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This was one of those television programmes which in the UK was put on at such obscure and wildly varying times that it was very difficult to be a fan. If, however you were in front of the TV at some time between 5pm and 9pm on a Friday evening in the mid to late 80's and not watching BBC 1 or ITV you may have caught a glimpse of this fantastic, very funny and intentionally surreal, show.

It was essentially an animatronic programme based around a metal-headed private detective with an Inspector Gadget-esquire tendency to pull the least useful thing out of his pockets at the worst possible time (an anvil rather than his Zippo miniature parachute springs to mind). The plots were (intentionally and comically) thin, the narration a fantastic pastiche of all film noir and the episodes too short (about 5 mins each). The thing which made this show come alive was watching it on video, when you got to see it as a whole repeatedly it came into its own.

Most of the characters were not custom-made models but toys available from most high street shops at the time so it was not uncommon to see Hannibal of A-Team fame having a drink with that wind-up robot who seemed to move via the use of a metal skipping rope which most kids in '85 seemed to have. Of course, these were simply 'extras' and had no major part in the story but it was the sheer volume of these cameos that requires frequent viewing. Each time you see one of the items from your toy box performing a bizarre role in a pseudo-futuristic New Yorkish it raises a smile.

I agree with the previous comment that trying to get these on video these days is nigh on impossible and a reissue is well overdue. More people need to see this show to allow it the large cult status it deserves.

As a side note, it also inspired an equally-forgotten advertising campaign for Tennants Pilsner with a detective called "Lou Tennant".

The humour is spot on, its hard to imagine that the guy who made this is behind Thunderbirds! To be fair, ive only seen one episode in the series titled: The case of the Maltese Parrot

Its amazing. it parodies so many films, most notably The Maltese Falcon. Impossible to find on video.

I haven't seen this show for over 20 years, but i can remember in one episode, Dick was on the trail of some-one or other, and his investigations lead him to a shady looking Chinese laundry. He started to grill the workers for information but they didn't want to play. So a punch up started. Fists flew, wheels spun ( remember Dick Spanner is a robot) Our hero in a desperate move decides to head butt the laundry workers and then hightail it down an alley. And in the movie classic time saving method of the spinning newspaper headlines. It read "SPANNER NUTS WASHERS AND BOLTS". They just don't write stuff like that anymore. I'm sad to hear that its not available on video or DVD.

Edit 6 july 2008, found it on DVD, helped me pass the time in afghanistan.

I have not laughed this hard since I first saw Mr. Gumby in Monty Python's Flying Circus. I did not know that Gerry Anderson had ever worked in stop motion animation. Dick Spanner's design seems to have been the inspiration for the first television series of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy's Marvin the Paranoid Android. Visually there are so many quiet jokes going on at once that it is easy to miss them. The opening office scene was so arresting it did not occur to me that the film noir effect of bad guy slant was in fact the office building actually swaying from side to side while the 'camera' was simply remaining vertical. It puts a whole new light on the original Batman series of the 1960s. If you can find Dick Spanner, PI, just buy it. Get it, download it, however it's available. This is worth your time, regardless of whether you are a Gerry Anderson Supermarionation fan.

I agree with the previous comments; this was a fantastic show. That there are other people out there who remember it just as fondly must mean I was right (and that I hadn't imagined the whole thing).

I only ever saw the episodes about once each, most likely when they were first aired (late 80's?). Though this was over fifteen years ago, and the episodes were mere minutes in length, 'Dick Spanner' has stuck in my mind; it was funny and slightly surreal. Sadly I didn't have the foresight to commit any of them to VHS.

'Dick Spanner' is long overdue for a DVD release and it thoroughly deserves one.