Spitting Image at 30 - Newsnight
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- Anthony Wall, editor of the BBC's Arena programme, has just finished a documentary about Spitting Image. Newsnight asked him to reflect on the programme's legacy.
"Taken from Newsnight and using footage from the BBC4 Arena documentary Whatever Happened to Spitting Image.."
2014: "In the 80s, your enemy was mad and bad and plain in view. Satirists today have to fire at more oblique targets."
What a difference six years has made.
Perhaps it's not surprising Spitting Image is back.
In this day and age I have to ask; Who are you getting at? Or is that the point?
@@chriswilson3126 I don't think you have to ask that, but your asking suggests there's a selection of figures one might choose from
@@chriswilson3126 Well as far as characters in modern UK politics that are easy to satarise, there is a selection from both sides. On the right you have Farage and Johnson and the left Corbyn and a plethora of activists. In the early 2010's politicians were often criticised for all having fairly similar personalities and views, with Miliband emulating many Tory policies and One Nation Conservatism incorporating many of Labour's progressive reforms. Now politics has become a lot more stark for better or worse, as the two major parties and their voter bases have shifted closer to their respective poles. Boris Johnson is a traditional Eton raised conservative with a pompous accent and the bad habit of saying the first thing that comes to his mind, whilst the ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is a shaggy old man who promised free wifi to all and a host of poorly thought through pledges in hopes of winning the 2019 election. Satirists however, now have the issue of creating crazier parodies then ever befoee to stay relevant. I feel as if that is why the new Splitting Image series has been met with poor ratings as it's need to seem more outlandish has only removed it's nuance.
It also shows society does change in waves. There really was less relevance for satire for about 20 years. Sadly, we're in a new golden age for satire as things have regressed so badly.
God that puppet of thatcher is scary
The original was scarier.
Alex Cros A monstrosity the original was.
Hah, you should see the one for Tony Blair
she was much scarier in real life.... morons and racists will of course look back very fondly of maggie. cunts.
@@Cryptokat seems like someone forgot about Tonny Blair and calls every one who has a different opinion fascists
I love spitting image!! We need it now more than ever
Those Guys who made the puppets, should have got 'Oscars'!
One of the funniest programmes ever, satire the only genre of comedy
The first time I saw spitting image was in 1989 and I loved it.
Is the Arena on BBC4 special from 2014 available on UA-cam/stream/torrent/anywhere?
Wait! Mr Bean was involved.
No
3:51 WHAT THE FUCK IAN HISLOP
IKR ! He doesn't look old enough to shave ! :D
That was a long time ago now. Terrifying to think that was 30+ years ago.
I had never even heard of this show in the U.S. I guess cause it was all about British Politics.
ha ha watching this in 2020 🤣🤣
Can you imagine today's politicians and "celebrities' being ripped apart on Spitting image? Johnson,Rees Mogg,Corbyn,Trump, Sturgeon,Foster,Abbott,May,Farage,Cowell,Rooney,etc etc. It would be amazing. Bring it on.
Just as an aside, it had a spiritual successor called 2DTV which dealt with the early 2000's. Didn't catch on at all, but was just as good, look it up.
@@Hysteria98 I remember 2DTV. Not bad but puppets work better than cartoons when it comes to ripping the piss
The Leftist clowns are a vastly more entertaining comedy than Israeli-shilled conservative party satire.
Not long to wait...
@@N75911_ ?
We need this show back to end the careers of some of today's politicians.
that's why they got rid of it.The social engineers wouldn't be able to cope
GOOD NEWS EVERYONE!!!
@@spyrofan9681 What is it, professor?
@@toyotaprius79 Spitting Image has been revived for the 2020 season, photo's of several prototype puppets are already available to see and a pilot has been filmed.
I vote for the us congress as sheep
I guess Jearmy paxman dosnt talk about his puppet.
I thought the same thing. His editors went out of their way to show it multiple times, but deafening silence from him.
Yyyyeeeeeeesss.
They should really do something with the Paxman puppet and University Challenge, in the same way Saint & Greavsie did it with Jimmy Greaves' puppet when he was ill one week and couldn't make it to the TV studio for filming. It was classic.
Yes he does
Pacman, puppet, says it all.
“Hello, how marvellous to talk down to you” - thatcher
THEY NEED TO BRING THIS BACK
What was that similar CGI show they did a few years back? That was supposed to be a new spitting image. Wisely they didnt use the name as I think everyone would have been pissed off that they didnt use puppets.
ianucci Headcases. And the puppetry one they did recently was Newzoids. Both were pretty average.
