What on earth went wrong? From its start in 1984 through to 1993 this was the best satire series on TV, but when Giles Pilbrow took over as producer in 1994 things went from bad to worse. The witty humor turned into spiteful name-calling and the whole thing adopted a very down-market, tacky feel to it. Though the first 1994 series shows promise to begin with, before long it descends into childish, playground-style sniping at people. Satire is much more effective if it's subtle, but 'subtle' is a word which is obviously missing from Pilbrow's dictionary. By the 1996 (final) series, things were at an all-time low. The comical, imaginative voices were replaced by the same smug, self-satisfied tones which cropped up time and time again, the series seemed to center more on pop groups rather than politicians and public figures and most of the songs had become dire. Though the 1996 series had a few good ideas, rather than humorous sketches there was an insufferably smug voice relating political facts and lists of statistics. More of a documentary than a satire show. This approach also displays a very lazy, interest-lacking attitude.

The older Spitting Image series are unmissable - hilarious, well-made, well-thought-out. But Pilbrow ought to be ashamed for running this great series into the ground. The only good he ever did the show was stopping it in 1996 rather than dragging it to even more ignoble depths.