2DTV

2DTV, 2001

After the success of Spitting Image in the 1980’s, it was only to be expected that there would have to be a new vehicle for poking fun at everyone from Royalty to Politicians.  So way back in 2001 we were introduced to the next generation of satire with 2DTV.

2DTV ran for for five series, essentially it was along similar lines to Spitting Image, although not nearly as good.  Rather than puppets 2DTV used animated computer generated graphics.

Series producer Giles Pilbrow was a veteran of Spitting Image, as were some of the voice artists on the show.  An unbroadcast pilot episode featured a resident newsreader, played by Alistair Mc Gowan, however, his character was not carried over when a full-seven part first series was commissioned.

In the early days each episode ran for just ten minutes.  By series three episode lengths increased to twenty minutes including ad breaks.  This lead to the departure of many of the original cast members, including: Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Mark Perry, at the end of series three, following an announcement that the fourth series would be extended to thirty minutes per episode.

New cast members Lewis Macleod, Kate O’Sullivan and Enn Reitel joined the show. They appeared alongside the only remaining original cast member, Dave Lamb. All four returned for a fifth series in 2004, however, due to falling ratings, it’s broadcast occurred in the graveyard slot, i.e after peak time TV viewing, and as such, the show was axed in early 2005.

Summary

Each episode featured a number of different characters in sketches based around that week’s news stories.

Clips

 

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Voices 

Jon Culshaw
Jan Ravens
Mark Perry
Lewis MacLeod
Kate O’ Sullivan
Enn Reitel
Dave Lamb
Alistair Mc Gowan (pilot)

Details

Channel: ITV
Created By: Giles Pilbrow and Georgia Pritchett
Original Transmission Dates: 14th October 2001 – 23rd December 2004