Spitting Image: archive including Princess Diana and Margaret Thatcher puppets donated to Cambridge Library

The entire archive of Spitting Image, a satirical series which originally aired on ITV and was rebooted on BritBox has been donated to Cambridge University Library.

Puppets from the programme, including of Margaret Thatcher, Diana, Princess of Wales, and the Queen Mother, are among the items to go on display in a free exhibition from Saturday.

As well as the famous puppets, sketches, memorabilia and some of the letters of complaint received by the show, which first ran from 1984 to 1996 before being revived for two seasons in 2020, will be on display.

Series producer John Lloyd said he used to get “literally two Royal Mail bags of letters every week which my PA would go through and sort them into nice and nasty”.

He added: “There would be ones which said ‘I’ve been unemployed for eight years, I’m desperate, I was going to kill myself and I thought I’d just wait til Sunday for one last laugh and it was so funny I think I can carry on another week. It was literally that poignant. The other letter was ‘you communist b****rd, I hope you get cancer and die'. It was really that extreme."

One viewer who wrote to the show complained that a sketch with Russian leaders “where women were made out to be mere ‘sex objects’… (was) totally sexist and unfunny”.

In Lloyd’s response, displayed at Cambridge University Library alongside the letter of complaint, he agreed and said he would have cut the sketch if he could. He wrote: “I have to admit that your remarks about the Russian sketch touched a raw nerve. Seeing the sketch taped I thought it unpleasant and dated and I would have cut it if we had had sufficient material to replace it in time (which regrettably we didn’t)."

Speaking at the exhibition, he said: “The great thing though about letters of complaint in those days is you had at least to make an effort to write it down. So we didn’t get that many complaints – I would hate to have the whole of Instagram and TikTok after me. That must be absolutely intolerable.”

Other puppets to feature in the exhibition include the likenesses of Mikhail Gorbachev, Gary Lineker, Michael Heseltine, Rishi Sunak, Prince Philip, and Roger Law.

The first section of the Spitting Image archive was donated to the Library by co-creator Roger Law in 2018, and the entire archive is now held there. It was accepted by the Government under the Cultural Gifts Scheme and allocated to Cambridge University Library in 2023.

The Cultural Gifts Scheme enables UK taxpayers to donate important works of art and other heritage objects to be held for the benefit of the public or the nation. In return, donors receive a tax reduction based on a set percentage of the value of the item they donate.

The exhibition, Spitting Image: A Controversial History, will be held at Cambridge University Library from Saturday 30 September until 17 February 2024, and is free to attend.