody for anything (he does from time to time in later seasons).
• Unreliable Narrator: He seems to think that he does the majority of the chores while Peter gets to do whatever he wants, but episodes in which he tries to be better behaved show that there are some chores that are Peter's sole responsibility. With all the times Henry is forced to clean the entire house its possible he DOES actually have a larger workload, but only because its usually him who makes the mess in the first place.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: He’s not called “horrid” for nothing.
• Villain Protagonist: At his absolute worst, Henry comes across as this.
• Would Hit a Girl: He loves messing with Moody Margaret (you name anything gross or mean he’s likely done it to her) but none of the other girls are safe from a prank either.

Perfect Peter

Henry's younger brother and main foil. In stark contrast to Henry, he is organised, polite and well-behaved, bordering on obsequious. However, in spite of his name, he can be a bit 'horrid' himself — he is something of a tattletale who takes pleasure in seeing Henry being punished.

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• Annoying Younger Sibling: Henry will stop at nothing to prevent Peter from bothering him.
• Anti-Role Model: Peter is not as perfect as you may think.
• Attention Whore: Having been rewarded so much for his good behaviour his whole life, Peter has been conditioned to expect praise and attention for even the most minor things such as using a fork or “being normal.”
  • His parents paying more attention to Henry than him during one mealtime is what drives him to behave more like his older brother for the day in "Perfect Peter's Horrid Day".
• Beware the Nice Ones: Do not take his bunny away from him.
• Break the Cutie: Henry has almost too much fun bullying him.
• Butt-Monkey: He rarely gets a break from being teased and bullied by his older brother (and to an extent, Margaret).
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Despite what his name claims, he is actually very whiny, spoiled, petty, and self-centered.
• Cain and Abel: As his adherence to authority shows, he's mostly the Abel to Henry's Cain. Sometimes, as his arrogance and willingness to do horrid things himself, he's the Cain to Henry's Abel.
• Camp Straight: He’s effeminate, but also has a Precocious Crush on Miss. Lovely.
• Catchphrase: "Mooooooom, Henry's being horrid."
• Child Prodigy: He is able to invent amazing things such as soap box derby cars and perfume that also works as hair tonic.
• Corrupt the Cutie: Some of Henry’s brattiness seems to have rubbed off on him.
• Depending on the Writer: Most episodes will either have him be the responsible and considerate boy his name illustrates or a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing that uses his "perfect" nature to his advantage and to get Henry in trouble.
• Does Not Like Spam: Peter doesn't like anything sugary, in contrast to Henry.
• Dirty Coward: Sometimes when something goes wrong, Peter will abandon the other Best Boys or Henry.
• Ditzy Genius: This varies depending on the episodes. He's an excellent student who is much smarter than Henry could ever be and is able to invent incredible things like perfume that can make hair grow very fast, but is known to fall for Henry's very obvious lies such as faries existing, curses from gizmos, time travel with a cardboard box and a Fangmangler hiding in a bush. Granted, he's six years old but one would expect him to wisen up. He does eventually stop believing his lies in later episodes though it may happen every now and then.
• Foil: He's like the polar opposite of Henry: organised, obedient, respects authority, loves vegetables and homework.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Responsible to Henry's Foolish. He gets his chores and homework done, while Henry always procrastinates.
  • That being said, he could be the Foolish sibling to Henry’s Responsible sibling. Henry know’s when he’s being messed with, is street smart and knows how to defend himself, while Peter (however intelligent he might be) is naive, often believes his brother's far-fetched stories, and lets himself be walked all over by people like Bossy Bill.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • He’s whiny, pathetic and spoiled, but with an awful brother like Henry who bullies you day and night, you’d want to get back at him too.
  • He only wants to be praised all the time because he’s expected to be perfect all the time and is afraid that if he doesn’t act perfect or gets praised, nobody will love him.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Despite being the leader of the Best Boys Club, the other members actually can’t stand him because he’s always bossing them around.
• Hero Antagonist: In some stories, he's working against Henry, but is actually in the right.
• In Touch with His Feminine Side: He has several interests that are traditionally deemed feminine, such as fairies, butterflies, flowers and bunnies, and is not ashamed of this at all.
• Ironic Name: Closer inspection of his attitude reveals that he is not nearly as perfect as his name would have you believe. He expects praise for his good behaviour, takes pleasure in seeing Henry punished, at his worst is just as horrid as Henry, and is gullible.
• It's All About Me: Peter never listens to the other Best Boys when they suggest something, because he’s the self-proclaimed unquestioned leader.
• Jerkass: He’s petty, conniving and spoiled rotten by his parents and will try to stop anyone else from getting praise.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Peter may be a tattletale but there are times where his snitching on Henry is justified. I.E. When Henry bullies him or plays with his things without consent.
• Jerkass to One: Peter is polite to most people except for Henry. It's justified because you'd probably act like a jerk to somebody if they did nothing but torment you.
• Mama's Boy: He’s shown to be closest to his mother and expects praise from her most of all.
• Mirror Character: Can be just as horrid as Henry when he's in the mood or pushed too far. Some episodes even outright show that Peter secretly enjoys doing horrid things, if it meant he could get away with it.
  • An example is "Horrid Henry and the Best Boys Club Sleepover", after Henry and the Best Boys decide to raid a fridge, Peter acknowledges that they were being naughty and gleefully continues to do so anyway.
  • He has also shown delight in taunting Henry, even when unprovoked. All the while knowing that he'll get away with it.
• Neat Freak: He takes pleasure in cleaning his room and even does it twice.
• Out Sick: In "Horrid Henry and the Sick Day", he takes a sick day from school.
• Phrase Catcher: Henry tends to say to him, "Silence, Worm!"
• Prone to Tears: Peter is not perfect at keeping his emotions under control and cries rather easily.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive Guy to Henry's Manly Man.
• Sick Episode: In "Horrid Henry and the Sick Day", he is the first one to get sick, with a flu-like illness.
• Smug Snake: On his worst days, he acts extremely arrogant.
• The Stool Pigeon: He is always telling tales on Henry.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Peter seems to think he’s entitled to all the praise and affection in the world, even if he does nothing to deserve it at all.
• Spoiled Brat: Constant praise and reward for his good behavior has led him to expect it all the time.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Ironically enough, in contrast to his older brother who has toned down his horrid behavior, Peter seems to have become more vile in later seasons to the point of almost becoming as nasty as Henry (at his worst anyway), possibly due to the influence of Henry's behavior. This doesn't always happen but it has become a more defining trait of his.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Despite his alliterative nickname, he can be just as petty and insecure as his brother.
• Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: He constantly expects to be praised and rewarded for his good behaviour.
• Will Not Tell a Lie: Peter is always honest, which is a common reason why Henry rarely gets away with anything. But sometimes Henry takes advantage of this to get him or another character in trouble.

