For those of us who delighted in the original irreverent Spitting Image series, this new series promises to be every bit as good.
It is of course a satirical show and whether you enjoy if or not can depend on your political leanings, your view of celebrities at home and abroad and the quality of the scripts. This is reflected in the reviews from critics in the national press:
Dominic Maxwell in The Times gave the show 4 stars saying that the ‘puppets and the grotesquery that goes with them can come to the rescue when the impressions or the punchlines are not 100 per cent’. He did however write ‘Boasting more hits than misses, this opening salvo suggests that Spitting Image still has some fire lurking in its belly.’
Jan Moir, in the Daily Mail praises the puppets as ‘marvels of boneless spite’ but thought the script featured a ‘grim level of schoolboy satire and jokes’
The Daily Telegraph reviewer Anita Singh wrote: ‘While some of the puppets are good, the jokes are often weak. Of course, we may have false memory syndrome regarding the original series.’
The Guardian’s Mark Lawson gave the show four-stars review observing that the revival ‘has lost none of its savagery or willingness to shock’
The show is streamed on Britbox, the BBC and ITV joint service which costs £5.99 a month with no contract requirement. So is it worth £2.00 an episode to watch the first 4 shows? It probably is but there’s only one way to find out, unless Gogglebox features it at some point.
