Very Cool!!!

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Before 'Spitting Image' there was Mike Yarwood.'Nuff said. He was great as impersonators go. But in the clearer light of the 1980's, nowhere near cynical or cruel enough. By then; we were beginning to see just what creepy, crooked liars our politicians really were, and what shallow, vain-glorious humbugs our celebrities. Cheerful lampooning was not enough.And latex was the answer. Puppets could accomplish something that human impersonators could not. Oddly, it was something that our ancestors knew all along, and was practiced in the old Punch & Judy shows. Unlike impersonators, puppets have no intrinsic personality. Instead they are original mockeries, and can get away with the kind of ruthless abuse that would undermine the career of any human impersonator.Margaret Thatcher's term in office was an ideal time. Politicians had become outrageously arrogant. Two of her tribe (Archer & Aitken) were ultimately sent to prison, whilst celebs thought they could do as they pleased. 'Spitting Image' changed all that. The puppets and script-writers took no prisoners. From the spittle-fountain of Hattersley and the semi-senile Reagan, to the neo-fascist Tebbit and the pocket-pet of David Owen; if you were visible on the spitting-radar prepare to squirm.Some actually liked their puppet - or at least, claimed to. But then there was nothing else they could do except lump it, if they didn't. Others genuinely hated theirs, and it is a matter of record that careers were affected by this uncompromising satire. There is no better proof here that a good puppet is better than human impersonators, cartoons or even CGI. Tony Blair's entire crooked regime escaped the well-deserved lambasting that the 'Spitting Image' team could have provided. No regime was more image conscious that his, nor indeed ultimately more arrogant. In this regard he far exceeded even Margaret Thatcher. And because his gang were composed mostly of lawyers, they knew how to be crooked and yet circumvent accountability. Who knows; if 'Spitting Image' had been around in the late 1990's, to worthy effect, we might have been spared 2 disastrous, costly and illegal wars.A class act, sadly missed by the public, and gratefully avoided by the over-weening creeps of this world.

Spitting Image was an extremely funny show. It stopped at nothing & ridiculed everyone, from politicians to royal rivalry. It is a pity it ended & didn't get the chance to parody Blair, Prescott & Buyers, i am sure they would have had a great time coming up with sketches as good as the thatcher era. as for de_niro_2001 from Scotland, i guess he can't appreciate humor or lacks one, or maybe because the show made fun of Scotland one time, when they showed a list of some things that Scotland brought the world: Dr Finlay, Lulu, English tourists, wee wee on the floors of trains,that really horrible Dundee cake, a monster that doesn't exist & lots of silly dancing. Scotland, not far from London.....not far enough! that was a classic!

In the 80s no celebrity was off limits to the Spitting Image team which lampooned contemporary celebrities using latex puppets with exaggerated features. Regulars included the street smart Pope with his shades and cellphone, or Ronald Reagan in the infamous "the President's brain is missing" (with two dangerously arranged "nurse" and "nuke" bedside buttons). Other common appearances included the British royal family, Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet.Every Sunday night at 10pm Brits would be sure to watch the latest satirical sketches penned by now famous celebrities such as David Baddiel. Voices were also from comedians who went onto greater things including Steve Coogan (Around the World in 80 Days), Rory Bremner (has his own impressionist show on British TV), Harry Enfield and Adrian Edmonson.Over time it deteriorated. The great news is that there is talk the show will return in 2005.

I watched most of these shows when they came out on ITV/Channel 4. I was relieved to find someone shining the light on current events. It was funnier than anything else on TV and years ahead of it's time. Britain and the world was suffering a new wave of greed and corruption by the USA and the corporations (many of whom the British Royals were only too happy to do business with) of the world who were accelerating the growth of today's problems. Unfortunately most people don't see the truth nowadays. It's necessary to be crude and vituperative (gosh, I had to look that one up - I'll be using that one at the next Conservative get-together!!!). I look forward to it being released on DVD.