Spitting Image
Some Forty-five years after her mother played Queen
Quarantine to Alfie Bass's King Eustace The Useless in Unity Theatre's
Politically inspired Pantomime of Babes In The Wood, Louise Gold and company
brought that sort of satire to its logical conclusion with Spitting Image.
Where, coincidentally, Louise not infrequently voiced and puppeteered The
Queen.
After her key contribution on the pilot
episodes of Spitting Image, Louise Gold continued to fill the role of Leading
Puppeteer for the show’s first season. She ducked out of the second season, to
pursue her acting career, but returned for the show’s third season. She seems
to have continued on and off on the programme for quite some time, certainly
she was still around (and helping to audition puppeteers) at the time of the
ninth season.
Spitting Image Itself
Show
proper: Started 1984 - Ended 1996, a total of 18 series.
1st
Series: First episode screened on Friday 24 (some say 26) February 1984. Last
episode 17 June 1984.
3rd
Series screened from 12 January 1986
18th
Series: first episode 14 January 1996
Puppeteers
Anthoney
Asbury (Puppeteered
pm Series 1, acquired his muscles working on Little Shop Of Horrors, took over
puppeteering Mrs Thatcher)
Donald
Austen
Chris
Barrie (Puppeteered
on Series 1, new to puppetry at the time)
Kevin
Bradshaw
(Puppeteered on Series 1, the Physiotherapist, nowdays known as Kaefan Shaw)
Simon
Buckley
Richard
Coombs (another
puppeteer who puppeteers left-handed)
Sue Dacre
Phil
Eason (joined for
Series 9 and stayed for about 5 years, was auditioned by both Louise Gold and
Alistair
Fullarton
(Puppeteered on Series 1, specialised in Princess Diana and Ronald Reagan,
joined with the pilot)
Louise
Gold (Lead
puppeteer, was trained by The Muppets, headed the puppeteering team on Series
1, often puppeteered female characters such as The Queen, and in the early days
Mrs Thatcher)
Mark
Jefferis (another
musical-theatre singer-actor-dancer-turned-puppeteer)
Errol Manoff (credited as a puppeteer for four Series 1
episodes)
Steve
Nallon (Puppeteered
on Series 1, known as "Head of Eyes", other duties included assistant
Ear Wiggler, was new to puppetry at the time)
Martin
Oates (trained in
German television)
Marty
Robinson (American
Puppeteer, member of The Muppets gang - best known for
Richard
Robinson (Puppeteered on Series 1, had short arms – was always being told his
head was in shot)
John
Thirtle (One of the main puppeteers on the programme)
Ian Thom
Robert
Tygner
Francis
Wright
Terry Lee
Wright (Puppeteered on Series 1, sometimes known as Terry Lee)
and a
special appearance by John Lloyd as a Newspaper reader
Voice Artistes
Anthony
Asbury (mainly
early days, Characters include: The Pope and John McEnroe)
Chris
Barrie (Characters
include: Ronald Reagan, Prince Charles, Sir Kenneth Newman, Sir John Gielgud,
Brian Walden, Neil Kinnock, David Owen, Prince Andrew, Ritchie Benaud, Ian
Paisley, David Coleman, John Cole, Henry Cooper, and Barry Norman)
Roger
Blake
Patrick
Booth (backing
singer)
Rory
Bremner
Steve
Brown (backing
singer)
Mary
Cassidy (backing
singer)
Jimmy
Chambers (backing
singer)
David
Cocker
Steve
Coogan
Phil
Cornwell (got his
audition via ringing up every cabaret club listed in Time Out)
Nick
Curtis (backing
singer)
Stehanie
De Sykes (backing
singer)
Hugh
Dennis
Rick
Driscoll (backing
singer)
Lance
Ellington (backing
singer)
Adrian
Edmondson
Harry
Enfield (Characters
include: David Steel, Leon Britain, Juan Carlos of
Brian
Engel (backing
singer)
Mike
Fenton Stevens
(mainly worked as a singer, including on The Chicken Song)
Alistar
Fullerton (mainly
in early days, Characters include: David Steel)
Jon
