[Closed] Yes, Minster - coming back, Y NO Spitting Image?

Spiting image might be easier to bring back as iirc they had a lot of different script writers, so should be easier to reproduce.

Yes, Minister. Hmmm. I have a worry that's like when one of your favourite bands announced a come-back after their zenith 20 years earlier.
Best just re-run the original genius. It's not like it's aged.

Dear god! In the absense of any new ideas, lets trawl the archives for another stinking corpse to resurrect.

If you want more relevant political satire, this is as good as it gets. Especially after last weeks pasty farce. Its life imitating art

The work of utter unbridled genius.....

Yes Minister should be compulsory viewing. You see politicians doing what Sir Humphrey and Jim Hacker did all the time. Someone should distil all their tricks into a handy guide for understanding what politicians are really saying!

In the absense of any new ideas, lets trawl the archives for another stinking corpse to resurrect

Armando Iannucci proposed Yes Minister as the best tv comedy EVER!!

are there any more series of the thick of it coming?

i think id rather see that than new yes ministers

or how about alan b'stard?

Its excellent. But its very 'of its time'. As is the Thick of It.

For instance: Watching the various politicians file dutifully into Greggs last week, did you not immediately think of them being ordered to do so by their resident Malcolm Tuckers behind the scenes? Its the first thing that came to mind.

Get your *ing arse down to Greggs NOW!!! And start chowing down on mechanically recovered meat in *ing pastry. And FFS try and look like you're enjoying being a pleb for the ****ing day!!!!

Yes Minister would work at any time - as long as we have politicians then political satire is welcome. It doesn't have to be a copy, it could and should have new characters but the jobs are still the same and so are the tensions and machinations.

The only thing that's dated about Yes [Prime] Minister is the suits.

[i][b]Hacker:[/b] Don't tell me about the press. I know exactly who reads the papers: The Daily Mirror is read by people who think they run the country; The Guardian is read by people who think they ought to run the country; The Times is read by the people who actually do run the country; The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country; The Financial Times is read by people who own the country; The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country; And The Daily Telegraph is read by people who think it is.

[b]Sir Humphrey:[/b] Prime Minister, what about the people who read The Sun?

[b]Bernard:[/b] Sun readers don't care who runs the country, as long as she's got big tits.
[/i]

i agree about the pasty thing wouldve been prize thick of it territory, of course theyd have to bump into john prescott in there ordering 10 sausage rolls, 5 steak slices and a box of yum yums , because that what he does every day

At least it probably won't have Plan B in the Dennis Waterman role.

And

[i][b]Sir Humphrey:[/b] Minister, Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last five hundred years: to create a disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Germans and Italians. Divide and rule, you see. Why should we change now, when it's worked so well?

[b]Hacker:[/b] That's all ancient history, surely?

[b]Sir Humphrey:[/b] Yes, and current policy. We 'had' to break the whole thing (the EEC) up, so we had to get inside. We tried to break it up from the outside, but that wouldn't work. Now that we're inside we can make a complete pig's breakfast of the whole thing: set the Germans against the French, the French against the Italians, the Italians against the Dutch. The Foreign Office is terribly pleased; it's just like old times.

[b]Hacker:[/b] But surely we're all committed to the European ideal?

[b]Sir Humphrey:[/b] (chuckles) Really, Minister.

[b]Hacker:[/b] If not, why are we pushing for an increase in the membership?

[b]Sir Humphrey:[/b] Well, for the same reason. It's just like the United Nations, in fact; the more members it has, the more arguments it can stir up, the more futile and impotent it becomes.

[b]Hacker:[/b] What appalling cynicism.

[b]Sir Humphrey:[/b] Yes... We call it diplomacy, Minister.[/i]

We need Spitting Image back IMHO...the series of old brought a lot of controversial policies and hypocrisy into the public eye. I wonder how they'd cover cash for access or the latest u-turn on internet privacy? We let our politicians get away with far too much these days.

😆

For satire to be funny and effective it must be aimed at relatively intelligent people, we have become too stupid as a nation to get the jokes...