Mum

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• Abusive Parents: Downplayed, but she and Dad always blame Henry, even when he does nothing at all.
  • In "Happy Birthday, Peter" she actually cheers at the idea of Henry disappearing forever...in front of everyone.
    • Hilarious how it is done though. However; the mom does quickly look on with guilt when everyone else looks at her. Henry, as usual, does not even care.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Even considering the fact that Henry is decidedly not the most reliable POV person, she is never made out to be very good-looking in the books, and the illustrations make her look average at best. In the TV series, she's rather pretty.
• Catchphrase: "Don't be horrid, Henry!" She shares this with her husband.
• Everyone Has Standards: Every now and again she'll agree with Henry on something despite often disagreeing with him.
• Freudian Excuse: She’s a lousy parent to Henry and has high expectations for Peter, but she apparently wants to be seen as the most perfect mother in the world with perfect children (making Peter her favorite) because of how horribly she was treated by her family as a girl and wants to prove herself to be better.
• Jerkass Has a Point: She isn't entirely wrong about Henry being naughty, given that she and Simon constantly have to pay for the damages Henry does and are always held responsible.
  • While she did overreact a tiny bit by yelling at Henry to go and buy Peter back in Horrid Henry Gets Rich Quick, Henry had willingly sold Peter into slavery all for money.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite her occasionally unfair treatment towards Henry, she does truly care for him and the rest of her family. It's shown when she rushes to Henry’s side when he has a nightmare, and she's truly scared when she finds out Henry ran away and they accidentally left him home alone. She will also punish Peter if he needs to be punished. She's just trying to prevent her eldest son from ending up in further, more serious trouble.
• Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal: Whenever Peter does misbehave and someone tells her about him, she isn't that quick to believe them (even when Peter admits to doing it). Then again this is justified: she is so used to disciplining Henry and rewarding Peter.
• Only Sane Woman: Albeit, not by that much. She tends to be far more sensible and down-to-earth than Simon but can also be just as silly as him, perhaps more so at times demonstrated in "Horrid Henry: Horrid Boy?".
• Sick Episode: In "Horrid Henry and the Sick Day", she ends up catching Peter's bug halfway through.
• Where Did We Go Wrong?: With Henry. They even distance themselves from him when they go out in public and pretend he isn’t their son.

