A puppet of Boris Johnson has been unveiled ahead of the return of satirical TV show Spitting Image this autumn after a 24-year hiatus. The programme, which originally aired from 1984 to 1996, is being revived by the BBC and ITV for their BritBox streaming service.
Puppets of the prime minister's senior adviser Dominic Cummings and Prince Andrew have also been revealed. Mr Johnson is depicted with unkempt blonde hair and a badly knotted tie, while Mr Cummings, known for his informal dress sense, wears a blue hoodie and black gilet with a large silver collar.
The new series will also mock politicians around the world, including US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Co-creator Roger Law has promised the new Spitting Image will be "more outrageous, audacious and salacious than the previous incarnation."
The original show, which peaked at 15 million viewers, famously featured former Conservative PM Margaret Thatcher in a man's suit berating her cabinet, known as "the vegetables." Her successor John Major was caricatured as a dull, grey puppet with a penchant for peas. Labour figures regularly mocked included Neil Kinnock and Roy Hattersley.
BritBox, a subscription service costing £5.99 per month in HD, launched in the UK in November 2019 as a rival to Netflix. The revival comes amid a surge in TV watching and online streaming during the Covid-19 pandemic, with adults spending 40% of their waking hours on screens, according to Ofcom.