Glover (Characters
include: Prince Phillip, Tony Benn, Ian Macgregor, Alistair Burnet, George
Younger, Botha, Bernard Levin, Ian McCaskil, Oliver Reed, Steve Davis, and
Melvyn Bragg)
Louise
Gold (Characters
include: HM Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana, Tatum O’Neil, Queen Victoria/Nurse
to retired-Prime Ministers, Nancy Reagan, and sometimes Mary Whitehouse)
Ronnie
Golden (sometime
worked as a singer)
Clive
Griffin (backing
singer)
Mitch
Hiller (backing
singer)
Sonia
Jones (sometimes
worked as a singer, characters include Kylie Minogue)
Carol
Kenyon (backing
singer)
Steve
Lange (backing
singer)
Julian
Littlman (backing
singer)
Gary
Martin (backing
singer)
Jessica
Martin (Characters
include: HM Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana, Sarah Duchess Of York)
Alistair
McGowan (Characters
include: Tony Blair)
Steve
Nallon (Characters
include: Mrs Thatcher, David Attenborgh, the Pope, Roy Hattersley - A tub of
Lard, Shirley Williams, Denis Healey, The Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, and
Enoch Powell)
Rob
Newman
Phil Nice (backing singer)
Tessa
Niles (backing
singer)
Nigel
Plaskitt (once voiced a sheep,
but only the once, never did any other voices)
Phillip
Pope (Sometimes
worked as a singer, characters include Perry Como)
Jan
Ravens (Characters
include: Prince William, Prince Harry, Princess Diana and Mary Whitehouse)
Enn
Reitel (Characters
include: Donald Sinden, Vincent Price, Dustin Hoffman, Lester Piggott, Leonard
Nimoy, and Richard Nixon)
Kate
Robbins (Characters
include: Numerous Royals especially the Duchess Of York, also a lead vocalist
on The Chicken Song)
Maggie
Ryder (backing
singer)
Scobie
Ryder (backing
singer)
John
Sessions
(Characters include: Casper Weinberger, Jonathan Miller, Peter O’Toole, Pete
Townsend, and Laurence Olivier)
Harry Shearer
James
Simpson (backing
singer)
Debbie
Stephenson / Debra Stephenson
Pamela
Stephenson
Miriam
Stockley (backing
singer)
John
Thompson - possibly spelt John Tomson (see Cold Feet)
Cliff
Taylor
Linda
Taylor (backing
singer)
Rachel
Taylor (backing
singer)
Carl
Wayne (backing
singer)
Suzie
Webb (backing
singer)
Frank Welker
Tim
Whitnall (sometimes
worked as a singer)
and special
appearance Tony Green as himself (because nobody could do his voice)
Writers: Include:
Geoffrey Atkinson (sometimes known as Geoff Atkinson), David Baddiel,
Debbie Barham, Alistair Beaton , Roger Blake, Peter Brewis, Christopher
Burman, Mark Burton , Kevin Cecil, John Paul Clark, John Coleman , Richard Curtis, John
Docherty (sometimes known as Jack Docherty), Cliff Edge,
Dan Gaster, Rob Grant, Tony Hendra, James Hendrie , Richard Herring, Ian Hislop, Will
Ing, Moray Hunter, Guy Jenkin (aka Sarah Jallop), Chris Langham,
Stewart Graham Lee, Paul Lewis, John Lloyd, Peter Keeper, David
Kind, Alistair McGowen (act RTG), Miles Moss, Doug Naylor, Henry Naylor, Nick
Newman, John O'Farrell, Andy Parsons, Philip Pope, Paul
Powell, Georgia Pritchett, Steve Punt, Nigel Purton, Keith
Rees, Andy Riley Laurie Rowley, Tony Sarchet , Stuart
Silver, Paul Simkin, Pete Sinclair, David Slade, Keith
Strachen, Andrea Solomons, John Thomson, and, Frank Walsh
Musical Directors
Steve Brown, and, Philip Pope
Designer
Ken Ryan
Script Editors
Rob Grant, Doug Naylor, Geoffrey Perkins
Directed By
Steve Bedelack, Richard Bradley, Phillip Casson, Steve Connelly, Bob
Cousins, Andy De Emmony, Gordon Elsbury, Sean Hardie, Graeme
Harper, Peter Harris, John Henderson, Liddy Oldroyd, Tom
Poole, Beryl Richards, Geoffrey Sax, John Stroud, Graham C Williams
Floor Managers
Keith Lanscelles
Stage Manager
Kevin Mullary (1986
to 1989)
Producers
John Lloyd, Peter
