Thatcherworld (lost Spitting Image BBC TV film; 1993)

Eric Jenkins (Gary Olsen) and Grandma Jenkins (Edna Doré) with the Spitting Image puppet of Margaret Thatcher.

Status: Partially Found

Thatcherworld is a 1993 40-minute TV movie that is part of a series of BBC documentaries and specials called After Margaret, which examines the premiership and legacy of former British Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. It was notably produced by Spitting Image Productions, the studio known for creating the satirical puppet show Spitting Image, with said puppets appearing in this movie and interacting with a live-action cast. It aired on Sunday 24th October 1993 at 21:05 on BBC Two England, making it one of the few Spitting Image-related works to air on a BBC channel rather than on ITV, the company that owns Spitting Image.

The general synopsis follows the Jenkins family of five living in a futuristic Britain who are selected by a computer to be the first visitors of the nation’s newest and most exciting theme park - Thatcherworld. They go on a journey through Grantham in the 1920s to the artificial world of the 1980s. Along the way they encounter the Spitting Images of significant people in Margaret Thatcher’s life - her father, husband, Edward Heath, the Saatchi brothers, Geoffrey Howe, Michael Heseltine, Neil Kinnock, Roy Hattersley, John Major and of course, Thatcher herself. But as scenes from her years flash by, something strange begins to happen.

As well as featuring the voice artists of Spitting Image (Roger Blake, Steve Coogan, Alistair McGowan, Steve Nallon and Kate Robbins), it also features a live-action cast playing the Jenkins family: starring Gary Olsen as Eric Jenkins, Frances Barber as Penny Jenkins, Edna Doré as Grandma Jenkins, Lee Barrett as Kevin Jenkins, and most notably, Emma Bunton as Josie Jenkins, during her time as a TV actress before her rise to fame as one of the Spice Girls.

Gallery

Photos

Alternate version featuring the Margaret Thatcher puppet strangling the two Jenkins family members.
Ditto.
Rubberwork art of three Conservative ministers holding up a globe.