It's back but on britbox
New episodes of Spitting Image have returned to TV this year. Some bits are already on UA-cam.
It was criminal that spitting image stopped just before Blair came to power. All those walking caricatures in his cabinet, it was screaming out for the spitting image treatment:
Gordon Brown, Frank Dobson, Robin Cook, David Blunkett, Jack Straw, John Prescott, Alistair Darling, Margaret Beckett, Harriet Harman, Mo Mowlam, Clair Short and, of course, Blair himself with his pet Gerbil (I mean Goebbels) Peter Mandelson.
Their back ua-cam.com/video/n0JTta67aUE/v-deo.html
@drdavid They did Greta Thunberg does it get more left then that? They also did Pelosi and a lot of artists. Just stop with this stupid dividing bullshit that's going around. The world isn't divided in left and right, that comes mostly from Trump's lala land so he can grab power again.
@drdavid We have way more parties here in the Netherlands some are left in local politics and right for immigration. But if I read comments on UA-cam video's of American issues they react like "Your not right so you must be left", that's why I reacted a bit harsh because that is just not true.
Even the current leading party in the Netherlands that is considered a right wing party here would be considered left wing to Americans so it's not that simple.
I think spitting image is doing the comedy just right without offending the politics but more playing it on the persons. And most media leans a bit to the left as that comes from trying to keep an open view on things. It's just easier to target the prejudice of some of the right's conservatism.
@@AndreVanKammen >>"Just stop with this stupid dividing bullshit that's going around. "
Sadly, it's never going to stop. Small-minded tribalism is at the root of politics, and you don't get much smaller than a colour divided binary - easy consumption for idiots.
Blair, Brown, Cook, Prescott, Blunkett, Beckett and Mandelson appeared in the show but near the end of its runtime as opposition MPs
These puppets scared the shit out of me as a kid and it’s brilliant! Great news that it’s coming back, wonder what it will be like.
Accurate.
It warms my heart all this. Magnificent. They're back. Real comedy isn't dead yet.you can't kill the human spirit
I lived in England in the 80s and remember this well. Seeing these faces that I haven't thought of in years like Tebbit and Kinnock brings back memories.
The world needs comedy and quick!
Comedy died long ago. People are not prepared to hear anyone having the piss taken out of them anymore. Try writing a decent quality comedy today and you’d have to go through your script about 100 times and then get an editor to double check it just in case you upset some little snowflakes out there who are just waiting for the chance for their 15 minutes of fame and make it bbc newsworthy racist accusations against. Someone will probably be upset that I’ve pointed that out lol.
@@Eleventhearlofmars Tell that to Jimmy Carr, Frankie Boil etc
Kingsman I said comedy?!
@@Eleventhearlofmars Yes but _comedy_ is an umbrella term, what you or I consider to be *comedy* is purely subjective. The idea that comedy is long dead just isn't true EG The Office, The IT Crowd, The Inbetweeners etc. That's a bit like saying "...music of today is shit because in my day, it was proper music and so much better..." when in truth, it's just different.
Take Laurel and Hardy which, in _my opinion_ are the finest pair of comedians to have graced the screens. I think they are hilarious but my daughter thinks they are crap, not even remotely funny.
And for us who worked and raised families in the nightmare of the Thatcher years ,especially in the North of England ,this was the one programme that showed that someone in the broadcasting industry was really on our side .And yet I think ,who was worse ,the beastly Thatcher ,or the pathetic Kinnock?.
Roy Hattersley
That "healthy contempt" has been sadly lacking for too long.
Princess ナコルル I
If we hadn't lost it the mob we have now would not be so out of control.It might be the best weapon we have to regain our freedoms .
"hello, how marvelous to talk down to you". I nearly hurt my stomach laughing at that. Brilliant would be an understatement 😂😂😂😂👏👏👏👏
and the funny thing is the guy she was talking down to was Steve Nallon the voice of Margaret Thatcher on Spitting Image
Welcome back Spitting Image!
What the world needs now, is satire, sweet satire...
(And check out that very young Ian Hislop talking head!)
Spitting image was brilliant. Bring it back.
An American version is to be shown in America but it won't touch how good ours was.
The Spitting Image Genesys music video was cool. It got a lot of play on MTV... 🇬🇧
Bring back the benny hill show too. I mean it was one of the best shows ever made.
Bevis and butthead do politics in the UK... Ermmm okk I'm the great cornhollio I need pee per for my bung hole
if it dies come back....i seriously cannot wait for the diane Abbot puppet...and please bring back the Lord Lucan puppet!