Fluck and Roger Law (Fluck & Law), Bill Dare, David Frost, Tony Hendra, Geoffrey
Perkins, Giles Pilbrow, David Tyler
Production Companies:
Central Independent Television, Spitting Image Productions, and, David Paradine Televison
Executive Producers
Jon Blair, Joanna
Beresford, Rosie Hoare, Ann Newcombe
Puppets designed and built by
Peter Fluck and Roger Law and
company
All sorts of other people worked on the show,
especially with regards to puppet building. This included: Errol Manoff (who also puppeteered in the very early days, and,
make-artiste John Woodbridge, whose speciality is airbrushing techniques,
which he now trains other make-up artistes in.
First Screening
Dates
Please
note these dates relate only to series and specials which Louise Gold was
definitely involved with.
1st
Series: First episode screened on Friday 24 (some say 26) February 1984. Last
episode 17 June 1984.
(Ms
Gold did not perform on the 2nd Series)
3rd Series, screened 6 January to 24th
March 1985
Special:
The Sound Of Maggie, screened 6 May 1989
9th
Series, screened 11 June to 9 July 1989
To go to the page for the Spitting
Image Pilot, please click here.
The show’s first spin off was the single Da Do Run Ron
Four years after the show ended, Fluck and Law's
puppets were sold at auction
To go to the page for The
Spitting Image Auction, please click here
Phil Cornwell, Louise Gold, Roger Law,
and, John Thompson went on to appear
in the television documentary The
Wonderful World Of Puppets, where of course they represented Spitting
Image (well Louise Gold also
represented The Muppet Show puppeteers)..
John Lloyd, Peter
Fluck, Louise Gold, and, Steve Nallon went on to take part as
on-stage guests part in Spitting Image
- BFI Event.
Ian
Hislop, Nick Newman, Kate Robbins, Steve Nallon, Chris Barrie,
Jan Ravens, and, Louise Gold went on to appear on
television in the documentary Spitting Image: Must See TV.
To
go to the page for the Spitting Image album Spit In Your Ear, please click here.
Besides
its eighteen series, there were also a number of Spitting Image
specials and spin-offs. Like everyone else involved with Spitting Image,
Louise Gold puppeteered on some (but by no means all) of these. One of
the Spitting Image specials she puppeteered on was ‘The
Sound Of Maggie’, which was filmed at Richmond Theatre in
Surrey, a theatre that Louise herself went on to appear on the stage of as a
singer-actress in Noel/Cole: Let’s Do It,
and, The Cherry Orchard. That theatre also
featured, as The Savoy in the film Topsy Turvy.
Spitting Image’s four most regular writers, at least in the early days, were: Rob
Grant, Ian Hislop, Doug Naylor, and, Nick Newman, who
were referred to collectively as Katie Bee or KTB, short for Keep That
Bloody Noise Down In Here.
Some
of the people involved with Spitting Image, went on to other
political satire ventures. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden
Jubilee in 2002, certainly provided an excuse for some of the Spitting
Image satirists to put their own slant on things. Of particular note, Rory
Bremner dressed up in drag to play the Queen in a special edition of his TV
show Bremner, Bird And Fortune. While Louise Gold’s cabaret act (see “Louise Gold Sings Some Nice
Songs”), found the
doyenne of Spitting Image giving her take on The Queen giving a
state of the nation address, complete with a Spitting Image
puppet of The Queen. The puppet resurfaced later in the year, in an extended
version of Ms Gold’s show Louise Gold
... By Appointment
Louise Gold
also puppeteered The Queen at Dress
Circle Grand Reopening, Spitting
Image - BFI Event, and at a FUNdraising special featuring The Company Of Mary Poppins.
