'Doing Spitting Image voices changed my life - I am so grateful'

Jon Culshaw said it was inspirational to join Spitting Image

A mimic from satirical TV puppet show Spitting Image has told how the show changed his life.

Speaking on the show's 40th anniversary, actor and comedian Jon Culshaw said: "It was a game-changer for my career."

"It was my first job in television," said Culshaw, 55, who joined in 1994, but had always been a fan.

"It was the place I aspired to work, I wanted to join that team. When I had that chance I was so grateful."

The Lancashire-born and Wigan-educated star of BBC's Dead Ringers told Radio Manchester of the impact of joining a show which was appointment viewing after its debut in February 1984.

"It meant moving down to London, it meant working on TV alongside people like Kate Robbins, Alistair McGowan and John Thomson - it was so inspiring," he said.

The actor, from Ormskirk, added: "We used to record on Tuesday and Thursday - it was a wonderful way to get your news and sum up the week's news with wonderful satire, great satire.

Jon Culshaw said the puppets were always grotesque caricatures, such as this one of former Tory minister Norman Tebbit

"We were handed a script and we were assigned our voices - I can remember being asked to do Chris Eubank [the boxer] and as I began speaking like him I developed gesticulations as well," the star recalled.

Culshaw added his first sketch was Tory cabinet minister Michael Portillo, with broadcaster Terry Christian another character he was given soon after.

"You saw the puppet in your mind's eye - their caricatures were so extreme and so gargoyle-like - they really went to these great extremes and the puppet was the first comment on the person or situation in the news.

"Because the puppets were so huge and grotesque, the voices had to be as well."

No public figure was spared, from Queen Elizabeth to Pope John Paul II.

Culshaw played Prime Minister John Major, with one line, "more peas, Norma", spoken as the puppets Mr Major and his wife ate a meal, becoming a national catchphrase.

The show launched the careers of performers such as Steve Coogan and Harry Enfield along with writers such as Private Eye editor Ian Hislop.

Cabinet minister Michael Portillo was Culshaw's first voice for a sketch

Politicians were shown no mercy, particularly Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher along with the political alliance between the SDP and the Liberal Party.

Culshaw said: "David Steel [Liberal leader] wasn't too keen as he was always shown as a small puppet inside the pocket of David Owen [SDP leader]."

The performer said the show became a national institution which he was proud to be a part of.

"Because it went out on a Sunday night, I always saw it as a last bit of fun you wring out of the weekend, the last hurrah before school, college or work - everybody was talking about it the next day."