"Mr Hoppy noooo..." How Monkey Dust still rings true

I'm sorry that there's been no updates recently, I've been away in the Land down under following the Lions tests.

Mr Hoppy noooo...

In 2003 BBC 3 was a little known satellite channel that was yet to fully appeal to the "yoof"of today with documentaries about the evils of smoking the wacky backy, in case you were thinking about it, Stacey Dooley sauntering around foreign countries with her big sexy eyes and annoying Northern twang and it was the job of ITV1 and E4 to produce sub-par British drama about inner city kids struggling to come to terms with who they were in entirely unconvincing narratives that were dredged from the nightmares of middle class parents who saw the decline of middle England every day in their morning Times. We were yet to have the POD on Snog Marry Avoid being the queen of the bitches on the Great British high street telling an assortment of escaped mental patients and students at clown college that their outfit really wasn't working and there weren't incessant re-runs of Family Guy for those of you who didn't heed Dooley's warnings and were sparking up late at night and are the only household in the world that don't have the DVD's or access to the internet.

However, the channel had one saving grace at the time; Monkey Dust. When it first came out I wasn't really old enough to appreciate it but I knew that it was dark and it had dirty stories about men meeting in public toilets and a psychopathic space hopper that went around killing people in the name of its owner so I was hooked. I haven't thought about it since Harry Thompson decided to take his own life ion 2005 (for those of you who watched Monkey Dust it shouldn't really come as a surprise that the man had problems!) and there were no more of the show made. However, after returning from Australia the other night and needing something to watch as I couldn't sleep from the jet lag I stumbled upon the DVD of the first series and immediately watched the whole thing and could easily do it again.

The Paedofinder General

Sure that I must have missed its re-run dates that had to have been happening over the last few years I had a look on the internet about the obvious plans there would be to have a repeat viewing in the near future on the channel. The content still rang true (a possible last damming inditement from Thompson  below us that we are yet to progress as a society) Tony Blair's smug face poking out of a TV in a shop window grinning like the only shit eater that is allowed cream with his turd pie, The Paedofinder General character being given power by the "...tabloid reading masses..." handing down a death sentence to a suspected pedophile and a marketing corporation named 'Labia' *giggle* improving the image of state services like the fire service and NHS with some expensive rebranding that has emphasis on profit over everything else. It seems that many agree with me, in 2003 The Observer listed Harry Thompson as one of the 50 funniest and most influential people in British comedy citing Monkey Dust as evidence calling it:

"... the most subversive show on television. The topical animated series is dark and unafraid to tackle taboo subjects such as paedophilla, taking us to Cruel Britannia, a creepy place where the public are hoodwinked by arrogant politicians and celebrities. This edgy show doesn't always work, but when it does there's nothing quite like it." 

I was dismayed to find out this wasn't the case and it might even be that the politically correct beeb might want to forget the whole thing. In a Guardian article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/tvandradioblog/2008/sep/05/howimournformonkeydust) a BBC spokesperson states that the reason that Monkey Dust hasn't been repeated is nothing to do with its controversial nature it has followed the pattern of "all" shows being shown on BBC 3 then heading to BBC 2 then onward to the shelves with all the other forgotten shows. Upon looking on the BBC Iplayer it appears that even there the more controversial seasons 2 and 3 of Monkey Dust is no longer allowed to languish in semi obscurity as the servers obviously have to make room for Two Pints of Lager And A Packet of Crisps or Eggheads. More inspirational British television that will change the world one viewer at a time.

The "cast" of 'Monkey Dust' assemble.

Being further inquisitive I had a look at some of the comments on the article to find this from DemetriusBreedLove:

"It's great to see such Monkey Dust getting some recognition. I remember seeing the first season and being absolutely hooked. The feeling was one of "I'm not alone, other people feel this way too!".

It's hard to pinpoint any one element that made Monkey Dust such a superb piece of television. The format was brilliant for a start: different animation styles all inhabitating one consistent world, with stories bleeding into one another across an episode. The sketches themselves were sheer brilliance too: acutely observed satire which frequently unafraid to toe the line of what is seen as good taste in pursuit of making a point. No matter how outrageous, farcical and shocking the program often was, however, it never lost that sense of being obviously, painfully British.

I'll always see it as a perfect illustration of Blair's Britain. The whole show drips with a national self-loathing and that recognisably British sense of disappointment. For me the most poignant sketch was always the introduction to the 'Clive' segments, where our bald-headed loser shuffles his way past council estates, homogenous high streets and distorted sound bites from Labour Party conferences. Absolutely genius television."

And in that I cannot think of a more compelling argument for them to bring it back one series after another over the next six months. All you have to do is replace Blair with Cameron and Labour with coalition and you have satire that keeps on giving.