Spitting Image: Encyclopedia II - Spitting Image - Introduction

Spitting Image - Introduction

The name comes from British slang, an apparent misunderstanding of the established term "spit and image;" a person who closely resembles another person can be described as their "spitting image". Furthermore, in the early 1980s in Britain spitting was still perceived by the public as an inextricable component of the punk phenomenon.

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, 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 team) and later Steve Brown (who played the character of bandleader Glen Ponder in Knowing Me, Knowing You).

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, lecherous Cecil Parkinson, Douglas Hurd - whose spiralling hairstyle resembled a "Mr Whippy" ice cream - the slug-like Kenneth Baker and, on the other side of the House, the senile Michael Foot, gasbagging Neil Kinnock, the actually spitting Roy Hattersley and the creepy, psychotic Gerald Kaufman. Several of the politicians found their characterisations offensive, although in subsequent interviews many were glad of the attention.

As the show progressed, Britain's political landscape altered. Particularly, in the early 1990s, many of the characters which 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. Tony Blair, at that point leader of the opposition, appeared in the last few series as a grinning puppet 'puppet' hypnotised by a Peter Mandelson snake. The show ended in 1996, missing Labour's 1997 election victory.

Another mainstay of Spitting Image was the royal family. The Queen always seemed ever so slightly mad, Prince Phillip was a blunderbuss-toting buffoon, 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 Mum, who was generally seen with a bottle of Gordons Gin, a 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 despite the fact he has pointed ears that flapped constantly), 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), Paul Daniels and his pet wig, John Cole, weatherman Ian McCaskill, vamp-like Edwina Currie, `rock'n'roll Pope John Paul II, a hippie Jesus, an extremely controversial God character who occasionally plugged his new book "Bible II", Steve "Interesting" Davis and the weather forecaster Michael Fish.

The first series was not as vicious with the writing and songs more similar to the tone of established comedy review 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.

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. They 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.

The other songs released by Spitting Image were "I've Never Met A Nice South African" (which was on the B-Side of "The Chicken Song"), "Santa Claus Is On The Dole", "The Athiest Tabernacle Choir" and "We've Got Beards" (which poked fun at ZZ Top). "The 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 was produced, featuring some of their sketches over time along with a few of their songs.

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".

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 by auction at Sotheby's.

More recently 2DTV 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.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Introduction", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki