Spitting Image is returning to the screen after a 24-year absence this autumn, with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson and Donald Trump among the targets of the satirical puppet show on the streaming service BritBox.
The show, one of the signature programmes of the Thatcher era, is the first original commission to arrive on BritBox, as partners ITV and the BBC seek to boost its content amid increasing competition from new rivals such as Disney+.
The first of two new series will be available on the £5.99-a-month service this autumn, with a second to follow next year. In September, the Guardian revealed Spitting Image would be returning to TV.
The new show will lampoon famous figures including Vladimir Putin, Prince Andrew, Adele, Beyoncé, Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian, James Corden and the US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders. The climate change activist Greta Thunberg will be satirised as a “roving reporter giving regular weather updates”.
Reemah Sakaan, who runs BritBox, said that the broadcaster was aware that some of the targets may not take kindly to their depiction on-screen but that the show “would not back away” from satirising them.
“In terms of the humour of the show it runs wild,” she said. “It has always sat squarely in the area of politics and less so popular culture. Where we have political leaders empty chairing interviews and not answering questions put forward to them, the public has a right of response on that. We will be very careful of the caricatures we make. But it doesn’t feel to be the right time to back away.”
She added that the old favourite’s update is not just designed to appeal to fans of the original, but also to a whole new generation of viewers.
“Audiences can fall in love with shows they may have never experienced,” she said. “You could see that with Friends [on Netflix].”
The original show ran on ITV for 18 series between 1984 and 1996. It was watched by as many as 15 million viewers at its peak, ridiculing public figures from Margaret Thatcher and Paul Gascoigne to Ronald Reagan and Mick Jagger.
Roger Law, the co-creator of Spitting Image who is executive producing its revival, said: “The new Spitting Image will be global through a uniquely British eye. It will be more outrageous, audacious and salacious than the previous incarnation. The timing is right. The puppets are ready, the people have spoken. This autumn we will get BritBox done.”
ITV, which will report its full-year 2019 results on Thursday, invested £25m in BritBox last year and has committed £40m this year. Sakaan would not say how much the new Spitting Image cost to make, but did say it was a flagship for the service.
“It is our major investment, it is an incredibly expensive show,” she said. “We wanted something noisy and brand defining that would grab people’s attention. It is a statement of intent and a very British point of view on what we do compared to some other [streaming services].”
The new series is set to be promoted on ITV and the BBC’s main TV channels, to drive awareness and subscribers to BritBox, but there are no plans to air Spitting Image on linear TV after its run on the streaming service.
“We are thrilled that BritBox can provide the opportunity for British creativity to truly run wild,” said Kevin Lygo, ITV’s director of TV. “We are looking forward to enticing new subscribers with the new series and service.”
Research revealed this week indicates that BritBox does not seem to have proved to be as attractive to subscribers as had been hoped.
Prior to launch last year, a survey by O&O found that 19% of the UK population were interested in the service. Taking into account many respondents overstate their likelihood of actually signing up, O&O forecast BritBox might attract 1.7 million subscribers in its first year. However, an updated survey found that just 6% of respondents are using BritBox, and 26% had never even heard of the service.
Sakaan said that BritBox is performing well and converting significant numbers of those who take up a free, 30-day trial into paying subscribers, but that ITV did not intend to share numbers.
“We are really pleased with the performance of BritBox four months in,” she said. “We are not talking specific numbers, but we are delivering brilliantly on plan. We are happy.”
