SPITTING IMAGE

'''Spitting Image''' was a satirical puppet show that ran on the United Kingdom's ITV television network from 1984 to 1996. The programme was produced by Spitting Image Productions for Central.

Contents

Introduction

Characters

The Songs

Trivia

Demise

Recent history

Writing

Staff

Similar shows elsewhere

References

External links

See also

Introduction

The phrase "spitting image" means "perfect likeness or counterpart".^[1] It derives from a British slang expression dating back to at least 1859 as a phrase. The roots of this expression can be traced through British history as far back as the Middle Ages ^[2] and is shared with the French "C'est son père tout craché" or ''"He is his father's spit and image"''.
The puppets, caricaturing public figures often including British and American politicians and celebrities, were designed by the cartoonists Peter Fluck and Roger Law (who sometimes spoonerised their names as 'Luck and Flaw'). They were assisted by various young caricaturists including David Stoten, Steve Bendelack, Tim Watts, Pablo Bach, Christopher Sharrock (who coined the internal name for the show: "Splitting Headache") and Oscar da Costa and virtually every successful British impressionist of the time. Musical parodies were provided by Philip Pope (former member of ''Who Dares Wins'' and The Hee Bee Gee Bees) and later Steve Brown (who played the character of bandleader Glen Ponder in ''Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge'').

Characters

The stars of the show, though, were the latex puppets. Centre stage were the politicians, in particular then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who was portrayed as a bullying, fascist tyrant and man-woman (she wore suits and used the urinals), and U.S. President Ronald Reagan (a bumbling, nuke-obsessed fool with a (literally) missing brain). Providing admirable support were leather-clad "Bovver boy" Norman Tebbit, bland Geoffrey Howe, manic Michael Heseltine, vamp-like Edwina Currie, lecherous Cecil Parkinson, Douglas Hurd - whose spiralling hairstyle resembled a "Mr Whippy" ice cream – the slug-like Kenneth Baker, greedy Nigel Lawson, Tom King, discontent Peter Walker, and, on the other side of the House, the senile Michael Foot, gasbagging Neil Kinnock, the actually spitting Roy Hattersley, the hard-left Ken Livingstone, the big eyebrow Denis Healey, the small-minded Peter Shore and the creepy, psychotic Gerald Kaufman.
While on the third benches there was short-lived SDP-Liberal Alliance before they merger into Liberal Democrats with the leaders election-losing David Owen complete with whining, bed-wetting David Steel in his pocket. After the Lib Dems was formed David Steel and David Owen resign as Leader and was replaced by Paddy Ashdown. Reagan was assisted by square-headed Edwin Meese, sharkish Casper Weinberger, Donald Regan and idiotic vice-president George H.W. Bush, with Sylvester Stallone and Ted Kennedy, among others, trying to become President.
There were other international politicians that Spitting Image satirazed like Robert Mugabe (President of Zimbabwe), P.W. Botha (President of South Africa), Yoweri Museveni (President of Uganda), hip and swinging Mikhail Gorbachev (President of the then Soviet Union), Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi (Head of State of Libya), Benazir Bhutto (Prime Minister of Pakistan), Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (Supreme Leader of Iran), François Mitterrand (President of France), Saddam Hussein (President of Iraq during the invasion of Kuwait which led to the Gulf War) and more, appeared.
Several of the politicians found their characterisations offensive, although in subsequent interviews many were glad of the attention. Though an appreciation of the programme's humour required more than a passing knowledge of British politics, it aired on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation late on Sunday nights in the late 1980s.
As the show progressed, Britain's political landscape altered. Particularly, in the early 1990s, many of the characters who had proven so popular were retired from real-world politics, particularly Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, whilst others – such as Michael Heseltine and Norman Tebbit – became much less prominent. This marked a decline in the show's fortunes. Thatcher was replaced with a dull, all-grey John Major, who enjoyed nothing better than a nice meal of peas with his wife Norma. He was so boring they even invented an affair between him and Virginia Bottomley, a Cabinet Minister. (This was not a million miles from the truth, as it was revealed much later that Major had an affair with Edwina Currie). A fat, stereotypical Democrat Bill Clinton became President after Bush. Tony Blair, at that point leader of the opposition, appeared in the last few series as a grinning puppet hypnotised by a Peter Mandelson snake. The show ended in 1996, missing Labour's 1997 election victory (though the last ever episode featured a 'look forward' to 1997, featuring the party moving into 10 Downing Street).
Another mainstay of ''Spitting Image'' was the royal family. The Queen always seemed ever so slightly mad and picking clothes from rubbish bins, Prince Philip was a blunderbuss-toting buffoon permanently in naval uniform, Prince Charles was distant, and Diana was a publicity-hungry Sloane Ranger. There was also playboy Prince Andrew, horsey Princess Anne, petulant teenager Prince Edward, tipsy Princess Margaret, truffle-snuffling Fergie and senile Queen Mother, who was generally seen with a bottle of Gordons Gin, a copy of the Racing Post and a Beryl Reid voice; this was a running joke from a sketch in which the Royal Family's desire to conceal her Birmingham accent was the reason she was very seldom heard speaking on television.
Other popular puppets included a crying Gazza, boxers Frank Bruno (with his famous laugh) and Chris Eubank (with his famous lisp), a smarmy Jeremy Paxman, Donald Sinden (forever seeking a knighthood), Leonard Nimoy (desperate to shake off his Spock image despite the fact he has pointed ears that flapped constantly), Dame Thora Hird and Alan Bennett sharing a bed and incongruously talking dirty to the outrage of Thora's cat, Sir John Gielgud (who always fell asleep and had to be prodded awake with a stick), the powerful but greedy newpaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch, the Virgin Atlantic Airways billionaire, Richard Branson, Paul Daniels and his pet wig, squeaky Dennis Thatcher, tiny pathetic Mark Thatcher, John Cole (whose rambling reports from outside Parliament often led to an off-screen individual wrapping a walking stick round his neck and yanking him away), weatherman Ian McCaskill and his spectacles which swung up and down as he got more enthusiastic, rock'n'roll Pope John Paul II (open shirt, sunglasses), a hippie Jesus, an extremely controversial God character who occasionally plugged his new book "Bible II" and snooker star Steve "Interesting" Davis. In the documentary show in early 2006 looking back on the show, two puppets of Ant and Dec were created especially for the programme.

