Spitting Image returns

There was a time during its 1980s heyday when Spitting Image was watched by 15 million people each week, when it seemed as central to British political life as Margaret Thatcher’s handbag. But by the time the programme was cancelled after more than a decade, its audiences had slumped, its brand of caustic puppetry deemed dated and out of step with the national mood.



There is nothing like a global political crisis, however, to prod a satirist out of semi-retirement. Twenty-three years after it was last broadcast, Roger Law, one of the co-creators of the groundbreaking comedy, has confirmed that Spitting Image is set to return to television screens – featuring an S&M-clad Vladimir Putin, Meghan Markle wearing a glittery “princess” T-shirt and a puppet of Donald Trump whose tweets are composed by his anus.

A pilot for a new incarnation of Spitting Image has already been filmed, Law confirmed to the Guardian, and its producers are in advanced discussions with US-based networks to bring this very British brand of satire to the wider world.