Spitting Image
- TV sketch show
- BritBox / ITV1
- 1984 - 2021
- 161 episodes (22 series)
Groundbreaking, long-running and hugely popular satirical sketch show with a cast of grotesque latex puppets. Stars Chris Emmett, Jon Glover, Phil Cool, Jan Ravens, Chris Barrie and more.
Episode menu
Series 21 (BritBox Series 1), Episode 1
Further details
Spitting Image is back... now on streaming service BritBox.
Over 100 puppets have already been developed by socially distanced teams of artists ready for launch, including: Adele, Angela Merkel, Baby Yoda, Barack Obama, Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Boris Johnson, Boris Baby, The Johnson Dog, Brad Pitt, Camilla Duchess of Cornwall, Chrissy Teigen, Covid-19, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dominic Cummings, Dominic Raab, Donald Trump, Dwayne Johnson, Ed Sheeran, Elon Musk, Elton John, Emmanuel Macron, Greta Thunberg, Grimes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Harry Styles, Idris Elba, Ivanka Trump, Jacinda Ardern, James Corden, Jeff Bezos, Joe Biden, Jürgen Klopp, Kanye West, Keir Starmer, Kim Kardashian, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Zuckerberg, Matt Hancock, Meghan Duchess of Sussex, Melania Trump, Michael Gove, Michelle Obama, Narendra Modi, Oprah Winfrey, Piers Morgan, The Pope, Prince Andrew, Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Prince William, Priti Patel, The Queen, Richard Branson, Rishi Sunak, RuPaul, Taylor Swift, Tiger Woods, Tyson Fury, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, all falling under the show's legendary gaze.
Co-creator Roger Law says: "Everything the team have done on the new Spitting Image shows, the caricatures, puppets and satirical gags have all been done in the public interest, as Boris might say 'Pro bono publico'. It's time to come off furlough! The people have spoken and the puppets are oven ready. We're going to take back control from the likes of Boris, Cummings, Trump, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. There will be tongue-lashings from our weather girl; Greta Thunberg, you'll be knocked out by Tyson Fury and dazzled and amazed by Beyoncé and Herr Jürgen Klopp. This time Spitting Image is going global so we will be making world beating trade deals with North Korea and Belarus and if Gavin Williamson and Dominic Cummings finally get the sack, Spitting Image will give them a job. We have always employed strange people and I'm sure Dom, in particular, will be a great asset; he seems to dislike the establishment just as much as we do. And the message for the Keir Starmer's and Michel Barnier's is... Let's get BritBox done."
Notes
This episode is dedicated to the memory of George Jeffrie.
Broadcast details
- Date
- Saturday 3rd October 2020
- Time
- 12pm
- Channel
- BritBox
- Length
- 22 minutes
Cast & crew
| Billy West | Various (Voice) |
| Debra Stephenson | Various (Voice) |
| Debra Wilson | Various (Voice) |
| Indira Varma | Various (Voice) |
| Jess Robinson | Various (Voice) |
| John DiMaggio | Various (Voice) |
| Lewis Macleod | Various (Voice) |
| Matt Forde | Various (Voice) |
| Phil LaMarr | Various (Voice) |
| Daniel Barker | Various (Voice) |
| Jason Forbes | Various (Voice) |
| George Fouracres | Various (Voice) |
| Luke Kempner | Various (Voice) |
| Bert Tyler-Moore | Writer |
| George Jeffrie | Writer |
| Bill Odenkirk | Writer |
| Brona C. Titley | Writer |
| David X Cohen | Writer |
| Jason Hazeley | Writer |
| Nico Tatarowicz | Writer |
| Karl Minns | Writer |
| Keisha Zollar | Writer |
| Matt Forde | Writer |
| Patric Verrone (as Patric M. Verrone) | Writer |
| F. Maxwell | Writer |
| Jeff Westbrook | Writer |
| Gemma Arrowsmith | Writer |
| Phil Wang | Writer |
| Tom Neenan | Writer |
| Andy de Emmony | Director |
| Steve Connelly | Director |
| Matt Stronge | Producer |
| Jeff Westbrook | Executive Producer |
| Joanna Beresford | Executive Producer |
| Jon Thoday | Executive Producer |
| Richard Allen-Turner | Executive Producer |
| Roger Law | Executive Producer |
| Nana Hughes | Executive Producer |
| Reemah Sakaan (as Reemah Saakan) | Executive Producer |
| Robert Price | Line Producer |