The Songs

In 1986, the ''Spitting Image'' puppets had a number one hit in the UK charts with "The Chicken Song", parodying "Agadoo" by Black Lace – one of several parodies to have featured in the programme.
The other songs released by ''Spitting Image'' were "I've Never Met A Nice South African" (which was on the B-Side of "Chicken song" and was a savage indictment of the apartheid-ridden country), "Santa Claus Is On The Dole", "The Atheist Tabernacle Choir", "No More Christmas Singles", "House of Commons, Commons of House" and "We've Got Beards" (which poked fun at ZZ Top). "Chicken song" was by far the most successful of all of their music and not-so-subtle references were made to it in subsequent sketches in the show itself. An LP "Spit In Your Ear" was produced, featuring some of their sketches over time along with a few of their songs.
Another song Spitting Image was famous for is the notorious "We're Scared of Bob" in 1986.
Other musical parodies featured Michael Jackson, Kylie Minogue, Frankie Goes To Hollywood and The Monkees.
In only one instance, the parody was sung by the original artist. This was when Sting was persuaded to sing the ''Spitting Image'' version of Every Breath You Take.
The Chicken Song hit number 1 in the charts for 3 weeks from 17 May–3 June 1986 and VH1 US named it as one of the worst number 1 nominations.
Spitting Image did the music video for Land Of Confusion by Genesis

Trivia

★ As there was no recording facility at Central's (previously ATV's) Birmingham Studio 1, the team used Studio 2 - better known as the Crossroads Motel

★ At the height of its popularity, the series also spun off several public exhibits of puppets and props from the series that were displayed at Covent Garden in London, Bath, and other locations.

★ When a puppet was developed of the broadcaster Chris Evans following his appointment to the Radio 1 breakfast show, he rang the production company asking to be allowed to provide his own voice, promising that he would not interfere with any unflattering scripts. He was refused.

★ Most of the puppet caricatures were later sold online at a special Amazon.com auction hosted by Sotheby's - including a specially made puppet of Osama Bin Laden, which was never used in the series itself.

★ More recently ''2DTV'', incorporating some of the ''Spitting Image'' writing team, satirised celebrities in a very similar style to ''Spitting Image'', but used cartoons rather than puppets

★ Former producer John Lloyd was in talks with ITV in the spring of 2005 to bring ''Spitting Image'' back to the screen, but the attempt failed, reportedly over the cost of its revival and the non-involvement of Roger Law, one of the show's original creators.