Louise Gold has also
played The Queen in her actress’s guise, in an episode of Gina’s Laughing Gear; where she contrived to
act an interpretation that was not unlike Spitting Image’s own portrayal of
the character.
In a sense Tony Green’s voicing of his own
parody on Spitting Image, might have some similarity to the
occasion when the swimmer Johnny Rausmuller played a parody of himself,
Johnny Weismuller, in the Cole Porter political-satirical musical Jubilee
(which incidentally sent up the British royal family, but was nothing like as
bitingly satirical as either Spitting Image or Unity Theatre were).
In it’s early days Spitting Image borrowed
heavily from The Muppets, this
includes quite a number of personnel from The Muppet Show, such
as: Leading Puppeteer Louise Gold,
Writer Christopher Langham, and,
Directors Philip Casson, and, Peter Harris.
Immediately prior to helping set up Spitting
Image, Leading puppeteer Louise Gold had been appearing in The Pirates Of Penzance, along
with Chris Langham and Pamela Stephenson. They all appeared with
the Pirates Of Penzance cast in
The Pirates Of
Penzance (Gala Preview) and the 1982 Royal Variety Performance.
At the time of working on
the pilot episode of what was to become Spitting Image producer John
Lloyd was also producing BlackAdder (which Richard Curtis was also
working on as a scriptwriter), when the pilot’s ‘puppeteering consultant’
cheekily asked the producer for a job on BlackAdder
the result was a memorable acting appearance by one well known puppeteer!
Louise Gold
had already worked extensively with The
Muppets, a number of the other Spitting Image puppeteers also
subsequently worked with The Jim Henson Company.
Several
of the Spitting Image puppeteers puppeteered on the film Labyrinth, they include: Anthony Asbury, Donald
Austen, Kevin Bradshaw, Simon Buckley, Sue Dacre, Alistair
Fullarton,
Some members of the production team had also
previously worked with The Muppets:
Directors Philip Casson and Peter Harris, and writer Chris
Langham had all worked on The Muppet Show.
Phil Eason joined Spitting
Image for Series 9 (having previously worked with some of the Spitting
Image puppeteers on a spin-off). He was auditioned for Spitting
Image by leading puppeteers Louise Gold and
Puppeteer Mark Jefferis was originally a dancer
(his credits in that department include The Young Generation - at
the same time as Liz Robertson). He then went on to tour in various
musicals, including appearing in Joseph and the Amazing
Technicolour Dreamcoat (Touring Production) along with Louise Gold.
Puppeteer John
Thirtle had previously worked as a puppet builder on The Dark Crystal.
Richard Coombs is one of the few
puppeteers to puppeteer left-handed, however (like Fraggle Rock’s
Terry Angus) he is actually right-handed, but started out as a puppet
builder. Being right-handed, he got used to holding puppets in his left-hand
while building them, and so naturally performs them that way.
Voice-Artists Louise Gold and Chris Barrie
with a sketch written by: Rob Grant, Doug Naylor, Ian Hislop,
Nick Newman, and, Geoffrey Perkins, represented Spitting
Image on the Utterly
Utterly Live Comic Relief album. Adrian Edmondson also performed on
the album, and Richard Curtis also wrote some material that appeared on
it.
Louise Gold and Chris Barrie
also helped out, on occasion, with the politically-minded semi-professional Fall Out group’s shows.
Alistair Beaton went on to write material
for the stage show Ziegfeld and it’s cast
album Ziegfeld (recording) . His writing
credits also include the Gilbert & Sullivan spoofs such as The Metropolitan Mikado which was highlighted in
Ratepayers' Iolanthe
& Metropolitan Mikado and additional material for a
production The Gondoliers, featuring Louise
Gold (she sang some of his additional material).
