Spitting Image

Spitting Image is a (mainly political) satirical comedy series that uses puppetry; originally created in 1984 it continued until 1996 before being cancelled. In 2020 the series was picked up for a revival by Avalon Comedy and BritBox. It was renewed for a second series in 2021 and is currently promoting it's live shows. The YouTube channel was created in 2020 to promote the first revival series of Spitting Image, it's most recent uploads are for the Live Show "Spitting Image Live: The Liar King" starring Boris Johnson.
== Background ==
=== Original Series ===
Martin Lambie-Nairn proposed a satirical television show featuring caricature puppets created by Peter Fluck and Roger Law. Fluck and Law, who had both attended the Cambridge School of Art, had no previous television experience, but had, for several years, constructed plasticine caricatures to illustrate articles in The Sunday Times magazine. The idea for the series was rejected by many in the industry, who thought it would only be suitable for children, but the series was finally accepted for development and first broadcast in 1984.
English comedy writer and National Lampoon editor Tony Hendra was brought in as a writer; Fluck and Law had met him while they were working in the US. Hendra brought in John Lloyd, producer of Not The Nine O'Clock News. They were joined by Jon Blair, a documentary producer. They then hired Muppet puppeteer Louise Gold. Development was funded by the entrepreneur Clive Sinclair.
The puppets, based on public figures, were designed by Fluck and Law, assisted by caricaturists including David Stoten, Pablo Bach, Steve Bendelack and Tim Watts. The episodes included musical parodies by Philip Pope (former member of Who Dares Wins and The Hee Bee Gee Bees) and later Steve Brown.
In 1984, the first episode of Spitting Image was aired with a laugh track, apparently at the insistence of Central Television. This episode was shown to a preview audience before transmission. In the early years of the show, Spitting Image was filmed and based in the enterprise zone at London Docklands at the Limehouse Studios, where scriptwriters convened and puppets were manufactured. Impressionist Steve Nallon recalls that "they were able to get away with no health and safety, so all of the building of the puppets with all the toxic waste from the foam was just in a warehouse. There were no extractor fans; it was quite Dickensian." In later series, Spitting Image was recorded at Central's studios in Nottingham with last minute additions being recorded at the Limehouse Studios at Canary Wharf, London.
Before the first episode was broadcast, the parodies of the Royal Family were cut as a courtesy to the Duke of Edinburgh, who opened the East Midlands Television Centre a few days later. The scenes were all reinstated in later episodes. Stephen Fry has written that Diana, Princess of Wales told him around 1991 that "They hate it of course. I absolutely adore it." Avalon Television executive producer Jon Thoday stated that Ronald Reagan directly contacted NBC asking for the show to be cancelled.
The first episode had an audience of 7.9 million, but numbers rapidly dropped, which meant economies had to be introduced since the series cost £2.6 million to make, nearly double the price of other prime time series.
The series had been originally scheduled to have 13 episodes, but was cut to 12 after the series was nearly cancelled. Rob Grant and Doug Naylor were then brought in as head writers to save the show; by 1986, under their supervision, Spitting Image had become popular, producing a number one song on the UK Singles Chart ("The Chicken Song"). However, Grant and Naylor subsequently left to create Red Dwarf for BBC2. Spitting Image had a short-running dispute with the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) in 1985, over the use of subliminal images.
When Margaret Thatcher resigned as both Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party in November 1990, her successor was Chancellor of the Exchequer John Major. This marked a shift in the tone of the show, with the writers moving from the Punch and Judy style to more subtle and atmospheric sketches, notably a series in which an awkward Major and wife Norma ate peas for dinner. The producers dressed Major, skin and all, in shades of grey, and invented an affair between him and Virginia Bottomley.
The show added animated sketches from 1989 and again from 1994 (with short, animated segments before 1989). For the 1992 Election Special, a studio audience was used; this format was revisited for two episodes in late 1993. A spoof Question Time took questions from the audience. The 1992 show was fronted by a puppet Robin Day, a puppet Jeremy Paxman filling the role in the episodes broadcast on 14 November 1993 and 12 December 1993.
The writers, Mark Burton, John O'Farrell, Pete Sinclair, Stuart Silver, and Ray Harris quit the show in 1993 and in 1995, and with viewing figures in decline, production was cancelled. The final series was initially planned for broadcast in autumn 1995 but was subsequently broadcast in January and February 1996, with the final episode featuring "The Last Prophecies of Spitting Image" in which Labour moved into Number 10. A few years later, most of the puppets were sold at an auction hosted by Sotheby's, including a puppet of Osama bin Laden never used in the series.