And then came Boris and Trump
Will they just stop harping on about how this satire is over! It's NOT! If they put spitting image back on, it would be funnier than ever. Look at Trump! look at farage! look at May! look at JCJ! Look at marine le pen! bloody hell. If any time now, it would be funnier now than it would be ever before. get your act together! and be positive
boxeriain Corbyn, Sanders, Chavez, Clinton the list goes on.
boxeriain
Think we know your bollitics lol how about obama , Hilary Clinton , jess Phillips , jermery corbin, Boris Johnston, Diane abbot , Nicola sturgeon, Vince cable ( gift) ????
@John Bowkett
It's back.
Your wish is my command
It was amazing to think Thatcher was played by a man, Steve Nallon
Pretty sure that's him sitting on the bench saying he's unemployed.
@@oldtimer5111
Yes, it is him.
You don’t need spitting image today - they are all a joke already.
The show or the people they make fun of? Because so much for the show to attack.
@@devilslayerthesaintofkille1317 I guess the people, these politician nowadays.
Bro that’s the point of the show 😂
Phoenix Coleman
Back when it started Politicians etc managed to make it look like they lived respectable sensible lives. SI ripped that apart.
But now we see them all for the greedy stupid liars that they are....
Agreed - In fact Splitting Image would appear extremely serious compared to todays political reality.
I just started watching this show about a month ago. Its genius. I had no idea that Spitting Image was so old. Very cool
trust the BBC to have a tribute for an ITV show! More respect then the progenitor
2:25 I remember that rectangular pattern in the top right hand corner when the programmes were about to have a commercial break.
When Spitting Image is aired this Autumn which news story will it be? 1) Spitting Image is racist as they are making fun of black people by exaggerating their features. 2) Spitting Image is racist as they have no black characters.
Andrew Davies but it would be racist
Today’s BLM SJW Twittermob crowd absolutely, positively NEED to have the urine mercilessly extracted from them. They take themselves FAR too seriously. People who can’t laugh at themselves don’t deserve to be taken seriously. Either scream with laughter, or stop screaming.
@Edgy-Big-Boi lol thats my point 👍
Oh, grow up.
@@matthewjones4423 instead of growing out. Like your mum
Anyone watching this in 2020???
Absolutely Brilliant Outstanding
Memorable, So Missed The Spitting Image, I Still Often Wonder Of It's Return Back To Our Screens Again
It’s back on in couple of weeks on BritBox, you can watch the trailer
Full episodes are on UA-cam
Aswell
If Argentine didn't invade the Falkland islands Thatcher would have been a Footnote in history.
🇮🇪🇪🇺
Paraphrasing the late Vladimir Putin:
Anyone who does not miss the eighties, has no heart. Anyone who wants to bring them back, has no brain.
That slap 1:02 jesus christ im in tears lol
2019...it's now official....Spitting Image is returning.
No it isn't. An American version is to be shown in America.
Laura Walker No it isn’t
It is
This is coming back with the same producers 😁
Yeah, bring it back, would be great to see Diane Abbott, you wouldn't need to make many changes to make her a funny character....get Jan Ravens to voice both her and Mrs May
The John Major in Spitting Image scared the shit out of me as a kid
Was that a very, very young Ian Hislop I spotted from before the days of "Have I got news for you?"
A Koster think so!
Is this a joke? They're all just as ripe today for satire as they ever were.
I loved this. I wish it would come back. An American version is to be shown in America but it won't be the same.
Copycats of British shows are just terrible
General Zucc Indeed, look at ‘Sanford And Son’ 🙄 WTF??
New one isn't even close to being satirical. The original was brutal.....and funny.
Bet they don't do Diane Abbott
Now they want ££ on britbox to pay to watch it good luck ill not be paying, times of our life profit and GREED .and I loved it just not paying 7 pounds or whatever amount its 1 show mixed with stuff no 1 really watches its called cashing in on 1 show and selling sxxt stuff aswell
Who else is getting recommended this since the new one came out
3:38 what's Jezza Corbyn doing?
Peter Davies nah chap he’s the one that wants to stop selling weapons to the Saudis
I just watched the new Spitting Image trailer and it wasn't at all funny (unless you enjoy seeing puppet b***s. Maybe I found Spitting Image funny all those years ago because I was a juvenile and a lot of the jokes were juvenile, too. In contrast, I still howl with laughter watching Yes Minister and Yes Prime minister: the sketches are as relevant as they were when they were first aired. Pity, I cannot think anyone to replace the original cast, especially Nigel Hawthorn. (The fact that he is the only actor ever who's name I remember speaks volumes.)
