How the Spitting Image puppets were made

"It was always a two-part, collaborative process: Peter Fluck would do the form and Roger Law the finishing - doing the final touches and the expressions"

Spitting 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.

Opinion: should Spitting Image return?

Every time Donald Trump is in the news you can be pretty sure that someone somewhere will post something on social media similar to the following: "Economic problems, loose cannon in the White House, female Prime Minister, Labour Party in disarray. It's the eighties all over again. What we really need is Spitting Image back."

How we made Spitting Image

Peter Fluck and Steve Nallon talk about Spitting Image.

I never knew how much I missed Spitting Image until I watched Arena: Whatever Happened To Spitting Image (BBC Four). Imagine, 15million people a week used to tune into a bunch of puppets savaging politicians. We actually cared enough about what was going on to do that.

True, puppeteers Peter Fluck and Roger Law and the rest of the Spitting Image team struck satirical gold in the form of Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative cabinet but are things really so much better now? Just because we're adrift in the politics of the bland, does that mean they should be spared the comedic water cannon?

My guess is if someone brought back Spitting Image now, it could be an enormous hit. But has anyone got the latex balls to try it? Would they be hit with law suits the minute they went on air? Those questions won't be bothering the creators, who cheerily admitted their programme was the product of angry, youthful loins.

"I don't throw my dinner at the television any more," said Fluck (or it might have been Law). "That's a good sign."

It turned out the only people who survived the high-intensity Spitting Image workload had high energy or were on drugs. Or quite probably both.

Now settled back in middle age, Law (or it might have been Fluck) ruefully recognised that where once they thought they'd change the world, now they knew "it doesn't change anything". However, someone really should be trying.

Peter Fluck on politicians liking their caricatures

Comparing the Labour leader Ed Miliband to Gromit's nerdish friend Wallace continues a satirical tradition.

Peter Fluck interview

As one half of the famously anarchic creators of Spitting Image, Peter Fluck's initial assessment of Headcases is decidedly lukewarm.