10 Revived TV Shows That Should've Stayed Cancelled

The original Spitting Image, ITV’s grotesque puppet-led satire show, was the perfect programme for its day. 1984 saw Reganomics and Maggie Thatcher running riot, with an ever widening political divide and an incident-packed few years for the British monarchy. The show kept up steam through the John Major years and the dawn of New Labour before being axed in 1996.

After a couple of efforts to bring it back, it was finally revived in 2020, with more of a transatlantic flavour, though currently airing only on BritBox. It would seem like the wild and crazy days would provide more than enough fodder for any keen satirist.

Thus far, that has proved not to be the case. The sketches are toothless, the jokes as lazy as comedy gets, the establishment left very much unflustered. The original Spitting Image was wild and surreal; this version is what Have I Got News For You leaves on the cutting room floor.

Its one stab at controversy came in its unflattering puppet depiction of Greta Thunberg, with many suggesting that a minor shouldn’t be the subject of acerbic satire. They really needn’t have worried - this is as limp as old lettuce.