I've only seen clips of the new series but I never found the original series all that funny.
This show wouldn’t work anymore, there’s no characters, just different shades of grey and incompetence. Hard to be satirical when they’re all generic slavish wannabes.
I still wanted Paxman to say “Yyyyesss”
Omg at 3:50 that's a young Ian Hislop.
Cmon Jeremy..at least TRY to pretend you arent reading from autocue.
I believe the duty of a citizen in a democracy is to hold their leaders with healthy contempt and with dark ironic humour ;-) Britain was transforming into a post industrial knowledge economy.
Britain is not funny anymore. We produce no decent comedy save for those 'live' things like QI and stuff and even then the people behind those shows were the ones who made those original comedies back in the day. We can only look back on Blackadder, Spitting Image, Monty Python et al. with reverence and longing.
The Thick of it, The Mighty Boosh, Peep Show, Nathan Barley, Spaced and The IT crowd - just to name a few. British comedy is just fine.
Chicken Man but not The Royal Bodyguard.
Nothing holds a candle to Monty Python. Anyway, TTOI/Mighty Boosh/Peep Show (e.g.) are absolutely brilliant. You can prefer Blackadder (also brilliant), but branding them "shit" invalidates any point you're trying to make
I don't believe you. I find it impossible to hold such ludicrous a notion as "The Thick of It is shit." In saying that, I think you either (1) being hyperbolic to instantiate the claim that British comedy sucks today, or (2) haven't watched it. I'm addressing the "shit" thing mind, not the legitimate (though false in my mind) "they're lesser than Blackadder" thing
Of course you can dislike it; but that's not what you said, did you? Using "shit" with regard to what are evidently non shitty shows invalidates your point, was what I said. I mean, if "so so", and "poor", and "haven't seen it" and "quite funny" all fall under "shit", then obviously your only objective is to rubbish modern British comedy rather than addressing my original point (i.e., I disagree that Britain isn't funny anymore)
I'm surprised the narrator hasn't fallen asleep reading his own lines.
At first I thought the guy @ 5:34 was another puppet!
No just Jewish. This man has made a lot of money based solely on his ethnicity.
How humorous this looks now - and the comment "everyone is a satirist" - hmm, 6 years later, the audience has moved on.
You will never get TV satire like this again, with millions of viewers each time it aired, all talking about it - the attention span isn't there.
Instead, it's just chaos regarding what people have watched, so we share stuff - and it all gets diluted.
We no longer have chats at the office "Did you see Spitting Image last night?"
Now, it's more like "Have you seen XYZ yet?" - "Oh yeah, I binged watched it last night" - "Oh, damn, don't tell me what happened!"
As for social media and UA-cam, it just washes over people - so fast, so relentless in terms of the sheer volume of content, there's no time to pause for breath.
There is incredible satire, but it's lost the ability to both shock and to reach an audience that is saturated with second by second information.
Sadly, it takes a viral video of someone miming a song whilst skateboarding or someone doing a crazy dance, to even begin to have the same impact.
The fact that a stupid video of someone's dog or cat gets more hits than a political decision about to impact the life of millions - including the people sharing the stupid video - are the times we live in now.
We are so distracted, collectively, we are easily fooled, easily misled and have ended up in a political situation that defies satire.
"Yeah yeah, I don't care, it's all boring - show me the shiny shiny things! Show me the funny! Lolz"
2020 i just found it again The trump puppet and his Wig xd 😅👍
I thought Tony Hayers was dead!
PJL1973 what was he doing up on that roof
he was getting the aerial down
Steve Dixon I know it was a figure of speech
@@stevedixon6468 So the TV, really did kill him then
We need Maggie now.
Love love love the old spitting image.
I remember John major having like a small satellite coming out of the side of his head. Was that just one of the episodes or another Mandela effect? Or maybe just some F'd up dream I had lol.
Bring back spitting image God knows theres enough material out there.
GOOD NEWS ua-cam.com/video/n0JTta67aUE/v-deo.html
Thats the difference between then and now.
Although it'd probably mostly Americans who sue...the Poms have a healthy sence of humor.
I really hope they stick it to Mrs Markle and her lapdog.
Spitting image is British...proves my point really.
The British enjoy a good joke even if its at their own expense.
For the most part they arent snowflakes like their American cousins.
The Americans dont have anything that compares to Spitting Image or the Goon Show...not even close.
With them it's all politically correct sitcoms.
Boring as f$&k and predictable as Tuesday following Monday.
Wouldn't be allowed today,sense of humour platform not allowed
No wonder most people can't be bothered to vote .
