No shortage of modern characters to lampoon, anyway…
23 years later, Spitting Image looks set to make a timely return to our television screens.
For the uninitiated, the ITV comedy series ran from 1984 to 1996 across a total of 131 episodes, presenting wildly over the top – and deliberately unflattering – puppet-based depictions of the world’s most prominent politicians.
The show was hugely popular, peaking at around 15 million viewers per week in the 1980s.
Among many others, Margaret Thatcher was a popular figure of ridicule, as you can see below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jINZBOxdja8
Clip via A Spootiful Mind
Talk of a comeback surfaced in the mid-2000s, though little came of it.
Now, 23 years on from the series’ original endpoint, the puppets are coming back for more in the form of some notably modern personalities.
As the Guardian reveals, a pilot for the new iteration has already been shot, with the reboot looking to include distorted versions of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Mark Zuckerberg, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Co-creator Robert Law told the Guardian that producers are in “advanced discussions” to broadcast Spitting Image 2.0 on American networks.
“It’s pretty chaotic out there,” the 78-year-old said as he explained his reasons for the comeback.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s better than shouting at the television set, isn’t it? So I thought, let’s give it a go.”
Law notes that targeting lower tier UK politicians doesn’t so much appeal to him as taking on the likes of the 45th President of the United States of America, though he does concede that this, in and of itself, presents something of a challenge.
“I’ve heard other satirists say that he’s un-satirisable because he’s a satire in himself,” he said.
“Well, with puppets you can go much, much further, because actors won’t do that for you. And by christ, we are going to give it a go.”
No word on that exact return date as of yet, but we’re sure Trump will fire off a tweet or two when it does.
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