Dick Spanner, P.I.
A stop-motion parody of detective shows from Gerry Anderson.
Dick Spanner, P.I. is a British stop-motion animated comedy series from 1987 that spoofs hardboiled detective stories in the style of Raymond Chandler. The main character, a robot private eye voiced by Shane Rimmer, solves cases in a futuristic city, and the show relies heavily on puns and sight gags.
The series has 21 episodes, each six minutes long, split evenly between two story arcs: "The Case of the Human Cannonball" and "The Case of the Maltese Parrot." It first aired in the UK as part of the Sunday morning programme *Network 7* on Channel 4, and later got late-night repeats on the same channel.
Gerry Anderson, creator of *Thunderbirds*, produced the series, while Terry Adlam—who previously worked on effects for Anderson's *Terrahawks*—wrote and created it. The show also inspired an advertising campaign for Tennents Pilsner, featuring the character Lou Tennent voiced by Tony Barton, which was created by McCann Erickson.
A DVD came out on 22 October 2007, with extras including an interview with Gerry Anderson. At Anderson's request, the episodes replaced the original synth theme and background music—often the most remembered element—with new acoustic music. Sound effects and other audio were altered so much that many audio gags no longer work or are missing. The picture quality seems worse than earlier VHS releases, which looked cleaner and more vibrant; the DVD has occasional white lines, suggesting a degraded video source rather than original film. The image is cropped to 16:9, sometimes cutting off signpost or graffiti jokes. The original end credits were also replaced with new ones for the DVD.
In September 2013, One Media uploaded the series to YouTube in its original five-minute form, with the original music and 4:3 aspect ratio. The colour was much more vivid than the DVD. By December 2016, the channel was taken down, likely because One Media's copyright expired; two months later, Anderson Entertainment issued takedown notices for other YouTube uploads.
A new DVD from Network was released on 4 September 2017, featuring the original music, uncut episodes, the original aspect ratio, and both episodic and compilation formats for the two stories.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Science fiction comedy / Crime comedy / Detective fiction / Police procedural / Parody
- Creator
- Terry Adlam
- Writer
- Tony Barwick
- Director
- Terry Adlam / Steve Begg
- Voices
- Shane Rimmer
- Music
- Christopher Burr
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Num Series
- 1
- Num Episodes
- 22 / (4 in alternative 24minute format)
- Producer
- Gerry Anderson / Christopher Burr
- Cinematography
- Steve Begg / Paddy Seale
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Dick Spanner, P.I. was produced by Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson and created and written by Terry Adlam, who had previously worked on effects for Anderson's Terrahawks. The series consisted of 21 six-minute episodes covering two story arcs of equal length: 'The Case of the Human Cannonball' and 'The Case of the Maltese Parrot'. It was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom as a segment of the Sunday morning show Network 7 on Channel 4, and later repeated on the same channel in a late night spot.
Reader's Guide
The series is significant as a lesser-known work by Gerry Anderson, showcasing his production style in a comedic, parody format. Its DVD releases have been controversial: the 2007 DVD replaced the original synthesiser theme music with new acoustic background music at Anderson's request, and altered sound effects, causing many audio gags to fail. The picture was cropped to 16:9 and degraded, and original end credits were replaced. A 2017 DVD by Network restored the original music, uncut episodes, and original aspect ratio. The series also inspired the Anderson-created Tennents Pilsner advertising campaign featuring the Lou Tennent character voiced by Vivian Stanshall. A 2007 hoax about Anderson searching for the original puppet was a publicity stunt for the DVD release.
Did You Know?
- A 2007 newspaper report that Gerry Anderson was searching for the original puppet was later revealed to be a publicity stunt.
- The series was the basis for the Tennents Pilsner advertising campaign using the Lou Tennent character.
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