Peter Harris was involved
with the production of the Muppet albums: Muppet Hits
1, and, Muppet Hits 2
Peter Harris and Philip Casson
were involved with the production of the Muppet albums: The Muppet Show Music Hall The Muppet Show 2 (the first Muppet album that
Louise Gold was actually credited on), and, Muppet Show Music Album. Chris
Langham was involved with writing material for the latter.
Writer Chris Langham and Puppeteer Louise
Gold had appeared in “a burlesque show with some of the
Muppet-company”
Peter Harris had previously directed The Muppets Go To The Movies, for
which Chris Langham wrote, and, Louise Gold puppeteered.
Louise Gold, Rob Tygner, Donald Austen,
Simon Buckley, Sue Dacre,
Nick Curtis, Carol Kenyon,
and, Miriam Stockley went on to appear as a backing vocalists on The Muppet Christmas Carol
(Soundtrack album), which of course Louise Gold featured as a
singing-puppeteer on.
Louise Gold, and Tim Whitnall,
have appeared in the film Billy The Kid & The
Green Baize Vampire, they have also done voice-work only in the TV Film Animal
Farm.
Louise Gold and Jessica Martin
have appeared together several times in: Something
For The Boys, One Touch Of Venus
(2000 Production), A Lost Musicals
Occasion , Regents Park 70th
Anniversary Gala and at Dress
Circle Grand Reopening. They have also appeared together on the radio, on: Let’s Do The Show Right Here and Ned Sherrin’s Review Of Revue.
John Sessions and Louise Gold
appeared in Laugh??? I Nearly
Paid My Licence Fee and in excerpts from it on A Kick Up The Archive
Louise Gold and Marty Robinson
went on to sing on the
Carl Wayne’s recording credits
include The Greatest
Musicals of the 20th Century, The
Great Musicals – Glamour And Majesty, and, The Great Musicals – Dashing Heroes,
Blushing Maidens.
Director Philip Casson went on to direct Louise
Gold in her actress’ guise in an episode of Casualty.
Kevin Cecil
and Andy Riley went on to write for Alexei Sayle’s Merry-Go-Round.
Louise Gold,
Richard Coombes, Francis Wright,
Adrian Edmonson, Michael Fenton-Stevens, and, Louise Gold went on to appear in the
same episode of Rita Rudner.
Richard Coombs, Sue Dacre, Phil Eason, Louise Gold,
Jessica Martin had gone on to
appear in A Love Letter To Dan.
Steve Punt also wrote for
Roland Rat The Series.
Louise Gold, and,
Louise Gold,
Simon Buckly, Richard Coombs, Louise Gold,
Louise Gold, and, Frank Welker can be heard on Favorite Songs From Jim
Henson’s Muppets, and, Muppet Music Mix.
David Frost went on to work
on Comedy Tonight.
Louise Gold, and, Marty Robinson were among the 16 puppeteers
who took part in American puppeteer Jim
Henson’s Memorial Service.
Kevin Mullary went on to
work as a stage manager on Noel/Cole: Let’s
Do It, and the Side By Side By Sondheim 25th
Anniversary Gala, both of which Louise
Gold sang on.
Louise Gold,
Louise Gold, Peter Harris, and, Christopher Langham had featured on the television documentary Of Muppets And Men.
It is perhaps worth noting that at least three of the
performers on this very adult TV show, have also made somewhat noteworthy
contributions to the world of pre-school-children’s television. Jon Glover
had previously presented BBC TV’s
During the very last season of Spitting Image
a behind-the-scenes item about the show was featured on the television
programme Funny Business, puppeteers Nigel Plaskit and Simon
Buckley were among the people involved. Nigel Plaskit was shown
operating the John Major puppet, and trying to explain how is performance of that puppet had to
be “very grey” ; while Simon Buckley was shown, operating the Tony
Blair puppet, and revealing that voice-artiste Alistair McGowen once
told him that the reason “Tony Blair always smiles, because you can’t
do the voice unless you smile.”
