Spitting Image/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Ear Worm: One an episode, but especially the Chicken Song.
  • Funny Aneurysm Moment: The sketch that had Margaret Thatcher wandering an empty House of Commons is regarded as a very moving piece of writing and probably the only time when they showed her any sympathy. It was seen by two Tory MPs, friends of Ian Hislop, who were touched by it that they voted to keep her as party leader in the ballot when they previously planned on abstaining. Although this wasn't enough to save her from the axe, their votes proved to be the decider in tipping the scale towards a second round of ballots. So in over a decade, the writers actually did more to keep Maggie in power than they ever did to get rid of her.
    • Princess Di singing a version of "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now."
    • Ronald Reagan being portrayed as completely oblivious (and extremely forgetful).
  • Funny Moments: The "Vegetables" sketch, David Coleman mistaking the opening credits of Grandstand for live footage of the Liverpool-Everton match...
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: Looking back on how Reagan was portrayed in the series, the parallels between him and George W. Bush make his sketches twice as funny.
    • As mentioned above, the Running Gag about John Major having an affair with a female member of the Cabinet (funny at the time because it was such a silly idea) became a lot funnier once we learnt he had.
      • If only they'd picked Edwina Currie as the (un?)lucky lady instead of Virginia Bottomley.
    • The "Last of the Summer Wine" parody is much funnier now that most of the actors from it really are dead now.
    • The economic cycle has ensured that a great wodge of early-90s sketches and songs about falling house prices, currency devaluation, and economic recession have become just as relevant today.
  • Reverse Funny Aneurysm: In the "Princess Michael" Royal Family sketch, Prince Harry is seen wearing a Waffen-SS helmet. Prince Harry would later get into trouble with the press in 2005, for wearing a German military uniform and a Nazi swastika armband.
  • Seasonal Rot: Many believe the show lost its way after Maggie left.
  • Squick: Norman Tebbitt puts Robin Day's hand in a blender.
  • Tear Jerker: The aforementioned sketch with Maggie crying. A few musical numbers qualify too, especially "We've Ruined The World" and "When You're 65".