Silly Simon (Dad)

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• Abusive Parents: Also downplayed. He and Mum are always blaming Henry when he didn't even do anything at all, or what happened was completely out of his control.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Even ignoring Henry's unfavourable descriptions of him, the illustrations in Francesca Simon's books portray Simon as rather ugly with thin, balding hair and an enormous carrot nose. In the TV series, he's pretty normal-looking.
• Catchphrase:
  • "Don't be horrid, Henry"
• Closer to Earth: He's sometimes portrayed as being more reasonable towards Henry than his wife.
• Everyone Has Standards: Every now and again he'll agree with Henry on something despite often disagreeing with him.
• First-Name Basis: His name is revealed to be Silly Simon in "Horrid Henry and the Silly Siblings".
• Former Teen Rebel: It's revealed in the episode "Horrid Henry and the Silly Siblings" that Henry seems to have gotten some of his horridness from him.
• Freudian Excuse: It is implied he treats Henry badly because he reminds him too much of himself as a kid. Not to mention, he agrees with Henry on a few things.
• Jerkass Has a Point: He isn't entirely wrong about Henry being a possible culprit, given that he constantly causes damage and he and Mum always end up being held responsible.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his (occasionally) unfair treatment towards Henry, he does care for him and can be reasonable. He also mellows out a lot more in later seasons.
• Manchild:
  • Especially when he's around his brother, Fussy Francis in "Horrid Henry and the Silly Siblings". Henry even lampshades this.
  • It's important to note that even without his brother, he still acts very childish sometimes when he hangs around with Henry, particularly whenever they both share the same interests.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: He went from Reasonable Authority Figure to Bumbling Dad with childish tendencies.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He treats Henry a lot better in seasons 4 and 5.

Ashton Primary School Students and Staff

Moody Margaret

The next door neighbour of Henry's family, as well as Henry's classmate and arch nemesis. She is very vain and is spoiled by her parents, who she treats like slaves.

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• Abusive Offspring: Margaret is vile to her parents. She treats them like slaves, verbally abuses them and belittles them to get her way. They have only been shown to discipline their daughter once, and that was when Margaret had been naughty to Henry’s parents and they thought she was so bad that they sent an Email to complain about her (in reality it was Henry) and after that they never punish her again. The bad thing is that Margaret’s parents are both kind, easy-going, lenient, friendly and insecure, and they spoil their daughter anyway, yet Margaret still bullies them.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Margaret's hair colour changes depending on the medium. In the books, Tony Ross's full colour illustrations depict her as having brown hair like Henry. In the television series, however, her hair is auburn, and in the live-action Horrid Henry movie, she is ginger.
• Alpha Bitch: Margaret is very popular with the girls in her class, being a star football player at Ashton Primary, having access to pretty much anything with her wealth, and having lots in common with most of the girls in her class. She's also callous, cruel, and treats Henry especially poorly.
• Big Bad: She's Henry's main rival and is also the biggest jerk in the series.
• Catchphrase: "I'll get you Henryyyy!!!"
• Even Evil Has Standards: Despite her dislike of Henry, even she looked disgusted when Henry's Mum cheered at the idea of Henry disappearing in "Happy Birthday, Peter."
• Evil Is Petty: She bullies and bosses around her parents and Susan for no reason at all!
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Even moreso than Henry. His family make it perfectly clear that they're better off with Henry instead of Margaret, and even Margaret's parents prefer him to her.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: Margaret may be vain and feminine, but she is as tough as nails and loves playing football.
• Hate Sink: Believe it or not, she is even more horrid than Henry, with good examples being "Horrid Henry's Unhappy Day", where she stole a comic book from him that he had been wanting to buy and then uploads a humiliating picture of him online and "Horrid Henry's Hideo Video" where she records the embarrassing advert for Ring-A-Ding-Pizzas that Henry took part in and the ending implies that she's going to take it to school so Henry can be humiliated even further. There’s also the time where she actually started spreading lies about Henry and ruined his reputation for no reason. She’s also extremely abusive to her alleged best friend, Susan and treats her parents like slaves.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Her resentment towards Henry is somewhat justified since he does torment her most of the time.
• Karma Houdini: Most of the time, she will get away with tormenting Henry. Only on several occasions her actions will be called out on.
• Kick the Dog: Horrid Henry's Unhappy Day. Starting with her snatching a comic book Henry had wanted before moving into making him work as a slave for her in exchange for the comic and then to top it all off, she doesn't give him the comic book and uploads a humiliating picture of him on social media.
• No Indoor Voice: She tends to yell a lot.
• Passionate Sports Girl: Margaret is the Captain of the school Football team, and possibly better than Al.
• Pet the Dog: She'll help those around her in their hour of needs, even Henry. An example of this would be in "Horrid Henry and the Big Dig", where she helped Henry save his fort from being taken down (all without double-crossing him).
• Rich Bitch: Margaret is very popular with the girls in her class but belittles many of her peers. Maragret is also very spoiled.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Surprisingly moreso than Stuck-Up Steve.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Whilst she was never the nicest person to begin with and always had a nasty streak towards those around her, her behaviour was sometimes justified when it came to how Henry would treat her. Nowadays, she's an ungrateful, spoiled brat who will bully those around her (even her own friends and family) just because she can and knows that she will get away with it. She will bully Henry constantly, even when unprovoked.
• With Friends Like These...: Margaret doesn’t even consider Susan her friend and openly calls her a slave.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Thanking isn’t something that she’s familiar with. Just ask her poor, long-suffering parents.
• Vanity Is Feminine: Margaret is often very vain and also enjoys being conventionally feminine.