Links about Spitting Image
Official Show Site for LOUISE GOLD...BY APPOINTMENT: http://www.louisegold.com/
- This is
the show site for Louise Gold’s cabaret act, includes a couple of photographs
of Spitting Image’s original Leading Puppeteer, with the actual Spitting Image
latex puppet of The Queen.
BBC Guide To Comedy page for the show: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/s/spittingimage_7775945.shtml
The Independent newspaper’s
interview with Peter Fluck: ‘Headcases? We Were Miles Better Says Spitting
Image Creator’: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/headcases-we-were-miles-better-says-spitting-image-creator-805232.html - This interview carried out by The
Independent’s Ian Johnson was published on Sunday 6 April, in it Peter Fluck
while describing the importance of the role played by the puppeteer’s in
bringing characters to life, specifically cites Louise Gold’s puppetry as an
example.
TheatreNow.Com interview: Gold On Stage: Louise Gold In Follies: http://www.theatrenow.com/asp/link.htm?news.asp?art=3430&cat=1 This is an interview carried out by Theatre.Com’s Paul Webb, one hot
summer’s day, while Louise was appearing in Follies at The Royal Festival Hall.
Although the interview is ostensibly about her role in Follies she also talks
about her other Sondheim performances, along with:
Muppet Central Interview with Louise Gold: http://www.muppetcentral.com/articles/interviews/gold.shtml
Steve Nallon's Official Website: www.stevenallon.com
Chris Barrie’s Fan-Site: http://www.clay.co.uk/barrie/
Lee & Herring’s Official Site: http://193.62.1.220/fist/
Michael-Fenton Stevens’s site’s page about his
singing work, including The Chicken Song: http://www.mikefs.co.uk/music.html
Dress Circle’s Press And Stock Shot 1 of Claire Sweeney, and Louise Gold performing “The Queen”: http://www.salamanderphoto.com/decsite/events/specials/dresscircle/DressCircle_8773cropweb.html The Puppeteer
(Louise Gold) is clearly visible behind her puppet in this one. There are
several other photographs on the site of “The Queen” performed by Louise Gold,
plus two photographs of Ms Gold as herself.
British TV Shows Reviews ‘S’: http://www.eskimo.com/~rkj/s.htm Includes an
entry for Spitting Image.
Absolute Astronomy’s page about the
programme: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/s/sp/spitting_image.htm
Mistress Of Puppets, Enfield Independent’s
interview with Louise Gold (she mentions Spitting Image): http://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/display.var.653310.0.mistress_of_puppets.php
Museum Of Broadcast Communications’ page for the
programme http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/spittingimag/spittingimag.htm
Do You
Remember.co.uk’s page for the programme: http://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory.asp?memID=1505
BFI Transcript of the BFI event about the
programme: https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/interviews/spitting-image.html
(they had a few problems with audibility, so some
comments got lost)
BFI Database entries: Series 1: http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/697132 , http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/746901, http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/746900, http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/746899, http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/746898, http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/746897, http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/746896, http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/746894, http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/746895, http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/746891; Series 3: http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/352864, http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/483662, http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/483665, http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/483667, http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/483668, http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/483679, http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/483680 .
Richard Coombs’s website’s
section on the show: http://www.richardcoombs.co.uk/hotchpotch.htm (he does mention
various Spitting Image productions elsewhere on his site)
Spitting Image
Series 1 DVD Release, news item: http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=66978 (Louise Gold is quite rightly specifically
mentioned as an experienced pair of hands, at puppet performance).
Play.com’s entry for the Spitting Image
Series 1 DVD: http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/3623122/Spitting-Image-Series-1/Product.html?tduid=9792880de5feb828fee77d6af1f66835
Amazon.co.uk’s entry for the Spitting Image
Series 1 DVD: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00112GCD0/dvdtimes01
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