Spitting Image to return on BritBox

Still making that one episode on the ITV Hub for people who didn't see the broadcast to drive people to BritBox for the other episodes isn't exactly an out there suggestion. Would likely attract more people to BritBox than just broadcasting the episode but not making it available on the hub will.

I wonder if the deal to broadcast it on ITV stipulated that it can’t be streamed on ITV Hub.

Overall I think the new Spitting Image is a good watch and have enjoyed it. Personally I think they are overdoing Elon Musk sketches which seem to be in every episode and find them a bit boring. I'm also bit fed up of Adele popping up on every scene it seems.

I think they have gone a great job with Dominic Cummings and will be a big loss to the program now hes left! I thought the last episode they are starting to develop the keir stramer scenes better, after a shaky start.

I suspected they did quite a lot of American scetches as this was suppose to be on NBC before they pulled out. Hopefully they will cut down a bit on series 2, which I suspect they will now Joe Bidens won which will be harder to make content for than Trump.

Hmmm, reusing puppets to save money and time on puppets that will only be needed for one sketch in the entire series and then may not be topical, me thinks. But yes, weird to see Adele popping up so frequently when she's not comparatively in the public eye or grabbing headlines at the moment.



I disagree. Spitting Image always had at least one sketch per episode making fun of US politics; I don't see this changing. I actually preferred the way they lampooned Biden to the way they lampooned Trump. The show has proven that Biden is just as mockable (see the YouTube 'Victory Breakfast' clip), and because he's the new kid on the block, his material felt fresher than that of Trump, which relied on the same four-year-old gags that are a little bit tired by now. 'Oh look, Trump's hair is a sentient creature! Wow!'

Oh, and does anyone else find it amusing that Spitting Image seemingly came back primarily to take the mick out of Trump, yet just a month after the programme returns their main target, who was at the centre of the show's promotion, is on the way out (albeit not quietly and quickly)?

I’ve been watching it on YouTube. I’m glad I found it. Found it all pretty funny.

Not one single Trump sketch in this week's episode. There was material there for them to do a sketch.

I really enjoy the Biden sketches because although he seems like a decent bloke, he's not immune to satire.

I agree about the Elon Musk, the sketch about him as well as Bezos and Branson have dragged on too long.

How many episodes is this series - ITV advertising this as episode 8 with more to come weekly so I'm guessing 10-12 in total, which for a UK series is quite a lot nowadays.

It was commissioned as 10 episodes but they split the Election special so it'll be 11 in total

The whole series has been very hit and miss, the political sketches they’ve got absolutely spot on, but some of the celeb ones are weaker. But I thought this week’s episode was the weakest so far. There were only a couple of Boris sketches and no Trump sketches at all this week. As said there was plenty of material for a Trump sketch, but nothing considering the week’s events.

Agree that the Branson/Musk/Bezos sketches have really been dragged out.

...and it never really got much better after that, unfortunately.

The last two episodes were very weak. It started out as hit and miss, and started to miss more and more. The biggest weakness seems to have been the need to sell it internationally - some of the US-focused sketches translate poorly, and the obsession with Jacinda Arden just looks a bit odd.

I guess it'll be different for everybody - your politics and whether you remember the original series (and if so, how old you were then) will colour your view, popular culture is very different and many years have passed - but for me it lacked the quick-fire pace of the original, seemed to suffer from a reliance on too few puppets, and just seemed sour in parts, harsher on celebrities rather than politicians.

The problem for Britbox is that it released a load of "best of" episodes (with pointless 80s celeb/politician introductions), so you can have a go at comparing old with new. While parts of the old episodes do jar by modern standards, the new stuff definitely doesn't come off as well.

The first 10 series are now on Britbox too - from the early (ropey) episodes with a studio audience up to 1991, so missing its 90s decline. Well worth watching the start of series nine, when Margaret Thatcher resigned between episodes two and three, 30 years ago. I can't imagine the new series being brave enough to do the oddly poignant sketch right at the end of episode two with a friendless Thatcher crying in a deserted House of Commons.