During 2004, the idea of the series coming back started to appear after John Lloyd held talks with ITV executives about the show's return. John Lloyd also held talks with a number of people who voiced the Spitting Image puppets, including John Sessions, Harry Enfield and Rory Bremner, with all responding positively.
Lloyd said: "There's enormous enthusiasm from ITV to do it. We're just trying to work out how it would be affordable. The budget is about to go off to ITV. Everybody seems to have residual affection for Spitting Image. It could be scrappy and uneven, but it's rather like a newspaper. You don't expect it to be brilliant every time, but there's something delicious in every edition."
By early 2006, ITV were producing a documentary celebrating the series and if the audience figures were good a full series might have been produced. On 25 June 2006, ITV transmitted Best Ever Spitting Image as a one-off special of Spitting Image which took a nostalgic look back at the programme's highlights. This special actually prevented ITV directly resurrecting the famous satire as they had planned, because it featured new puppets of Ant and Dec – a move which was against the wishes of Roger Law, who owns the rights to the Spitting Image brand.
Spitting Image, as ITV's primary satirical programme, was succeeded by 2DTV, a cartoon format that had five series between 2001 and 2004. In 2008 ITV created a CGI version to caricature and lampoon the famous, called Headcases, but it only aired for one series. Satirical puppets finally returned to ITV in 2015, in Newzoids.
=== Revival ===
In April 2017, it was reported that US broadcaster HBO was set to revive the series in light of the presidency of Donald Trump. However, no immediate official confirmation or announcement was made. In September 2019, the show was confirmed to be returning to screens twenty-three years after it originally ended, with the unveiling of the puppets of Trump, Vladimir Putin, Mark Zuckerberg, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Roger Law stated that the pilot for the new series had been filmed and that talks were in progress with US networks to take the show to a larger, global audience. According to Law, the revival is set to have a global appeal through a "uniquely British eye". Originally NBC was set to distribute the series stateside, however they backed out weeks before its initial broadcast. Executive producer Jon Thoday cited their "nervousness" with the series' content as the reason for their departure.
The writers for the revival include Jeff Westbrook, Al Murray, The Windsors creators Bert Tyler-Moore and George Jeffrie, Bill Odenkirk, David X. Cohen, Jason Hazeley, Keisha Zollar, Patric Verrone, Phil Wang, and Sophie Duker.
On 4 March 2020, the show was announced to be returning on the streaming service BritBox, as its first official commission. The show premiered on the service on 3 October 2020, featuring the voice talents of Billy West, Debra Stephenson, Debra Wilson, Guz Khan, Indira Varma, Jess Robinson, John DiMaggio, Lewis MacLeod, Lobo Chan, Matt Forde, and Phil LaMarr.
In an interview from July 2021, Law said that the second series would go massively over-budget like Boris Johnson's policies with full support from BritBox. He also said that the series would not be adding many new political figures, instead adding several footballers.
The series received mixed reviews from critics. The decision to satirise Greta Thunberg garnered criticism as she was a minor at the time.
Mark Lawson of The Guardian wrote approvingly in his four-out-of-five star review that "[a]dmirers of the franchise will be relieved that the revival ... has lost none of its savagery or willingness to shock." Also writing for The Guardian, columnist Nesrine Malik described the new series as a "toothless performance" and the jokes "excruciatingly obvious".
In his three-out-of-five star review, Ralph Jones of NME lauded the series' ability to satirise timely events, "its topicality is admirable: there are several sketches here about events that occurred as little as 12 hours before the recording. This is impressive on the radio but when puppets are involved, it’s almost breathtaking."
The Economist was more mixed in their analysis, calling it "pretty tame" in light of the current political atmosphere and when compared to its 1984 predecessor, writing how "[i]n an era of cynicism and conspiracy theories, the radical act would be to make a show that celebrated public life." Ed Power of The Telegraph was negative in his one-out-of-five star review pertaining to the two-part US election special, calling it "toothless" in its satire.
==== Live Shows ====
A stage show, focused on Boris Johnson and his lies, is set to premiere at the West End theatre in 2022. According to co-creator and executive producer Roger Law, the show will be more mean-spirited toward Johnson than in the show.
It was announced that the show titled Spitting Image Live (subtitled Featuring The Liar King) will open at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre on 1 February 2023 running until 12 March. It will be written by Al Murray, Matt Forde, and Sean Foley, directed by Foley, and featuring characters such as Boris Johnson, Tom Cruise, Michael Gove, Adele, Tyson Fury, Harry & Meghan, Stormzy, Beyoncé, Vladimir Putin, and Xi Jinping and more.
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