Miss Battle-Axe

Henry's strict but quirky teacher. She appears to be Scottish, due to speaking with a Scottish accent and playing the bagpipes.

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• Butt-Monkey: Henry loves to play tricks on her.
• Freudian Excuse: With students as reckless as hers and an abusive mother, you would be miserable.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: A Sadist Teacher who wears glasses.
• Jerkass Has a Point: She isn't wrong about Henry being badly behaved.
• Named After Someone Famous: Her first name is "Boudicca".
• Stern Teacher: She may be strict, but she is simply doing her job.
• Token Evil Teammate: Along with Soggy Sid, she's the least kind of all of the teachers at Ashton Primary, the rest of whom are all geniunely kind people.
• Violent Glaswegian: Downplayed - she's not exactly violent, but she's far from patient.

Miss Lovely

• Adaptation Dye-Job: In the books she has blond hair, in the TV show, she has black hair.
• All-Loving Hero: As her name states, Miss. Lovely is very lovely and sees the good in everyone, even Henry.
• Cool Teacher: In contrast to Miss Battle Axe, she’s more friendly and helpful.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: In the books, she has blonde hair.
• Hot Teacher: According to one of the books, Peter actually wants to marry Miss. Lovely.
• Race Lift: She speaks with a Welsh accent in the cartoon, and is of Indian heritage.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: She’s a sweet and reasonable teacher.

Soggy Sid

• Ascended Extra: He only appears in one story in the books, but is a major recurring character in the series.
• Jerkass: He's shown to be very mean and impatient.
• Jerk Jock: He's a P.E. teacher and he's a Jerkass.
• Token Evil Teammate: "Evil" may be a strong word but compared to Miss Oddbod, Miss Lovely and Wheely Walter, who are all legimately nice teachers who care about their students, Sid is notably more of a bully compared to the other teachers.

Mrs Oddbod

• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Although Mrs Oddbod is quite a strict teacher, she is fair and does not generally dislike her students like Miss Battle-Axe and Soggy Sid. She can be kind to her students sometimes as well.
• Only Sane Woman: She’s always ready to see Henry and Margaret in her office when they cause trouble.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: She is far more amicable and friendly towards Henry compared to Ms. Battle-Axe and Soggy Sid.
• Token Good Teammate: The kindest adult on the show, along with Walter and Miss. Lovely.

Wheely Walter

• Cool Teacher: The only teacher whom Henry actually likes and doesn’t treat badly. It helps that he’s actually competent at his job, unlike most of the other teachers.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Subverted. Walter doesn’t like being pitied and actually likes Henry’s nickname for him, but he was glad when people stood up to a director for discriminating against him.
• Inspirationally Disadvantaged: Usually averted, but in the episode where he’s discriminated from a movie because of his disability, everyone (including Henry) quits because of it.
• Nice Guy: The kindest of all of Henry’s teachers.
• Only Sane Man: Unlike Battle Axe and Sid, he doesn’t go around completely blaming Henry for every bad thing that happens and is smart enough to hear both sides of the story.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He’s a lot kinder to Henry and treats all the students equally.

Greasy Greta, the Demon Dinner Lady

• Adaptation Expansion: In the book, Henry defeats her by feeding her biscuits laced with hot sauce. In the cartoon, she likes the biscuits that way and it takes an Enemy Mine between all the students to run her out.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: She won't take any sweets from her daughter, Patsy.
• Evil Is Petty: Taking sweets from the kids may be enforcing school rules, but eating them herself certainly isn’t.
• Fat Bastard: She clearly doesn’t work off the sweets she eats.
• Humiliation Conga: How she is defeated when all the kids pull off a Enemy Mine and fill their lunchboxes with treats, knowing she won't be able to resist snatching them up. They then proceed to refill their lunchboxes, causing her to just keep eating until she becomes so bloated and ill that she had to be wheeled out of the school by Soggy Sid.

Mr Nerdon

• Adaptational Backstory Change: In the books, he was initially Henry's teacher before Henry caused him to get hospitalized leading to Miss Battle Axe taking his position. In the TV show, he's substituting for Miss Battle Axe while she is sick.
• Fainting: In the book version, he faints after Henry's final prank on him. (Which consists of him making Mr. Nerdon think that he dropped Peter out of the window to his death.)
• Stern Teacher: He is the toughest, meanest, nastiest and baddest teacher in Henry's school and is very strict.
• Unfortunate Name: Henry even makes fun of his name at one point.

