Tune in to hear about Avalon and Sky Deutschland’s Spitting Image

Today we hear from Jon Thoday, founder and co-executive chairman of UK- and US-based Avalon, and Johannes Plenk, Sky Deutschland’s director of entertainment channels, about the German version of the iconic UK satirical puppet sketch show Spitting Image.

Tune in to C21FM by CLICKING HERE.

With Brexit putting a strain on some of the UK’s relationships in Europe, Avalon founder and comedy veteran Jon Thoday has taken it upon himself to build some bridges with Britain’s friends on the continent by making local versions of the recently rebooted satirical puppet sketch show Spitting Image.

The first of these to hit screens is the result of a partnership between Avalon and Sky Deutschland, who have worked together to create Spitting Image: The Krauts’ Edition. This features a roughly 50/50 mix of content from the English-language version redubbed by German voice artists alongside new topical local sketches written by German comedy writers.

Spitting Image originally ran for a total of 18 seasons between 1984 and 1996 on ITV in the UK, when it famously skewered prominent figures such as Margaret Thatcher, before being rebooted by Avalon for the BBC and ITV’s joint-venture streaming service BritBox last year to take aim at the likes of Boris Johnson, Prince Andrew, Angela Merkel, Jürgen Klopp and Donald Trump.

C21FM caught up with Jon Thoday and Johannes Plenk, Sky Deutschland’s director of entertainment channels, to discuss potential future international versions of Spitting Image, how it was almost rebooted for NBC in the US and why a dearth of breakout US hits is creating opportunities for more ambitious local comedies.

C21FM is live 24/7, with a block of interviews starting at 10am BST every day HERE.