Press clippings Page 6
Lost Sitcoms announce Steptoe & Son, Alf Garnett and Hancock casts
BBC Four has announced the casting for The Lost Sitcoms. Jeff Rawle and Ed Coleman will star in Steptoe And Son, whilst Simon Day will play Alf Garnett.
British Comedy Guide, 29th March 2016Newzoids is, of course, a curate's egg. As was Spitting Image when it started, so put away those rosy rear-view spectacles. The CGI'd mouths are at the start disconcerting, but the obvious puppetry of the... arm-Zimmers?... reassuring, and the voices, from Jon Culshaw and Debra Stephenson, terrific. Things to love: Mrs Crown's Boys, which sees Queenie as a foul-mouthed matriarch; Chas and Camilla reimagined as the "posh" Gogglebox pair; the ghastlily "common" Prince George. In fact anything that rips the jack out of royalty and deference, and any sketch involving Jeremy Clarkson or Russell Brand, just because their time has belatedly come for a fine and decent kicking.
Things to hate: the cliches. Andy Murray has a boring voice. Dave Cameron is posh. The writers need to sharpen the political satire, but I'm lost for precisely how: it was either a masterstroke to launch this in an election runup or a catastrophic idea to think one could out-imagine politicians' own gift for self-parody. And we more than ever need the oinks of "Her Majesty's press". Give it time. We gave Spitting Image 18 series.
Euan, The Observer, 19th April 2015Who says satire is dead? After this, I would imagine just about everybody.
According to Jon Culshaw, one of the prime movers in ITV's new puppet-CGI farrago Newzoids
Where did it all go wrong? Of course, Spitting Image profited hugely from being the product of the Thatcher era, when the political battle lines were starkly drawn and the whiff of anarchy and grapeshot was in the air. Now we've entered an insipid (yet disturbing) era in which politicians posture, bluster and say anything that might nudge the all-powerful opinion polls half a percentage point in their direction. Conviction is dead, and everybody has fired off their personal opinions all over Twitter before the Newzoid scriptwriters have managed to pull the caps off their biros. And besides, doesn't the EU make all the big decisions for us anyway?
Take out the ads and Newzoids only last about 23 minutes, but even so it could hardly drag itself to the finishing tape. The team had laboured hard to draw up a checklist of likely targets, but then couldn't think of anything satirical to say about them. Ed Miliband appeared as a gormless geek with Ant and Dec (or perhaps it was vice versa). A barely-recognisable David Cameron was carried around like Nero in a sedan chair, talking like Ken Clarke impersonating the Duke of Kent. And why have him saying "get me to a hospital, a private one obvs" when his use of the NHS is well documented?
There was a sketch called "Mrs Crown's Boys", in which the Queen and Prince Philip kept saying "feck", and we had a pantomimic Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond singing "sod the English". It looked as if there might be a daring moment coming up when we saw a Muslim couple worrying about their son joining Isis, but it stopped before anything controversial happened. Nigel Farage was depicted as a stand-up comic with a fag and a pint of beer. Then Gary Barlow sang a song about not paying tax. It was like Anti-Pointless, where you had to find the laziest, most obvious answers that everyone else had already thought of.
The Thunderbirds reboot may have opted for CGI but this new satirical sketch show goes full retro, featuring crude Action Man versions of Prince Charles, Beyoncé, Andy Murray and other notable cultural figures. The cheerful crappiness of the puppets - particularly noticeable since Putin always has his top off - feels like a throwback to the grotesquery of Spitting Image, but Newzoids will ultimately depend on the quality of the writing. A crack voice squad, including Jon Culshaw and Debra Stephenson, certainly helps.
Graeme Virtue, The Guardian, 15th April 2015ITV's new show is 'spikier, edgier' than Spitting Image
Jon Culshaw and Debra Stephenson discuss how Newzoids is different from Spitting Image.
Catriona Wightman, Digital Spy, 15th April 2015Newzoids: meet the impersonator behind the puppets
Dead Ringers' Jon Culshaw lampoons the latest generation of politicians in ITV's impressionist show.
Sean Cronin, Radio Times, 15th April 2015Jon Culshaw on Katie Hopkins reaction to her puppet
It's the satirical puppetry show on everyone's lips but one over-opinionated columnist isn't going to be too pleased when she sees her Newzoids caricature.
Felicity Thistlethwaite, The Daily Express, 14th April 2015Video: Jon Culshaw on Newzoids
Jon Culshaw is one of the impressionists working on brand new satirical comedy series Newzoids, which premieres on ITV on Wednesday.
What's On TV, 14th April 2015Jon Culshaw's favourite TV
The impressionist and comedian on Question Time, Pointless and why he'd bring back Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World.
Gwilym Mumford, The Guardian, 13th April 2015Jon Culshaw interview
Nearly 20 years after spoofing John Major on Spitting Image, impressionist Jon Culshaw pokes fun at new generation of stars including Alex Salmond.
Rick Fulton, Daily Record, 11th April 2015