Spitting Image
Spitting Image was a satirical puppet-show that ran on Britain's ITV Network from 1984 to 1996. As the title (a colloquial phrase meaning a person closely resembling another) suggests, the show was not afraid to offend its viewers, or its targets. The puppets, caricaturing public figures, were designed by the cartoonists Peter Fluck and Roger Law (who sometimes spoonerized their names as 'Luck and Flaw'). They were assisted by various young caricaturists including David Stoten, Steve Bendelack, Tim Watts, Pablo Bach and Oscar da Costa. Musical parodies were provided by Philip Pope (former member of Who Dares Wins and the Heegbeegeebees team) and later Steve Brown (Glen Ponder in Knowing Me, Knowing You).The voices were provided by some of the best British impressionists, including Harry Enfield, Enn Reitel (Mog), Chris Barrie (Rimmer in Red Dwarf), Rory Bremner, John Sessions, Steve Coogan, Rob Newman (ex Mary Whitehouse Experience star), Louise Gold, Hugh Dennis (also of Mary Whitehouse Experience fame), Michael Fenton Stevens (KYTV), John Thompson (Cold Feet), Alistair MacGowan, Kate Robbins, Jessica Martin, Jon Glover, Roger Blake (plays Duke of Edinburg/Jim Royle in Big Impression), Jan Ravens (Dead Ringers) and last, but not least, Steve Nallon, best known as the voice of Maggie Thatcher.
Producers included John Lloyd (writer) (Blackadder, Not The Nine O Clock News), Geoffrey Perkins (KYTV, now Head of BBC comedy), David Tyler, Bill Dare (Dead Ringers) and Giles Pilbrow (2DTV).
Writers included David Baddiel, (Mary Whitehouse Experience), Steve Punt(The Now Show), Georgia Pritchett, Ian Hislop (Private Eye, Have I Got News For You), Nick Newman (Private Eye), Rob Grant & Doug Naylor (creators of Red Dwarf), Paul Powell, Mark Burton, John O Farrell (author of Things Can Only Get Better etc.), Geoff Atkinson, Richard Curtis (Blackadder, Four Weddings & A Funeral etc.), (John) Jack Docherty and Moray Hunter (Absolutely, Mr. Don & Mr. George), Pete Sinclair, Stuart Silver, Andrea Solomons, Andy Parsons, Henry Naylor, Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley (The Armando Ianucci Shows), Tony Sarchet and Alistair Beaton.
However, the stars of the show were the latex puppets. Centre stage (as only to be expected from a topical satire show) were the politicians, in particular Mrs.Thatcher, who was portrayed as a bullying, fascist, bald male tyrant), and Ronald Reagan (a bumbling, nuke-obsessed fool with a (literally) missing brain). Providing admirable support were Bovver boy Norman Tebbit, bland-as-sand Geoffrey Howe, raving loony Michael Heseltine, scandalous Cecil Parkinson, Leon Brittan, Nigel Lawson, Norman Fowler, Douglas Hurd (he of the Mr.Whippy hair-do), slug-like Kenneth Baker and, on the other side of the House, the verbally unstoppable Neil Kinnock and the actually spitting Roy Hattersley. As these 'characters' left the public eye it was generally felt that the show tended to miss more often than it hit. Thatcher was replaced with an all grey John Major who enjoyed nothing better than a nice meal of peas with his wife Norma. Tony Blair appeared in the last few series as a grinning puppet 'puppet' hypnotised by a Peter Mandelson snake. The show ended in 1996 never having been made under a Labour government.
A mainstay of Spitting Image was, of course, The Royal Family. The Queen always seemed ever so slightly mad, Prince Phillip was a blunderbuss-toting loon, Prince Charles a bit of an out-of-touch old hippy and Princess Di a publicity-hungry Sloane Ranger. There was also randy Prince Andrew, horsey Princess Anne, petulant thicko teenager Prince Edward, tipsy Princess Margaret, truffle-snuffling Fergie and a totally dotty Queen Mum complete with bottle of Gordons Gin, copy of the Racing Post and a Beryl Reid voice.
Other popular puppets included a crying Gazza, a smarmy Jeremy Paxman, Donald Sinden (forever seeking a knighthood), Leonard Nimoy (desperate to shake off his Spock image), hip and swinging Gorby, election-losing David Owen complete with whining, bed-wetting David Steel in his pocket, Sir John Gielgud (who always fell asleep and had to be prodded awake with a stick), blooper-friendly David Coleman, Paul Daniels and his pet wig, John Cole (always being hit on the head outside parliament), fawning Sir Alistair Burnett, Ian McGaskill (he of the huge flip-back glasses, Madonna (with singing bellybutton), vamp-like Edwina Currie and a truly rock-n-roll Pope John Paul II.
The program was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central.
There were some attempts to produce a US version of the show, but it never really caught on. DC Follies had a passing resemblance to Spitting Image, but was not considered as funny.
In 1986, the Spitting Image puppets had a number one hit in the UK charts with "The Chicken Song", one of several parodies to have featured in the programme.
Most of the puppet caricatures were later sold by auction at Sothebys.
More recently 2DTV satirised celebrities in a very similar style to Spitting Image, but used cartoons rather than puppets.
