Spitting Image was a satirical puppet show running in the UK from 1985 to 1996, about to be revived for a new era of stupid, selfish, buffoonish politicians and celebrities. The creators recently showed off the forthcoming series's Trump and Zuckerberg, and now they're giving us a sneak peek at Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his creepy aide Dominic Cummings.
Mr Johnson, depicted with unkempt blonde hair and a badly knotted tie, is the latest prime minister to be depicted in rubbery form by the programme.
Mr Cummings, known for a more informal dress sense, is depicted wearing a blue hoodie and black gilet, with a large silver collar. Image copyright Mark Harrison/BritBox/Avalon
Spitting Image was weird and nastily funny, the punches going mostly up. It had the remarkable effect of making politics accessible and engaging, even to children, and addressing the content of politics in its mockery of politicans—two virtues that political satire rarely achieves. But it was also smug and trivializing, retaining its deepest contempt for the earnest belief in anything. It portrayed the working classes as deserving idiots and minorities with stereotypes, even as it swung hard at their oppressors.
Still, it had a cold insight into where things were going -- thirty years ago it had P.W. Botha, the right-wing leader of a fading racist administration in South Africa, cunningly recast the party line as "anti-anti-apartheid". Many of its most absurd jokes are now political realities. It did more to reveal the problem with Jimmy Savile than anyone in UK media except Johnny Rotten. Read the rest