Can we do Satire now, that was British, are we British now? We all have to be so PC now.
South Park is still thriving to this day
A great show that should be resurrected.
What a shame Blair was never exposed to Spitting Image.
with his ghastly wife
he was.......and then in a spin off called 2DTV a few years later
Can anyone tell me which series and episode 2:29 is from?
Rhys Benjamin its the end scene from the 1987 election special
I can't even imagine growing up with the surname Fluck.
Bring it back , just look at the politicians now perfect victims !
So glad they’re bringing it back now, Britain post-Corbyn and post-referendum has so may extremities that it’ll work a trick.
You're telling me I've not been watching Spitting image...?
Glad it's coming back. We need it *now* more then ever.
Wish it could come back! Today's culture of cancellation and triggered no platform judgemental generation would make for sensational satire!
It is coming back, with new puppets to shame politicians
It’s back on tv....new series October 2020
It’s coming back American version and British hilarious video of Putin, Boris and Trump, there’s more than one that needs a hair job, not suitable for young viewers
I never missed these shows,and always gleaned a great deal of pleasure watching those self- important politicians being lambasted in public. However,who would be the targets today,out of all the childish,squabbling spoiled brats who consider themselves to be indispensable to our country and its government? Who out of the whole mess of them actually says anything worth listening to in the first place? I doubt if many of them would be recognisable anyway.
Spitting image was great. I used to love that show.......better times to.
I really love this it's funny 😃
You wouldn't have ROBOT CHICKEN, TEAM AMERICA (the puppet film), or OUR CARTOON PRESIDENT, adult American sketch cartoons if it wasn't for SPITTING IMAGE
*This needs to be revived!*
*Desperately!* 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I hold that "governing" will get so bad that people will finally break through to devise a system using AI that will allow all of us to think about issues that face us and come up with solution that will work far better than the dinnertime daydreams of various members of the parliament. We could turn them to the job of reporting what the stats are telling them and where their own opinion differs! This would allow more people to be employed in the public money gravy train of created payouts currently directed at a favored few!
Spitting image can replace the BBC!! I'll start paying your licence then
I thought this was supposed to satire not a documentary about British Politics.
We want a spitting brexit immage special.
You mean a Spitting Imagine Brexit Special. I agree.
When the BBC had balls.
do you think that spitting image is like the purge but for politicians
40 years now. Wonder what it would be like with Trump, Putin, Biden, the UK Circus, The Royal Malarkey, and Chelsea football club.
Has anyone looked at the number of BBC. Media outlets 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
The puppet @ 5:30 was the scariest one. At least try to make it look human!
Am I right that:
series 2 episode 4 (aired January 27 1985) features the ‘Wham’ song about (the fourth one making the song a rude one) body parts (one of the clips in the song features a vampire getting his fangs put in)
series 3 episode 3 (aired January 26 1986) features both the puppets of Ian Paisley and Brian Walden
series 3 episode 8 (aired April 13 1986) features the Bob Monkhouse puppet
series 7 episode 2 (aired November 19 1989) features the Michael Barrymore puppet
and series 12 episode 6 (apparently the last good episode, given that no seasons post-series 12 have come to DVD, owing to the show eventually losing ratings post-series 12) features the Len Murray puppet?
Additionally, what episodes featured the Hulk Hogan puppet? I’m aware most of the Spitting Image episodes did used to be here, but, unsurprisingly, they got taken down by order of the copyright Nazis (would this be the same reason the video of said ‘Wham!’ song is no longer here?) [especially given that it was merely a clip from the show, not an entire episode] If that video was still here, I’d be posting the comment ‘since when are vampires real?’
We can include BBC news presenters, journalists and celebrities like Simon Cowell and Lineker ? We should have a sponge and bucket ? If they get answer wrong ? Tony Blair ? Anybody on wages above £250000 a year? Saving in Swiss bank account more than 2 properties, investment abroad? Shares in foreign companies?and is a snob? Up for the challenge also driving a company car with Tax exceptions in other words on fiddle!!! So far we have thousands of candidates?
RTP news Portugal .... late 90s
Didn't realize other countries did it.
I Love it 😂
SPITTING IMAGE, BRASS EYE, BREMNER, BIRD & FORTUNE are arguably the best and sharpest of British satire.
2DTV, HEADCASES, and NEWZOIDS all follow SPITTING IMAGE's legacy but didn't last too long.
Wish I grew up on the SPIT but I was a tad too young for this programme in the day because of the 15-cert and adult humour.
In 2014 satirists were concerned that politician had become too boring and disciplined to satirise. If only they knew what was coming around the corner.