Rabid Rebecca

• Babysitter from Hell: As Henry puts it, she’s the worst babysitter in the world. She bullies and enslaves anyone who is a kid.
• The Brute: She is willing to hurt little kids, no matter what they do.
• Child Hater: All she does when babysitting the kids is bully them.
• Fat Bitch: She’s tubby and one of the villains.
• Hate Sink: She’s worse than any other villain in the show.
• Knight of Cerebus: Rebecca episodes tend to be a bit more creepy.
• More Hateable Minor Villain: Rebecca rarely appears throughout the series, yet somehow sticks out as one of the more vile characters.
• Teens Are Monsters: She’s cruel and abusive towards all the kids.
• Why Did It Haveto Be Snakes?: She's afraid of spiders. This is how Henry defeats her in Horrid Henry and the Bogey Babysitter. Averted later in Horrid Henry and the Terrible Teacher, when she is shown to have conquered her fear of spiders; but however, she cannot stand the song “Freré Jacques”, and almost hurt Peter just because he was singing it to himself.
• Would Hurt a Child: She almost beat Henry and Peter senseless in two episodes. Thank God, the authorities showed up on time.

Rude Ralph

• Ambiguously Gay: Ralph and Henry are much closer than guy best friends are normally, enjoy being each other’s dance partners, sometimes hold hands in public, act like cute dorks when they’re together and are overall very attached to each other. However, he was a bit uncomfortable when Henry took a picture of the two of them kissing. Maybe he didn’t want people to see them or wasn’t ready for them to go public?
• Birds of a Feather: With Henry. They share the same interests, are blunt and rude boys, and are hinted to have genuine feelings for each other.
• Class Princess: Ralph is a male version of this, being the richest kid in his class.
• Gasshole: The only rude things he ever does are fart the alphabet and burp.
• Hidden Depths: Much to Henry’s surprise, he dreams of becoming a fashion designer and actually gets stage fright sometimes.
• Interclass Friendship: Ralph is the richest kid in his class (maybe even his school) and Henry is from a Working-class background, but that doesn't affect their friendship in the slightest.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Ralph is the one person that Henry can truly count on and the two feel completely alone and lost without each other. In fact, when Henry almost moves away, Ralph tries to buy him from his parents so they won’t be apart.
• Morality Pet: Ralph always brings out the best in Henry.
• Nice Guy: Surprisingly, despite what his nickname suggests, he really isn’t so bad and is noticeably more polite than Henry. He even had no problem spending time with Peter in one episode (as opposed to earlier episodes where he seemingly disliked him).
• Only Sane Man: He’s much more sensible than Henry.
• True Companions: Henry’s family is poor and Ralph’s family is rich, but that doesn’t affect their friendship at all.

Aerobic Al

• Lovable Jock: Al is very athletic, enjoys playing sports (especially football), and is a generously nice guy and one of Henry’s close friends.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Al appears to be friends with Gorgeous Gurinder, despite them having little in common, Al being an athletic guy who likes gross things like gross class zero, while Gurinder is a vain and conventionally feminine friend of Margaret’s.
• The Midlands: In the TV series, he speaks with a Birmingham accent.

Lazy Linda

• Asleep in Class: Part of the reason for her nickname is because she's rarely seen awake in class.
• Brainy Brunette: Linda has brown hair and is implied to be very intelligent. Miss Battle-Axe once cornered her with a difficult maths question and though she had been asleep, Linda managed to answer perfectly when waking up (possibly not even hearing Miss Battle-Axe).
• Lazy Bum: She's not called "Lazy Linda" for nothing.
• Like Is, Like, a Comma: Slips in 'like' in, like, almost every sentence.
• Messy Hair: Due to never taking the time to fix it.
• Valley Girl: Downplayed. She only speaks in the tone and even though she's not sweet, she's not cruel either.

Anxious Andrew

• Ambiguously Gay: Much like Henry and Ralph, Andrew and William are much closer than guy best friends are normally, they have similar personalities, are rarely seen apart, get upset when they are, and have a similar fashion sense.
• Break the Cutie: That ultimately seems to be Henry’s goal when dealing with him.
• Butt-Monkey: Henry tends to antagonize him the most of all the kids in the class. Despite this, Andrew is friends with Henry and they get along more after series 1.
• The Cutie: As sweet as he is insecure.
• Hide Your Lesbians: Given how close William and Andrew are, it seems there is much more to their relationship than meets the eye.
• Lovable Coward: He may be scared of a lot of things, but he's far from unlikable.
• Nervous Wreck: He's rather neurotic.
• Nice Guy: Well mannered and soft-spoken.
• The Quiet One: It is a rare occasion when he speaks a full sentence.
• Shrinking Violet: He's very shy and timid.

