Dick Spanner, P.I.
| Dick Spanner, P.I. | |
|---|---|
Promotional image featuring the title character, Dick Spanner | |
| Genre | Science fiction comedy Crime comedy Detective fiction Police procedural Parody |
| Created by | Terry Adlam |
| Written by | Tony Barwick |
| Directed by | Terry Adlam Steve Begg |
| Voices of | Shane Rimmer |
| Music by | Christopher Burr |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 22 (4 in alternative 24‑minute format) |
| Production | |
| Producers | Gerry Anderson Christopher Burr |
| Cinematography | Steve Begg Paddy Seale |
| Animator | Mark Woollard |
| Editor | Jack Gardner |
| Running time | 6 minutes |
| Production company | The Anderson Burr Partnership |
| Original release | |
| Network | Channel 4 |
| Release | 3 May – 27 September 1987 |
Dick Spanner, P.I. is a 1987 British stop-motion animated comedy series which parodied Chandleresque detective shows. The title character and 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.
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 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. It was also the basis for the Anderson-created Tennents Pilsner advertising campaign using the Lou Tennent character (voiced by Vivian Stanshall).