★ One song featured a montage showing topless women. Superimposed on the face of one, for only a few frames, was a photograph of TV presenter and political activist Norris McWhirter. McWhirter, who had already sued the Labour Party over its alleged use of subliminal images, sued regulator the Independent Broadcasting Authority, claiming the photograph defamed him. His suit was unsuccessful. ^[3][4]

Demise

The arrival of ''Have I Got News for You'' in 1990 meant that ''Spitting Image'' now had a new satirical rival. In an attempt to keep the show up to date, the show's producers changed part of its format, including the addition of animated sketches (from 1994).
Most notable was the use of a studio audience for the 1992 Election Special and a couple of 1993 editions. This was for a segment in each of these shows which featured a spoof ''Question Time'', hosted by the latex Jeremy Paxman, and had the actual audience asking the puppets questions.
This was noteworthy as the very first episode, on 26 February 1984, had been shown to a studio audience and was aired with a laugh track (the producers, at the time, were unsure whether to use one or not). The idea of using a laugh track was quickly dropped, and the only shows to feature one thereafter were the 1992 Election Special and the two ''"Question Time"'' editions.
By 1995, however, the series was beginning to tire, and with viewing figures in decline, ''Spitting Image'' was cancelled. The final series was aired during January and February 1996.
According to Comedy Connections Spitting Image used to get 15m viewers in the 1980s
but by the 1990s it went down to just 3.7m.

Recent history

It was announced on 20 February 2006 that ITV would present a documentary about the programme. ''Best Ever Spitting Image'' aired on 25 June 2006. Speculation that a new series would follow was initially dismissed [1]. However, recently it was announced that there will indeed be a new series which will air some time early in 2008. The new series will maintain the topicality of the original programme by leaving script editing and production work until very near the air date, but it will feature computer generated caricatures rather than the original puppets (giving the programme a more updated and modern look) [2]. ITV have also been reported as saying this is not a relaunch of ''Spitting Image'', but a new show that uses the same concepts, although former ''Spitting Image'' writer Henry Naylor is involved[3].
In 2005 the 1996 F.A to Fairplay VHS was reissued on DVD. Made specially for Video it provided an alternative look at the 1996 European football championship held in England.
At present there are no plans to release any of the original episodes on DVD. However, many clips from the popular series started to appear on YouTube, most likely due to the huge surge in popularity and continued protest to bring it back on the air. It should be noted that after the February 2006 special, 2 episodes of Spitting image were shown on one of ITV's digital channels, this could mean that copyright is not an actual issue in terms of repeats. It was thought that it was going to return for another re-run in late August 2007 but it was just the first episode. A week later they showed the last.

Writing

The first series was not as vicious with the writing and songs more similar to the tone of established comedy revue shows such as ''Weekending''. As the Thatcher administration became less popular through 1985 the characterisations became harsher and the show grew in popularity. Despite this, many politicians had an ambivalent attitude to the show, realising that to be caricatured on it was a form of recognition which was perhaps preferable to total obscurity. It was said that while many of those who were viciously lampooned would kill to get off the show, there were others who would kill to get on it. Ultimately, many political figures accepted the show had a purpose and a benefit – Currie, Hattersley and Michael Portillo were among its biggest fans, even though they were frequently treated without kindness by it.

Staff

Voices:
The voices were provided by prominent British impressionists, including:

★ Chris Barrie (Arnold Rimmer in ''Red Dwarf'')

★ Roger Blake (plays Duke of Edinburgh/Jim Royle in ''Big Impression'')

★ Rory Bremner (''Bremner, Bird and Fortune'')

★ Phil Cornwell (''Dead Ringers'')

★ Steve Coogan (''Alan Partridge'')

★ Jon Culshaw (''Dead Ringers, 2DTV'')

★ Hugh Dennis (''The Mary Whitehouse Experience'')

★ Harry Enfield

★ Michael Fenton Stevens (''KYTV'')

★ Jon Glover

★ Louise Gold

★ Alistair McGowan

★ Jessica Martin

★ Steve Nallon (best known as the voice of Margaret Thatcher)

★ Jan Ravens (''Dead Ringers'')

★ Rob Newman (''The Mary Whitehouse Experience'')

★ Enn Reitel (''Mog'')

★ Kate Robbins

★ John Sessions

★ John Thomson (''Cold Feet'')

★ Cliff Taylor- ''Bumbledown: Lives and Times of Ronald Reagan''
Performers:
The puppets were operated or voiced by popular British performers, including:

★ Anthony Asbury

★ Don Austen

★ Chris Barrie

★ Simon Buckley

★ Steve Coogan

★ Richard Coombs

★ Alistair Fullarton

★ Louise Gold

★ Steve Nallon

★ Nigel Plaskitt

★ Jan Ravens

★ Marty Robinson

★ Kaefan Shaw
Writers:

★ Geoff Atkinson

★ Debbie Barham

★ Alistair Beaton.