Weepy William

• Ambiguously Gay: Much like Henry and Ralph, Andrew and William are closer than guy best friends are normally, they have similar personalities, are rarely seen apart, get upset when they are, and have a similar fashion sense.
• Break the Cutie: Poor William can’t seem to catch a break from crying.
• Butt-Monkey: Along with Andrew, Henry antagonizes the most out of all the kids in Henry's class. After series 1, he and Henry become close friends.
• The Cutie: A sweet, friendly emotional kid without a bad bone in his body.
• Hide Your Lesbians: Given how close William and Andrew are, it seems there is more to their relationship than meets the eye.
• Lovable Coward: He's a coward, but he's overall friendly.
• Nice Guy: He's a nice kid.
• Potty Failure: In "Horrid Henry's Autobiography," he had wet himself on a trip to the ice cream factory.
• Prone to Tears: A lot of things make him cry.

Gorgeous Gurinder and Singing Soraya

• All Girls Want Bad Boys: They seem to have crushes on Ralph and Henry.
• Ambiguously Bi: Although Gurinder and Soraya do show friendships with the boys and maybe even crushes on Henry and Ralph, they are obviously very close with each other. They are comfortable sleeping in the same bed, as shown at Moody Margaret's sleepover.
• Aroused by Their Voice: What else do you expect from someone called, “Singing Soraya”?
• Brainy Brunette: Soraya is revealed to be good at maths and musically gifted, and has black hair.
• The Cutie: They’re sweet and innocent.
• Genius Ditz: In spite of her ditziness, Soraya is a real math whiz.
• Genki Girl: They’re cheerful and energetic.
• Nice Girl: The kindest girls in the whole class.
• Single-Minded Twins: In their smaller roles.
• Those Two Guys: They are never seen apart.
• Token Good Teammate: They’re easily the only members of the Secret Club who are actually kind and respectful towards others.
• Vanity Is Feminine: Gurinder is vain and unconventionally feminine. She frequently fusses over her hair, her clothes, her makeup, basically anything to do with her beauty. Soraya is a less obvious version of this, but she is also rather vain and enjoys being admired.

Beefy Bert

• Catchphrase: "I dunno..."
• The Ditz: He doesn't seem to be very bright, since he literally just says one thing.
• Fat Idiot: Airheaded and chubby.
• Hidden Depths: He is sometimes shown to be much smarter than most people make him out to be.

Brainy Brian

• Black and Nerdy: They don’t call him, “Brainy” for nothing. He is also socially awkward and he lisps.
• Mad Scientist: In his more comical moments.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Clever Clare.
• Token Minority: The only non-white member in the Purple Hand Gang.

Sour Susan

• Adaptation Dye-Job: In the original books, her hair is blonde, as seen in full-colour illustrations by Tony Ross. In the television series, however, she has ginger hair.
• Adaptational Ugliness: Susan is made to be more pruney and ugly in the cartoon just to match her sour personality. The books had her look normal, with long blonde hair and a good taste in fashion, arguably being much prettier than Margaret.
• The Chew Toy: Margaret doesn’t even consider Susan a friend, and openly calls her a slave.
• The Dragon: She primarily acts as Margaret’s reluctant sidekick.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Margaret and Susan. As badly as Margaret treats Susan, they do care about each other.
• Jerkass: She can be just as rude as Margaret at times.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: In the books Susan is the Girly Girl to Margaret's Tomboy, being fashionable and afraid to get dirty, while Margaret is Captain of the school football team. It's lessened in the cartoon however, as Both of them are interested in fashion and football (albeit one still more than the other for each).
• Verbal Tic: "Yeah" at the start of each sentence.
• With Friends Like These...: Susan sometimes wonders why she's friends with a selfish brat like Margaret.

The Best Boys Club

• A Day in the Limelight: "Horrid Henry and the Detention Club" is this for Tidy Ted.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: The three of them are geniuely nice kids for the most part, but Tidy Ted is shown to dislike Moody Margaret because of her cruel behavior.
• Hidden Depths: It is implied they actually don’t like Peter because of how badly he treats them.
• Jerkass Ball: Goody Gordon grabs it in the book version of "Perfect Peter's Revenge" wherein he takes part in teasing Peter about how Henry had tricked him into thinking that he'd gone into the future.
• Names to Trust Immediately: With names like Tidy Ted, Spotless Sam and Goody-Goody Gordon, how can you not trust them?
• Nice Guy: They are all kind and willing to help others.