PJM1974 - Member
We need Spitting Image back IMHO...the series of old brought a lot of controversial policies and hypocrisy into the public eye. I wonder how they'd cover cash for access or the latest u-turn on internet privacy? We let our politicians get away with far too much these days.

We needed it back during the Blair/Brown years as well.

Yes Minister was brilliantly written and performed. As much as I love Armando Iannucci, The Thick Of It was just endless swearing. Very disappointing.

Don't think Spitting Image should come back either. It was superb in its day, but I dread to think what a modern version would be like. Endless celebrities, pop stars and thick footballers.

Don't think Spitting Image should come back either. It was superb in its day, but I dread to think what a modern version would be like. Endless celebrities, pop stars and thick footballers.

Politicians, the Royal Family, the Press, Television celebrities (all badly behaving) and of course some catchy songs! It's all recyclable. I just watched the last episode of season 5 (got the box set here, hence the topic) and their displaying of those characters going out, and those coming in was quite funny. Maggie at the end singing, "I did it my way!" was memorable.

I was just thinking that they could dig out from the puppet drawer the David Owen puppet, with the pocket sized David Steel, for Cameron/Clegg.

Jon Culshaw was talking about Spitting Image the other day and consensus was that it wouldn't come back as it was so expensive to make.

The lawsuits?

I've just had a thought. Since the Dirty Digger is in control of the method of so many peoples delivery of programming, would he block the channel that broadcasts the return?

Don't think Spitting Image would have the same appeal these days tbh, it was great in its day though. Drop the Dead Donkey was another, that'd work perfectly today (or any other day) but why rehash an old idea when you could try and have a new one?

There'd have been no The Thick Of It without Yes, Minister.

but why rehash an old idea when you could try and have a new one?

I think the problem with spitting image nowadays would be the the fact that much of the subject index was quite close to the bone, and the growth over the years in those who are "professionally offended" - it would be impossible to do some of the characterisation that they pulled off then, without stirring the hornets nest of people willing to tell us how they had reinforced a negative stereotype of women/moslems/gays/disabled/liberal democrats or whatever.

Think about Brass Eye... that was a good ten years ago, do you think there would be any chance of making that again now? the press reaction was bad enough then!

One need only look at 10 o'Clock live on channel four to see how you can take some of the countries top satirists and emasculate them so horrifically to prevent offending anyone, that you end up with the most banal, uninspiring programme imaginable.

Bremner, Bird and Fortune were pretty cutting, if hit and miss. When it was good, it was very good

I agree to a certain extent with Rory Bremners assertion that the present crop of politicians are actually beyond satire. Which is a quite depressing thought

We needed it back during the Blair/Brown years as well.

Same with Drop the Dead Donkey - okay, making the first and last 30 seconds topical but the rest of it was just straight-down-the-middle sitcom.

Sir Humphrey: Minister, Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last five hundred years: to create a disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Germans and Italians. Divide and rule, you see. Why should we change now, when it's worked so well?

Hacker: That's all ancient history, surely?

Sir Humphrey: Yes, and current policy. We 'had' to break the whole thing (the EEC) up, so we had to get inside. We tried to break it up from the outside, but that wouldn't work. Now that we're inside we can make a complete pig's breakfast of the whole thing: set the Germans against the French, the French against the Italians, the Italians against the Dutch. The Foreign Office is terribly pleased; it's just like old times.

Hacker: But surely we're all committed to the European ideal?

Sir Humphrey: (chuckles) Really, Minister.

Hacker: If not, why are we pushing for an increase in the membership?

Sir Humphrey: Well, for the same reason. It's just like the United Nations, in fact; the more members it has, the more arguments it can stir up, the more futile and impotent it becomes.

Hacker: What appalling cynicism.

Sir Humphrey: Yes... We call it diplomacy, Minister.

Of its time? its as good now as it ever was. Quality writing that shines through like a comedic beacon in a fog of ComDem lies. The stage show is Okish but a full rerun and update with equally astute writers? I would pay for that.

 

cough!

Zulu-Eleven - Member

Think about Brass Eye... that was a good ten years ago, do you think there would be any chance of making that again now?

Wouldn't doubt it for a second.