SCOTS
CMSW

Document 1621

TV critic review column on Best Ever Spitting Image & Friday Night With Jonathan Ross

Author(s): Paul English

Copyright holder(s): Derek Stewart-Brown: on behalf of The Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd

Text

If Cameron becomes PM, I'll be Spitting mad: Best Ever Spitting Image ITV, Sun Friday Night With Jonathan Ross BBC1, Fri

IF Tory leader David Cameron gets in at the next general election, it's all Spitting Image's fault.

As producer John Lloyd pointed out in Sunday night's near-perfect nostalgia fest, a generation of punters became politically aware by watching Fluck and Law's rubber dummies voiced by comics.

These days, it's just George Bush with his hand up our Government's backside, and nobody's laughing.

Best Ever Spitting Image reinforced the fact that half of us wouldn't know the Shadow Cabinet from our bedside cabinet.

There was plenty to titter at, although I had a sense of nagging discomfort watching Edwina Currie and Michael Heseltine getting all chucklish as they recalled how they and their Tory cronies felt they'd made it if they were featured. Of course, Edwina. Those years of Tory pillage were just a bit of a laugh, weren't they?

Spitting Image's greatest hits was a laytex laughathon with an ultimately sad ending.

It seems there's Fluck-all chance of TV's most important popular political programme ever coming back.

Which, in retrospect, made what happened on Friday night on BBC1 all the more meaningful. Jonathan Ross, a man who invariably interviews himself more than his guests, swapped ticklestick for hacksaw as he welcomed "Toff Idol" David Cameron.

Ross pinned his colours to the mast early. "You're the first politician we've had on the programme," he said. "But I read that you listen to my Radio 2 show, so you can't be a complete pwick." Ten minutes of surprisingly edgy stuff followed from Wossy, whose verbal rallies with Cameron rivalled those of previous guest Martina Navratilova on the tennis court.

He refused to give the credibility-hungry Tory an easy ride on a chat show which often feels like it's one question away from "What's your favourite colour, Mr Willis?"

Maybe if politics were digested in this arena every week, rather than by some old gonk with a comb-over, more of us would give a damn that this guy might soon end up running our country.

Ross grilled the ruddy-faced Old Etonian on Iraq. He implied he only supported Tony Blair's decision to go to war because he knew it would hasten Labour's demise.

Ross challenged him on drugs. And, in a moment that should go down in TV history, he asked the leader of the Opposition if he ever indulged in self-pleasure while thinking about Maggie Thatcher.

Almost a week later, I've just I about winched my jaw off the floor. At £16million, Jonathan Ross's publicly-funded salary is obscene.

But at least we can take some comfort in his public joust on our behalf with a braying "yah" who thinks Dragoness Thatcher's decisions have been vindicated.

"The Labour party haven't undone a lot of what she did," proclaimed Cameron, proudly.

Maybe, David. But then you can't un-bulldoze a shipyard, can you?

This work is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

The SCOTS Project and the University of Glasgow do not necessarily endorse, support or recommend the views expressed in this document.

Close

Cite this Document

APA Style:

TV critic review column on Best Ever Spitting Image & Friday Night With Jonathan Ross. 2024. In The Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow. Retrieved 14 October 2024, from http://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/document/?documentid=1621.

MLA Style:

"TV critic review column on Best Ever Spitting Image & Friday Night With Jonathan Ross." The Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 2024. Web. 14 October 2024. http://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/document/?documentid=1621.

Chicago Style

The Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech, s.v., "TV critic review column on Best Ever Spitting Image & Friday Night With Jonathan Ross," accessed 14 October 2024, http://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/document/?documentid=1621.

If your style guide prefers a single bibliography entry for this resource, we recommend:

The Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech. 2024. Glasgow: University of Glasgow. http://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk.

Close

Information about Document 1621

TV critic review column on Best Ever Spitting Image & Friday Night With Jonathan Ross

Text

Text audience

Adults (18+)
General public
Audience size 1000+

Text details

Method of composition Wordprocessed
Year of composition 2006
Word count 523
General description Newspaper TV review

Text medium

Newspaper

Text publication details

Published
Publisher Daily Record
Publication year 2006
Place of publication Glasgow
Part of larger text
Contained in Daily Record 29/06/06
Page numbers 25

Text setting

Journalism

Text type

Article

Author

Author details

Author id 1165
Forenames Paul
Surname English
Gender Male
Decade of birth 1970
Educational attainment University
Age left school 17
Upbringing/religious beliefs Catholicism
Occupation Journalist, Daily Record Features Writer
Place of birth Paisley
Region of birth Renfrew
Birthplace CSD dialect area Renfr
Country of birth Scotland
Place of residence Glasgow
Region of residence Glasgow
Residence CSD dialect area Gsw
Country of residence Scotland
Father's occupation Social club manager
Father's place of birth Port Glasgow
Father's region of birth Glasgow
Father's birthplace CSD dialect area Gsw
Father's country of birth Scotland
Mother's occupation School meals auxiliary
Mother's place of birth Port Glasgow
Mother's region of birth Glasgow
Mother's birthplace CSD dialect area Gsw
Mother's country of birth Scotland

Languages

Language Speak Read Write Understand Circumstances
English Yes Yes Yes Yes Work / home etc

Close