ITV had plans for a new series in 2006, but these were scrapped after a dispute over the Ant & Dec puppets used to host Best Ever Spitting Image, which were created against Roger Law's wishes.

Fluck and Law, who had both attended the Cambridge School of Art, had no previous television experience, but had, for several years, constructed plasticine caricatures to illustrate articles in The Sunday Times magazine.

The puppets, based on public figures, were designed by Fluck and Law, assisted by caricaturists including David Stoten, Pablo Bach, Steve Bendelack and Tim Watts.

[13] In the early years of the show, Spitting Image was filmed and based in the enterprise zone at London Docklands at the Limehouse Studios, where scriptwriters convened and puppets were manufactured.

This marked a shift in the tone of the show, with the writers moving from the Punch and Judy style to more subtle and atmospheric sketches, notably a series in which an awkward Major and wife Norma ate peas for dinner.

[22] In the first series, Thatcher sought advice from her enraptured neighbour Herr Jeremy Von Wilcox (who is actually an elderly Adolf Hitler, living at 9 Downing Street) about the unions and the unemployed.

[25] Thatcher's successor John Major was portrayed as a dull, boring grey character who enjoyed a meal of peas with his wife Norma and was constantly mocked by Humphrey, the Downing Street cat.

Before Thatcher's resignation, Major had been portrayed as wearing a leopard print suit and swinging in on a trapeze, referencing his background as the son of a circus acrobat (which he would frequently remind everyone about).

The deputy leader, John Prescott, was portrayed as a fat bumbling assistant, along with a squeaky voiced Robin Cook, and an enormous bespectacled Jack Straw.

Khomeini and Botha along with the more recurring Reagan, Thatcher, Pope John Paul II, and Gorbachev appear in the Spitting Image video game.

Presenters were also seen: Jeremy Paxman appeared as uninterested and self-loving, and Trevor McDonald frequently lamented his lot after being paired with Ronnie Corbett as newscasters, with the latter always getting the punchlines.

David Coleman had a very loud ear prompter and sometimes did not know what he was commentating on; Frank Bough was portrayed as being a drug user; Bruce Forsyth spoke every sentence as though it was a catchphrase.

Celebrity chef Keith Floyd was always getting drunk on wine, while film critic Barry Norman was not a fan of his puppet, because it had an inexplicable wart on its forehead, which he did not have.

[24][28] Comedians were satirised: Billy Connolly was portrayed as a jester; Jimmy Tarbuck was said to use old jokes and always take part in the Royal Variety Performance; Bernard Manning was an obese racist; and Ben Elton was always shown with a microphone.

Esther Rantzen always had a permanent grin and was frequently carrying an onion (reflecting a concurrent running joke in Private Eye suggesting insincere theatrical tears), whilst Cilla Black had large teeth and a thick Scouse accent.

Actor Dustin Hoffman spoke nasally and was parodied for his method acting; John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier lamented their friends, and even their own death.

In 1986, a compilation LP "Spit In Your Ear" was produced, featuring some of their sketches over time along with a few of their songs, followed in 1990 by "20 Great Golden Gobs", a songs-only collection from the 1986–1990 series.

In 1986, the Spitting Image team experienced some real musical success when they created the video for "Land of Confusion" by Genesis, a song which implied that Thatcher and Reagan were about to bring the world to a nuclear war.

In a series 5 episode, Labour leader Neil Kinnock is portrayed singing a self-parody to the tune "My eyes are fully open" from Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore, supported by members of his shadow cabinet.

In one instance Sting was persuaded to sing a re-worded version of "Every Breath You Take", titled "Every Bomb You Make" (series 1, episode 12), to accompany a video showing the Spitting Image puppets of world leaders and political figures of the day, usually with the figure matching the altered lyrics Every bomb you make Every job you take Every heart you break Every Irish wake I'll be watching you Every wall you build Every one you've killed Every grave you've filled all the blood you've spilled I'll be watching you[2] The video ended with the grim reaper appearing in front of a sunset.

This version was due to be resurrected by Sting at the Live 8 concert, and the parody lyrics were cleared with their writers Quentin Reynolds and James Glen, but plans were abandoned at the last minute.

[citation needed] The closing music for series 8 episode 3 featured an ensemble of characters performing "We All Hate Jeremy Beadle", in reference to the light entertainment host of that name.

Other musical parodies featured Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Kylie Minogue, The Monkees, Pulp, Brett Anderson of Suede, Pet Shop Boys, R.E.M., Björk, East 17, Elvis Presley, Oasis, ZZ Top, Prince and Barbra Streisand.

[2] Spitting Image launched the careers of and featured many then-unknown British comedians and actors, including Hugh Dennis, Steve Coogan and Harry Enfield.

[35] The voices were provided by British impressionists including: The writers, Mark Burton, John O'Farrell, Pete Sinclair, Stuart Silver, and Ray Harris quit the show in 1993 and in 1995, and with viewing figures in decline, production was cancelled.

This special actually prevented ITV directly resurrecting the famous satire as they had planned, because it featured new puppets of Ant & Dec – a move which was against the wishes of Roger Law, who owns the rights to the Spitting Image brand.

[citation needed] In 2018, Spitting Image co-creator Roger Law donated his entire archive – which includes original scripts, puppet moulds, drawings and recordings – to Cambridge University.

Eventually, their plot foiled, the famous corporation activated their escape pod – Abraham Lincoln's nose – and left Earth for another planet, but (in a homage to the beginning of the Star Wars movies) were destroyed during a collision with 'a nonsensical prologue in gigantic lettering'.

In September 2019, the show was confirmed to be returning 23 years after it originally ended, with the unveiling of the puppets of Greta Thunberg, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Mark Zuckerberg, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

[9] Among the writers for the revival will be Jeff Westbrook of Futurama (who also serves as executive producer), Al Murray, The Windsors creators Bert Tyler-Moore and George Jeffrie, Bill Odenkirk, David X. Cohen, Jason Hazeley, Keisha Zollar, Patric Verrone, Phil Wang, and Sophie Duker.