| Richard Bennett | Consultant Producer |
| Pat Lees | Consultant Producer |
| Paul Jones | Post Producer |
| Adam Bokey | Editor |
| Charlie Fawcett | Editor |
| Steve Nayler | Editor |
| Charlotte Dirickx | Production Designer |
| Peter Edwards | Director of Photography |
| Helly McGrother | Costume Designer |
| Willie Dowling | Composer |
| Felix Hagan | Composer |
| Natalie Preston | Graphics |
| Lee Watson | Graphics |
| Sheila Clark | Puppeteer |
| Philip Eason | Puppeteer |
| Andy Heath | Puppeteer |
| Brian Herring | Puppeteer |
| Matt Hutchinson | Puppeteer |
| Mark Jefferis | Puppeteer |
| Steven Kynman | Puppeteer |
| Rebecca Nagan | Puppeteer |
| Wim Oppenheimer | Puppeteer |
| Lynn Robertson Bruce | Puppeteer |
| Olly Taylor | Puppeteer |
Videos
Michael Gove visits Mistress Priti Patel's Boudoir
Michael Gove visits Mistress Priti Patel's Boudoir for some kinky conservative opinions.
Boris Johnson thinks about university students
Boris Johnson and his team discuss how to deal with the university students complaining that they're locked in their rooms and can't go home for Christmas.
Press
Spitting Image - Series 21 Episode 1 review
Spitting Image in 2020 is pointless and toothless where it matters. It lacks the slightest hint of satire with lazy, misjudged writing and woefully inadequate performances. They may as well not have bothered.
Colin Polonowski, The Digital Fix, 6th October 2020Spitting Image review - welcome return
Welcome return for comedy that revels in giving offence.
Mark Lawson, The Guardian, 3rd October 2020Spitting Image review
The difference between Spitting Image now and Spitting Image then is that the former is fatally constipated by being politically correct and the latter didn't give a glorious damn.
Jan Moir, Daily Mail, 3rd October 2020Spitting Image review
If you thought that President Trump and Boris Johnson were already such crafty caricatures of themselves that satire against them was futile, the new Spitting Image makes you think again.
Dominic Maxwell, The Times, 3rd October 2020Roger Law on bringing Spitting Image to BritBox
"What's going on, it's just terrifying when you stop to think about it," says Roger Law, one half of the original creative pair that made Spitting Image the benchmark for wrecking-ball satire in the 1980s and 90s. "I suppose that's the reason I wanted to go back to it. The time is definitely right."
Benji Wilson, Radio Times, 3rd October 2020Review: Spitting Image, Britbox
The return of Spitting Image is an interesting one. Much has been made of how the divided society we live in now is similar to the one in the 1980s when this first aired. But even if that is the same, and I'm not sure it is, comedy has changed. Well, at least the delivery of comedy has changed.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 3rd October 2020Matt Forde: the voice of Boris Johnson and Donald Trump
The British satirical TV puppet show Spitting Image is returning this week - on streaming service BritBox. Comedian Matt Forde is the voice of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Donald Trump's puppets. He told BBC World News America that the show is "just as outrageous, grotesque and ludicrous" as it was in the 1980s.
BBC, 2nd October 2020Can Spitting Image still pack a punch?
The show returns to a culture where the boundaries between comedy and politics have blurred.
Henry Mance, The Financial Times, 2nd October 2020It might be a mistake to revive Spitting Image
Will the overblown grotesquery of the satire's latex puppets be deemed acceptable by viewers more attuned to sensitivities?
Gerard Gilbert, i Newspaper, 2nd October 2020Al Murray: Spitting Image is just what we need
Spitting Image returns to TV tomorrow night - and Al Murray reckons it's just what we need in an age of everyone "wanting to be upset".
Andy Halls, The Sun, 2nd October 2020Ed Sheeran's puppet changed to avoid upsetting redheads
Spitting Image has remodelled its puppet of Ed Sheeran before the show has even aired - to avoid upsetting redheads. The original had carrot leaves sprouting from the Shape Of You singer's bonce - but now has turnip foliage instead.
Rod McPhee, The Sun, 1st October 2020