Dick Spanner

Dick Spanner is a robotic private detective working in the Big Pear, a city where a figure of speech can become a physical hazard. His cases borrow the atmosphere of hard-boiled detective fiction, then fill it with visual jokes, bad puns and situations that refuse to obey ordinary logic.

Shane Rimmer’s narration keeps Dick apparently composed while the world around him becomes increasingly absurd. The contrast is the heart of the series: a detective determined to finish the job, however little sense the job makes.

The character began with Terry Adlam, who had worked on the effects of Terrahawks. A drawing of a robot detective caught Gerry Anderson’s attention during a meeting, leading to Adlam developing the idea with writer Tony Barwick.

A first short was filmed at Bray in 1985. Channel 4 subsequently commissioned 22 six-minute instalments, which first appeared in 1987 within its Sunday magazine programme Network 7. The production used stop-motion animation throughout, giving the small team freedom to make a joke out of almost anything in the frame.

Explore the making of Dick Spanner.

The original television run tells two adventures: The Case of the Human Cannonball and The Case of the Maltese Parrot. Each unfolds across eleven short instalments, with a cliffhanger sending Dick into the next complication.

Later television presentations combined the instalments into four longer episodes. Those compilations are alternative edits of the same two cases, rather than four additional stories. Knowing the distinction makes the various releases easier to navigate.

Rimmer was already familiar to Anderson audiences as Scott Tracy in Thunderbirds. Here, his deadpan delivery carries much of the narrative, allowing dialogue, narration and visual action to work against one another for comic effect.

Dick’s world includes the glamorous Mae East, suspicious Lieutenant O’Grady and villains whose names are often the first warning that a joke is approaching. The humour includes occasional adult innuendo; the original programme was made for Channel 4’s young-adult audience.

Start with The Case of the Human Cannonball in its original short-episode form if you want to experience the recurring cliffhangers. The Case of the Maltese Parrot continues the parody through the world of film-making.

The 2017 release brought together the original episodes and compilation versions, alongside additional material. Later animatic work reunited Adlam’s detective with Rimmer’s voice for The Case of the Screaming Dame. Read about Shane Rimmer’s return to Dick Spanner.

For another Anderson production built with stop-motion characters, explore Lavender Castle. Its fantasy world has a very different mood, but shares an interest in bringing expressive physical figures to life frame by frame.

Anderson Burr / Channel 4. First broadcast in 1987. 22 instalments of approximately six minutes, forming two stories; also edited into four longer compilations.

Created by Terry Adlam. Written by Tony Barwick and Terry Adlam.

Producers: Gerry Anderson & Christopher Burr
Associate Producer: Bob Bell
Director: Steve Begg & Terry Adlam
Creative Supervision: Gerry Anderson
Photography: Steve Begg & Paddy Seale
Music Composed & Performed by Christopher Burr

Voice Cast: Shane Rimmer as Dick Spanner