★ Mark Burton

★ Kevin Cecil (''The Armando Ianucci Shows'')

★ Paul John Clark - Journalist and Writer (Rory Bremner, ''Kate and Ted's Show'', '', Weekending'', Hale and Pace)

★ Richard Curtis (''Blackadder, Four Weddings and a Funeral'' etc.)

★ Terence Dackombe (''Weekending, News Huddlines, Friday Night Live, etc.)

★ Chris Edge

★ Ben Elton (''Blackadder, The Young Ones'')

★ Dan Gaster

★ Rob Grant (''Red Dwarf'')

★ Sean Hardie

★ Ray Harris (''Babyblair'')

★ Ian Hislop (''Private Eye, Have I Got News For You, My Dad's the Prime Minister'')

★ Will Ing (''The Now Show'')

★ David Kind (Hale and Pace)

★ Doug Naylor (''Red Dwarf'')

★ Henry Naylor

★ Nick Newman (''Private Eye'')

★ John O'Farrell (author of ''Things Can Only Get Better'', etc.)

★ Andy Parsons

★ Paul Powell

★ Georgia Pritchett

★ Steve Punt (''The Now Show'')

★ Andy Riley (''The Armando Ianucci Shows'')

★ Tony Sarchet

★ Stuart Silver

★ Pete Sinclair

★ Andrea Solomons

★ (John) Jack Docherty and Moray Hunter (''Absolutely, Mr. Don & Mr. George'')

★ Keith Rees & Paul Lewis

★ David Baddiel (''The Mary Whitehouse Experience'')
Producers:

★ John Lloyd (''Blackadder'', ''Not the Nine O'Clock News'')

★ Geoffrey Perkins (KYTV, now Head of BBC comedy)

★ David Tyler

★ Bill Dare (''Dead Ringers'')

★ Giles Pilbrow (2DTV)
Production Assistants:

★ Barbara Bradbury

★ Lesley Jones

★ Jean Holdsworth
Archive Researchers:

★ Rob Peers

★ Janet Pitts

★ Linda Woodhouse

★ Janet Rayner

★ Margaret Duerden
Costumes:

★ Jackie Hallatt

Similar shows elsewhere

The ''Spitting Image'' puppets also appeared in the video for "Land of Confusion" by Genesis, a song which implied that Thatcher and Reagan were about to bring the world to a nuclear war. The video was depicted as a nightmare Reagan was having, which left him completely immersed in sweat from worrying. To this day, if most Americans know of ''Spitting Image'' at all, it is due to that Genesis video; however, in an attempt to crack the American market, a feature-length special entitled ''Spitting Image : Down And Out In The White House'' was produced in 1986 by Central for NBC. Introduced by David Frost, it departed from the sketch-based format in favour of an overall storyline involving the upcoming (at that time) Presidential election. It was not successful with its target audience, possibly because its humour was still very British and it was so irreverent about Ronald Reagan at a time when he was enormously popular with the American public. This was followed by two more TV specials, "The Ronnie & Nancy Show" (also satirizing the Reagans) and "The 1987 Movie Awards", satirizing the Academy Awards. The American puppeteers Sid and Marty Krofft later had a degree of success with a vaguely satirical show called ''D.C. Follies'' which ran from 1987 to 1989, was clearly inspired by ''Spitting Image'' and utilised Muppet-style foam puppets rather than rubbery caricatures, but it didn't come anywhere close to being as savage and vitriolic as ''Spitting Image''.
They also released a video with the satirical documentary "Bumbledown: The Life and Times of Ronald Reagan" and a musical based very loosely on ''West Side Story'' called "The Sound Of Maggie".
'Argentina': A political satire program called ''Kanal K'' was aired by Canal 13 during the early 1990s. The show was (theoretically) cancelled after a serious row with the Catholic Church over ''Kanal K's puppet of Pope John Paul II saying "va fangulo" (meaning "fuck you" in Italian). Unofficial rumors say that Kanal K was cancelled on behalf of former President Carlos Saúl Menem because the program depicted him in a derisive manner. However, this version was never officially confirmed.
'Australia': Rubbery Figures (Fast Forward Series 1 (1989))
'Canada (Quebec)':
★ Et Dieu créa… Laflaque

