''Dick Spanner, P.I.'' is a 1986 British stop-motion animated

comedy series Television comedy is a category of broadcasting that has been present since the early days of entertainment media. While there are several genres of comedy, some of the first ones aired were variety shows. One of the first United States television ...

which parodied Chandleresque detective shows. The

title character The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...

and protagonist was Dick Spanner, voiced by Shane Rimmer, a

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may ...

private detective A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...

who works cases in a futuristic urban setting. The show made frequent use of puns and visual gags. The series consisted of 22 six-minute episodes, covering two-story arcs of equal length: "The Case of the Human Cannonball" and "The Case of the Maltese Parrot". The programme was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom as a segment of the Sunday morning show ''

Network 7 ''Network 7'' was a short-lived but influential youth music and current affairs programme screened on Channel 4 over two series in 1987 and 1988. The series was created by Jane Hewland and Janet Street-Porter, who was also editor of the first s ...

'' on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

, and was later repeated on the same channel in a late night spot. Produced by '' Thunderbirds'' creator

Gerry Anderson Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s produ ...

, the series was created and written by Terry Adlam, who had previously worked on effects for Anderson's ''

Terrahawks ''Gerry Anderson & Christopher Burr's Terrahawks'', usually referred to simply as ''Terrahawks'', is a 1980s British science fiction television series produced by Anderson Burr Pictures for London Weekend Television and created by the product ...

''. It was also the basis for the Anderson-created Tennents Pilsner advertising campaign using the Lou Tennent character (voiced by

Vivian Stanshall Vivian Stanshall (born Victor Anthony Stanshall; 21 March 1943 – 5 March 1995) was an English singer-songwriter, musician, author, poet and wit, best known for his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, for his exploration of the British upper ...

Commercial releases

VHS videocassette

The series was released on VHS by the Channel 5 video label (who released many other Gerry Anderson series) towards the end of the 1980s; two cassettes were released, 'The Case of the Human Cannonball' and 'The Case of the Maltese Parrot'. Both 'cases' had their respective episodes spliced together to make up the complete story, with minor cuts. In the early 1990s, both cases were re-released on a single cassette by Polygram Video. All of the VHS releases are now hard to come by and command respectable amounts of money when sold online.

DVD

A DVD of the series was released on 15 October 2007, with extras including an interview with Gerry Anderson. At the request of Anderson himself, the episodes featured new acoustic background music in place of the original synthesiser theme tune/background music (which is probably the series' most famous element and is fondly remembered by many who watched the series on Network 7). The remaining soundtrack (sound effects etc.) were altered to the extent that many of the show's audio gags either no longer work, or are missing entirely. The quality of the original prints appears to have degraded somewhat since the VHS releases, as they seem a lot cleaner and have more vibrant colour. In addition, a number of white lines appear momentarily, possibly indicating that the picture was taken from a degraded video source rather than original film elements. The picture is also cropped into 16:9 format, occasionally cropping off part of a signpost or graffiti gag in the process. Finally, although the DVD release version is split into the original six-minute segments, the original end credits sequences have been replaced by a new set of credits made for the DVD. In September 2013, the series in its original 5-minute state with original music and 4:3 aspect ratio was uploaded to YouTube by One Media. The quality was superior to that on the DVD, being much more vivid in color. Since December 2016, however, the series can no longer be found on YouTube, as the channel has been taken down. This is likely due to One Media's copyright for "Dick Spanner" expiring, as two months later, Anderson Entertainment issued several takedown notices for other YouTube uploads. A new DVD by Network was released on 4 September 2017. This featured the original music and episodes uncut and in the original aspect ratio, with the two stories presented in both episodic and compilation formats.

Missing puppet hoax

In October 2007, it was reported by several newspapers (including ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'') that Gerry Anderson was searching for the original Dick Spanner puppet, which had last been seen in the possession of "Clive", a man who had worked on the show. This was later revealed to be a publicity stunt to promote the new DVD release, and the statement was made by a DVD publicist without Anderson's knowledge.

References

Gerry Anderson at EOFFTV

External links

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''Dick Spanner, P.I.''
at SausageNet {{Gerry Anderson 1980s animated comedy television series 1980s British animated television series 1980s British comic science fiction television series 1980s British police comedy television series 1980s British police procedural television series 1986 British television series debuts 1987 British television series endings Animated detective television series AP Films British detective television series British parody television series Channel 4 original programming English-language television shows Television series about parallel universes British stop-motion animated television series Animated television series about robots Cyberpunk television series Television series set in the future