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Why did spitting image finish
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Ok i know this is a bite late, by about 10 years or so, but I used to love spitting image i thought it was one of the best politcal satire shows back in the day, and i thought it was much loved by the nation, but why did it finish, There is enough material to do it again, and the puppets were amazing, why did the do 2dtv instead surely this was more time consuming than the puppets???
any anwers would be grateful
any anwers would be grateful
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Although I think it might have been due to poor viewing figures.
But.
Well, everyone has an opinion and here's mine.
I think it was running out of steam and was getting less and less funny. (And maybe less and less people were watching it, hence reduced viewing figures and eventual cancellation). Damn it, it was on Comedy Connections a few months ago, they probably explained its demise. I watched it but alas I can't remember what they said ...
Ah, but in it's glory days, it was surely one of the greatest satire programmes the British Isles has ever seen!
Possibly because the Tories were easy to lampoon whereas Blair et al are beyond parody...
The audience figures were well down on what it used to get in its heyday, and it was actually a fairly expensive programme to make. As has been pointed out, 2DTV allows a Spitting Image-style format to be produced much more quickly and at considerably less cost.
If you haven't already, you might like to seek out the book "Tooth And Claw" by Lewis Chester - it's the behind-the-scenes story of how Spitting Image came to be made, and it details just how expensive it was (and why). It's long out of print, but you can pick up a second-hand copy via Abebooks.co.uk - they have one at the moment for 55p!
But why go to the considerable expense of making a sketch-based satirical show with puppets when you can make exactly the same jokes much more cheaply with 2DTV?
Spitting Image really was a very expensive show to make. They had to pay for the puppet workshop, the puppet operators, the voice artists, set design and construction, wardrobe, several days of studio time per episode, plus editing and other post-production... nobody is going to greenlight that kind of expense any more, not when 2DTV has shown how you can achieve the same basic effect much more cost-effectively.
The all time great Spitting Image sketch was when Mrs Thatcher and her Cabinet were out at a posh restaurant having a meal.
Maggie said to the waiter 'I'll have the steak please.'
The waiter said to Mrs T 'and the vegetables ?'
She replied 'Oh they'll all have the same as me' !!!
I think Fawlty Towers, Blackadder and other popular comedy shows benefit from not overdoing it year on year.
There were only 12 episodes of Fawlty Towers made and every single one of them is outstanding. There were only 24 episodes of Blackadder made plus a few specials, again every episode is a gem.
Conversely I remember many terrible episodes of Spitting Image towards the end.
Quit at the top appears to be the right thing.
Ah yes, very Miss Haversham! Room filled with cobwebs, Mrs T sitting in an armchair, rocking back and forth "I used to be Prime Minister, y'know"
Friday May 20, 2005
Plans to resurrect satirical puppet show Spitting Image have been abandoned after one of its original creators dropped out and the estimated cost of the project ran into several million pounds.
Producer John Lloyd held talks with ITV about bringing back the show, which lampooned politicians and celebrities from Margaret Thatcher to Madonna during its 12-year run from 1984 to 1996.
But Mr Lloyd has been unable to persuade his fellow co-creator and puppet maker, Roger Law, to take part.
"ITV were very keen and there couldn't be a better time to bring it back but Roger just doesn't want to go there anymore," said Mr Lloyd. "He lives on Bondi Beach in Australia and is having a great life painting kangaroos and duck-billed platypuses.
"You wonder whether it could be done without Roger but it just wouldn't be the same. He is more than just a name on a piece of paper - he is a very inspirational guy and central to the whole thing."
Full article here (Free registration required).
Other casualties were Douglas Hurd with his Dalek voice, Roy Hattersley whose puppet spat as he spoke and Kenneth Baker who was portrayed as a slug. I think Thatcher’s portrayal as a masculine cigar smoking fascist probably actually enhanced her career as she was portrayed as a strong leader surrounded by weak willed idiots.
I remember a classic sketch with Thatcher and her Cabinet dining in a restaurant. Thatcher orders a steak and the waiter asks “What about the vegetables?” She replies “They’ll have the same as me”.
I liked the specials though.
"The presidents brain is missing" etc
The idea has been scrapped.
It would have cost too much to make all the new puppets.
I used to work on holiday camps in the 80s and, despite its original intent, I will never forgive them for that bloody "Chicken Song" which became part of that great canon of work which includes "Agadoo" and "The Birdy Song". Never liked the prog as much after that!
To be fair, if the guy wasn't big enough (no pun intended) in terms of personality or ability to get past this sort of thing then he shouldn't have been in politics anyway. Satire is hardly a new idea and although I was never an avid or indeed regular reader I remember seeing a few copies of Private Eye around the mid-late 80's and thought that some of what they were doing was far more cutting than SI. I'll be damned if I can remember exactly which articles made me feel that way but it was a long time ago.
As I recall, my Dad was convinced that Tony Blair's puppet ("leader, leader, I'm going to be the Leader!"), which came to prominance after John Smith's death, would have wrecked his career. If only.
I know the Russians copied the program. It's still running there isn't it?