| Dick Spanner, P.I. | |
|---|---|
Promotional image featuring the title character, Dick Spanner |
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| Genre | Comedy Police Procedural Science fiction |
| Format | Stop motion serial |
| Created by | Terry Adlam |
| Written by | Terry Adlam |
| Directed by | Terry Adlam Steven Begg |
| Voices of | Shane Rimmer |
| Opening theme | Russell Shaw |
| Composer(s) | Christopher Burr |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 22 (4 in alternative 24-minute format) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Gerry Anderson Christopher Burr |
| Cinematography | Steven Begg Bob Bell |
| Camera setup | Single |
| Running time | 6 mins approx. per episode |
| Production company(s) | Virgin |
| Distributor | Channel 4 Television Corporation |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Channel 4 |
| Audio format | Mono |
| Original run | 1986 – 1987 |
Dick Spanner, P.I. was a 1986 British stop-motion animated comedy series which parodied Chandleresque detective shows.[1] The titular character and main protagonist was Dick Spanner, voiced by Shane Rimmer, a robotic private detective who works cases in a futuristic urban setting. The show made frequent use of puns and visual gags.[1]
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 UK as a segment of the Sunday morning show Network 7 on Channel 4, and was later repeated on the same channel in a late night spot.
Produced by Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson, the series was created and written by Terry Adlam, who had previously worked on effects for Anderson's Terrahawks.[2] It was also the basis for the Anderson-created Tennants Pilsner advertising campaign using the Lou Tennant character (voiced by Vivian Stanshall).
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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.
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. 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 October 2007, it was reported by several newspapers (including The Independent) 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.[3] 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.[4]
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