Spitting Image
- TV sketch show
- BritBox / ITV1
- 1984 - 2021
- 161 episodes (22 series)
Groundbreaking, long-running and hugely popular satirical sketch show with a cast of grotesque latex puppets. Stars Chris Emmett, Jon Glover, Phil Cool, Jan Ravens, Chris Barrie and more.
Press clippings Page 9
The 30 shows to look forward to this autumn
Includes comedies The Duchess, Spitting Image and Taskmaster.
Phil Harrison and Graeme Virtue, The Guardian, 29th August 2020The best of British satire: 7 vintage shows
Spitting Image is returning. Some are expecting the new series to represent the welcome, and long overdue, rehabilitation of British satire. Others fear a toothless, joyless effort. Either way, it will face some tough comparisons - most notably with itself. The satire boom of the 60s precipitated a long line of insightful, scabrous, satirical shows. So here, in no particular order, are seven of the best.
Tim Dawson, The Spectator, 27th August 2020ITV bans Spitting Image from showing Boris's 'Johnson'
ITV bosses have banned the all new Spitting Image from flashing the Prime Minister's tiny Johnson. The network, which is due to screen the rebooted series later in the year, commissioned a saucy trailer for the new version of the cult show.
Andy Halls, The Sun, 23rd August 2020Norman Tebbit given guard of honour over Spitting Image
Norman Tebbit was given a guard of honour by Millwall supporters because they liked his Spitting Image puppet so much, he has revealed. Lord Tebbit, 89, said the drunken fans at first surrounded him on a train after seeing their team lose at Liverpool. The former Tory Party chairman said he feared trouble - but the popularity of his thuggish puppet on the satirical TV show was his saviour.
Patrick Gysin, The Sun, 19th August 2020Politically correct Spitting Image would be a turn-off
The good news is that Spitting Image, the satirical puppet show that lampooned politicians and celebrities, is back on our screens this autumn. The bad news is that the current climate of fear around causing offence means the new show could be a politically cowardly imitation of the original, which gloried in pushing the boundaries of the acceptable.
Jawad Iqbal, The Times, 18th August 2020Spitting Image wrestles with race riddle
Blackface controversies have led to comedies such as Little Britain being pulled from screens. Now the producers of Spitting Image are grappling with another potential scandal. Senior ITV executives have held "surreal" meetings to discuss how such figures as Kanye West, the Duchess of Sussex and Beyoncé should be depicted amid concern that presenting black celebrities as grotesque puppets could prompt accusations of racism.
Matthew Moore, The Times, 17th August 2020Boris Johnson is mane attraction in Spitting Image
A wild-haired Boris Johnson puppet looks the mane attraction in the return of TV's Spitting Image. Others appearing include his adviser Dominic Cummings and embattled Prince Andrew.
Isaac Crowson and Jill Robinson, The Sun, 5th August 2020New Spitting Image sold to Belgium
Broadcaster SBS Belgium have picked up the first two new series of the iconic British satirical take on global events, Spitting Image.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 15th July 2020Meet the people who brought puppets to life
Puppets were once ubiquitous on TV, but over the past two decades they've all but vanished. What happened to them - and to the humans who used to control them?
Rich Pelley, The Observer, 14th June 2020Has social media killed TV satire?
Social media and cultural sensitivities have blunted satire's role as a vital societal safety valve.
Adam Sherwin, i Newspaper, 6th March 2020