★ Critics said: « Un des meilleurs shows d'humour 3D Québécois au monde! » One of the best 3-D Quebec comedy shows in the world, « Infiniment plus drôle que Découverte » Infinitely better than Discovery, « Jean Charest est parfait dans son rôle de frisé » Jean Charest is perfect in his role as a gay. C'est en ces termes ditirem... dythyran... ditti... élogieux que les critiques parlent de la populaire émission Et Dieu créa… Laflaque. It was in these terms of philatry...flattyry...phlatery... praise that the critics described that popular show "And God Created ... Laflaque"

★ (Season 3 of the show) Pour cette 3e saison, l'équipe de créateurs derrière Gérard D s'ingéniera à aller plus loin dans son entreprise de déboulonnage des personnalités de notre monde politique. Des nouveaux décors, des intrigues plus audacieuses et des entrevues où nos politiciens rivaliseront d'ingéniosité pour mieux se couvrir de ridicule. For this third season, the team of authors supporting Gérard D will be striving to go further in their aim of deflating figures from our political world. New scenery, more daring plots, and interviews where our politicians will vye with one another to see in covering themselves in ridicule.
'Chile': 31 Minutos (TVN)
'Colombia': Los reencauchados (Cenpro Televisión, 1995)
'Czech Republic': Gumaci (TV NOVA)
'France ': ''Le Bébêtes show''(TF1), ''Les Guignols de l'info'' (Canal Plus)
'Finland ': The Autocrats
'Germany ': Hurra Deutschland (ARD, RTL 2), Zak (WDR, ARD)
'Hungary ': Uborka (MTV 1)
'Ireland ': Bull Island (RTÉ)
'India ': Double Take (NDTV)
'Israel ': Chartzufim (Channel 2)
'Mexico ': Hechos de Peluche (TV Azteca)
'New Zealand ': Public Eye - aired in the 1980s and followed the same format as ''Spitting Image'' but satirised NZ politicians instead. Facelift (tv show)
'Poland ': Polskie ZOO (Telewizja Polska)
'Portugal ': Contra Informação (Rádio e Televisão de Portugal)
'Serbia ': Nikad Izvini (RTV Pink)
'Spain': Las noticias del guiñol (Canal Plus), Txokolatex (Euskal Telebista)
'Sweden ': Riksorganet (SVT)
' Romania ': Animat Planet (Antena 1)
'Russia ': Kookli
'United States': There were some attempts to produce a U.S. version of the show, with a 45-minute 'made for market' show by the original Spitting Image team. The plot involved a conspiracy to replace Ronald Reagan with a double (actually actor Dustin Hoffman in disguise). This plan was hatched by the Famous Corporation, a cabal of the ultra-rich headed by Johnny Carson's foil Ed McMahon (in the show, Carson was his ineffectual left-hand man) who met in a secret cavern hollowed out behind the facade of Mount Rushmore. Eventually, their plot foiled, the famous corporation activated their escape pod - Abraham Lincoln's nose - and left Earth for another planet, but (in a homage to the beginning of the Star Wars movies) were destroyed during a collision with 'a nonsensical prologue in gigantic lettering'. The show was successful, attracting great praise from US critics, and a homegrown variant was attempted. ''D.C. Follies'' had a passing resemblance to ''Spitting Image'', but owed more to Sesame Street (human participants trying to talk sense to the puppets) and was not considered as funny. See also List of British TV shows remade for the American market.

References

1. ''Dictionary Definition''
2. ''- Discussion on word origin''
3. "Spitting Image plans TV comeback", ''The Guardian'', Monday May 17, 2004
4. "Norris McWhirter" obituary, ''Daily Telegraph'', 21st April 2004

External links

★

★ Comedy Guide - ''Spitting Image'' at bbc.co.uk

★ Encyclopedia of Television

★ British Film Institute Screen Online

★ Spitting Image @ The BFI

★ Spitting Image at Comedy Central

See also

★ Le Bébête Show

★ Les Guignols de l'info

★ The Wrong Coast