Nasty Nicola

• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: While it's obvious from her name that she's not a good person at all, it is initially believed that she is a nice girl and returns Henry’s feelings, until she starts framing Henry for crimes she committed.
• Canon Foreigner: She never appeared in the books.
• Evil Is Petty: She took advantage of Henry and framed him for absolutely no reason at all!
• Femme Fatale: Acted as this to Henry.
• Frame-Up: Framed Henry for crimes she committed.
• Gold Digger: Loves money almost as much as Henry.
• Hate Sink: Just look at all her tropes! She’s worse than all of Henry’s enemies combined.
• Jerkass: She's not called Nasty Nicola for nothing.
• Kick the Dog: Let’s see, where to begin? First, she plays with Henry’s heart. Then, she commits many crimes. Finally, she tried to get him expelled for them and completely ripped his heart to shreds when she got caught.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Ended up being suspended after Brian and Peter ratted her out to Miss Oddbodd.
• Monster of the Week: Only appeared in "Horrid Henry And The New Best Friend" where she was the main antagonist.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: She is just as nasty as her name implies.
• Romantic False Lead: To Henry.
• Vocal Dissonance: Her voice is very low for a girl. In fact, she's voiced by Wayne Forester, who also voices Dad.

Clever Claire

• Age Lift: While she was around Henry's age in the books, it's implied that in the series, she's older then Henry.
• Only Sane Woman: In the book version of "Horrid Henry's Injection" she was the only one of the kids who called Henry out for acting hysterical about the injection while the other kids were throwing fits about it.

Dizzy Dave

• Adapted Out: Doesn't appear in the TV series despite being mentioned a lot and is one of Henry's best friends in the books.
• The Klutz: As his name says, he spins around a lot and knocks things over.

Henry's Relatives

Stuck-Up Steve

• Bratty Half-Pint: Just like his equally horrid cousin.
• Evil Redhead: You could say he's like a male version of Moody Margaret.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Averted in the books where he is friends with Bossy Bill as Bill moved to Steve’s school after the events of Horrid Henry’s Arch Enemy, and Steve is also friends with many other classmates of his, like Hoity-Toity Tim, but in the show, he’s never seen with any friends at all until series 5, and the two friends he has are quite stupid and copy everything Steve says. Makes you wonder why he and his mother invite their relatives over so often.
• Pet the Dog: He and Henry sometimes do get along quite nicely.
• Rich Bitch: He's pretty much Henry if he was rich.
• Smug Snake: He’s always taunting Henry about how he’s rich and he’s not.
• Spoiled Brat: He and his mother always gloat about their wealth.
• Upper-Class Twit: In spite of going to a prestigious private academy, he’s just as idiotic as Henry.

Rich Aunt Ruby

• Always Someone Better: Ruby has fabulous wealth and tons of amazing stuff to show off, unlike Mum, who is a lower class citizen without much to brag about.
• Big Brother Bully: Well, Big Sister. Usually when she invites Mum over for tea, it’s just an excuse to rub her wealth in her face.
• Innocently Insensitive: She's not afraid to gloat about her wealth to Mum, though she doesn't really mean any harm.
• Rich Bitch: Always feeling the need to gloat about her fabulous wealth to her sister.

Great Aunt Greta

• Accidental Misnaming: She always mistakes Henry for a little girl named, "Henrietta", no matter how many times they correct her. This is Truth in Television, since some elders tend to lose their hearing and seeing, causing them to mistake one thing for another.
• Cool Old Lady: Even though she mistakes Henry for a girl and Peter for a teenager, she is great at yo-yo tricks, sold a rare stamp for a small fortune, and is a great rope skipper.
• Cloudcuckoolander: She’s pretty weird and freaky, but Henry doesn’t mind.
• The Ghost: In the books, she was just mentioned, but we never met her until the show.
• Scatterbrained Senior: An example that’s played both comically and realistically at the same time.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: She was only mentioned in the books, but she’s a recurring character in the show and used in the place of Henry’s grandparents (who don’t even appear in the show). Great Aunt Greta is the younger sister of Henry’s Grandma, who died before the show when Henry was a baby.

Prissy Polly

• Awful Wedded Life: It’s safe to say that Paul and Polly don’t have the happiest marriage.
• Brainless Beauty: She’s not very bright.
• Break the Cutie: She cries after Henry sabotages her wedding and laughs at her being covered in cake.
• Distaff Counterpart: You can probably see where Peter gets his whininess from.
• Dumb Blonde: As prissy as she is ditzy and she has blonde hair.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: It seems that Henry’s other relatives would prefer him over her any day.
• It's All About Me: Polly expects everything to be her way, all the time, even to the discomfort of others (even her own family).
• Jerkass: She's yet another character that's more horrid then Henry.
• Spoiled Brat: Polly is an overgrown Womanchild who bosses everyone around and acts like she’s the queen.
• Stepford Smiler: Polly always tries to act jolly when things go wrong, until she reaches her breaking point.
• Straw Vegetarian: She rejects Peter's animal crackers because they remind her of meat.
• Tantrum Throwing: Whenever something doesn’t go her way.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Pimply Paul is rather sinister looking and Prissy Polly is rather beautiful, but that doesn’t automatically make her beautiful on the inside.
• Ungrateful Bitch: If she doesn’t get what she wants or if it’s not exactly how she wanted it, Polly always whines.
• What Does He See in Her?: Henry often wonders why Paul would marry someone like her.

