‘Spitting Image’ is back with a Noughties twist

Spitting Image, with its caricatures of a blundering Ronald Reagan, salivating Roy Hattersley and macho Mrs Thatcher and her cabinet of vegetables, was one of the big hits of British television in the 1980s. Now, 12 years after the satirical series ended, a 21st-century version is about to surface - digitally animated and said to be even more merciless. The new line-up of caricatures will include celebrities from sport and the arts – including Fabio Capello, Amy Winehouse and the Beckhams - as well as politicians.

Headcases, the ITV show which is to be screened on Sunday nights starting April 6, is being launched by Spitting Image’s senior writer Henry Naylor and the impressionist Rory Bremner. The cast list is limited to 64. Alistair Darling, Dmitry Medvedev and Prince William are in; those who failed the producers' "public recognition test" include Jack Straw, Ed Balls and Vincent Cable. The writers' were keen on Boris Johnson, but the London mayoral candidate is banned until May under electoral broadcasting rules.

Gordon Brown is said to be portrayed as a dour Dickensian penny-pincher who in the first episode is tricked by Tony Blair into throwing a celebrity Downing Street party. David Cameron has a sinister sneer while Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's schtick is a bust that expands and contracts in line with the terrorist threat to Britain.