Pimply Paul

• Awful Wedded Life: It’s pretty clear that Paul and Polly aren’t very happy together.
• Child Hater: Henry believes him to be this, especially since he mumbled it at his and Polly’s wedding, but that was just because Henry was acting up.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: He’s an honest and hardworking person, but he never gets the respect or thanks he deserves, not even from his own wife.
• Enemy Mine: Teamed up with Henry on multiple occasions, such as during his milkman job and to watch a horror film against the wishes of Prissy Polly.
• Extreme Doormat: He gets pushed around a lot, especially by his boss, his wife, his coworkers, and Henry.
• Freudian Excuse: With an oppressive job, a wife who bosses you around, a 10-year-old in-law who bullies you and the Crapsack World the show is set in, you can’t blame him for being a sour puss.
• Hates Everyone Equally: He hates everyone and everything, except maybe his little Vera.
• Henpecked Husband: He’s practically defenseless when it comes to Polly.
• Hypocritical Humor: As noted above, Paul is said to hate children, but he loves his daughter and Perfect Peter, so he may just hate Henry.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Paul is grumpy, short tempered and hateful but he geniunely loves his daughter and despite his initial dislike of Henry, he comes round to forming a good relationship with him.
• Like a Son to Me: He eventually becomes Henry’s father-figure.
• Mirror Character: Paul and Henry soon discover how much they have in common, especially in the episodes when they team up against Polly. They even develop a father-son relationship throughout the course of the show.
• No Accounting for Taste: He and Polly have a very rocky relationship. He is a grumpy sour puss and she’s a whiny woman child.
• Papa Wolf: He does not trust Henry with Vera.
• Straw Loser: Paul is apparently supposed to represent put upon young adults.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Pimply Paul is sinister looking and Prissy Polly is beautiful, although Polly isn’t exactly pretty on the inside.

Vomiting Vera

• Baby Talk: She is always babbling happily.
• Big Brother Worship: She seems to love Henry more than Peter.
• Creepy Child: She seems to actually throw up on purpose.
• The Cutie: Vera's adorableness truly stands out, especially in this show.
• Cute Mute: She doesn’t speak, but it doesn’t make her less endearing.
• Daddy's Girl: Vera is seen with her father more than her mother.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She's a baby, but still the kindest and cutest character on the show.
• The Heart: Vera seems to be the one thing that’s preventing her parents from their potential divorce.
• Morality Pet: To Pimply Paul and Horrid Henry, to some extent.
• Prone to Vomiting: Her nickname comes from the fact that she tends to barf for no reason.
• Token Good Teammate: The nicest member of Henry’s very dysfunctional family, which mainly consists of jerkasses and morons. That being said, Vera is only a baby and once she’s grown up she may be a bit different.

Henry’s Grandparents

• Adapted Out: The only major characters to not appear in the show. It’s mentioned that Grandma died when Henry was a toddler (probably about Vera's age).
• Only Sane Man: They’re much more grounded and sensible than the rest of Henry’s family.

Doddery Donald

• Cool Old Guy: He is an old man who plays Air Guitar and used to be called Dancing Donald.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: He is Great Aunt Greta’s brother and made 2 other appearances. He was seen in a flashback with Old Olive, which could mean they are married, and in the Old People’s Home, suggesting he lives there. You’d think he might get more attention as Great Aunt Greta’s brother, and as such Mum’s maternal uncle and Henry and Peter’s great uncle.

Other characters

Vic Van Wrinkle

• Amoral Afrikaner: His last name and the fact he has African items in his office imply he is of Afrikaner descent like his actor
• Knight of Cerebus: The mood darkens when he is around.
• The Von Trope Family: Has Van right in his last name.

Bossy Bill

• Broken Ace: Before we meet him, he's said to be a perfect child, think again.
• Broken Pedestal: When his Dad, Bossy Bob finds out that he had been getting Henry into trouble all day and copied his own bottom, he tells him to his face that he's "Not the son he thought he was."
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Vanishes in Series 4 and 5.
• Frame-Up: He blames Henry for a lot of the bad things he did.
• Evil Brit: Inverted. He and his dad are the only characters that are given American accents in the audiotapes. Played straight in the TV series though.
• Jerkass: Bossy Bill really lives up to his nickname.
• Oop North: In the TV series, he speaks with a Liverpool accent.