What Happened to ‘Monkey Dust’?
One evening years ago, I was idly flipping through channels when I stumbled across a programme called Monkey Dust on a new channel called BBC Three. Something about the show immediately captured my teenage imagination; I was plunged into a world of wonderfully dark, satirical depravity where nothing was taboo. Paedophilia, murder, racism and bestiality were all topics poked fun at. Set against a backdrop of a cynically dystopian vision of 21st century Britain, Monkey Dust’s cast of characters included a wrongly-convicted murderer, Geoff the first-time cottager, a group of incompetent terrorists and a suicidal divorced father. The humour was the most provocative I had experienced outside of South Park but it was unmistakably British in its warped outlook. ‘The Paedo-Finder General’ executes innocent suspects, “By the powers invested in me by tabloid-reading imbeciles, I pronounce you guilty of paedophilia!” Yuppies serve a tramp’s severed head at a dinner party. Guy, who used to do voice-overs for the BBC, struggles to be taken seriously as a classically- trained actor, before going home to argue and make love to his wife in his unchanging newsreader monotone. All this set to a moody soundtrack including Goldfrapp, Boards of Canada and a theme tune by Eels.
I immediately wanted to share my discovery with friends, and many of the characters became frequently quoted at high school lunch breaks. Monkey Dust is the kind of programme that sticks in the mind. In the years since it concluded I’ve often found instances of its notoriety; people will recall many of its twisted characters and sketches even if they don’t know the show by name. Although timeless in many respects, as a work of satire the programme can be viewed as a cultural artifact of its time. Indeed, elements of Monkey Dust can be regarded as a more contemporary equivalent of Spitting Image, with a tendency to unpick the social and political climate. The way the show paints its dystopian picture of its particular era makes the unlikely prospect of its resurrection seem even more attractive. I’d love to see the Monkey Dust team given the opportunity to remark on today’s cultural landscape.
Monkey Dust’s episode structure provided a platform for many different British animators and studios, yet the sketches were blended so seamlessly it never had the feel of a show reel. The show was animated mainly in Flash and contains a wide variety of animation styles and character designs. The sketches’ colour palette often matches the dark subject matter. Sadly, it only ran for three series from 2003-2005. I was hugely disappointed when I discovered only the first series is available to purchase on DVD. I naturally assumed that it may have been too challenging in its subject matter and was subsequently shelved by the BBC. But it seems the fate of Monkey Dust was akin to its dark subject matter. After the programmes co-creator Harry Thompson died of lung cancer in 2005, no further series were made. I consider it a great shame that this essential nugget of bleak, postmodern British wit came to such an abrupt end.
I asked Dennis Sisterson, a Monkey Dust designer and animator, a few questions about working on the project:
Would you please briefly explain your role on Monkey Dust?
I designed and animated the sequences called ‘Gay Dream Man’, where an old man is having psychedelic homoerotic fantasies. The production company basically sent me the scripts, then I’d turn them into storyboards and once they were ok with that I’d go off and do the animation.
How did Monkey Dust differ from other projects you have worked on?
At this point in time, my TV work had been purely animation, but for Monkey Dust I got to do everything for the whole sequence other than script and soundtrack – I’d do the storyboard and the design as well as the animation. I enjoy the variety of creative challenges this brings and it was one of the things that made Monkey Dust a special thing to work on – as a freelance TV animator you’re usually just animating, and if you get to direct you’ll normally be delegating the other creative work. Also Monkey Dust in general and my sketches in particular were a lot more ‘adult’ than most things I’ve worked on – I can’t really put it on my online showreel where kids might see it!
Do you have any sketches or characters that stand out to you as favourites?
Mr Hoppy sticks in my mind. “I’m the meatsafe murderer only I never done it!”
Monkey Dust has developed a large cult following, are you aware of this? Do you ever see an opportunity on the horizon for a new series to be commissioned or to work on a similar project?
It’s gratifying that I still hear about it quite often – it’s nice to have been involved in something that’s lasted. You never quite know at the time what’s going to be remembered and what will be lost without trace.
I think the genius of Monkey Dust was that it used London’s pool of animation talent very well – farming out sequences to the studios and artists best suited to do them (or in my case, least likely to turn them down! It was a precarious time to be a freelancer and I was working in a freezing cold warehouse in Milton Keynes when the job came up.)
After so many years, and after Monkey Dust was so successful, I’m surprised no-one else has followed the same method – there are so many possibilities for sketch shows that could be made this way. I think we’re going through a time though when networks are very cautious and conservative about what they commission. I hope that will change soon.
Items mentioned in this article:
![Monkey Dust - Series 1 [DVD]](https://www.skwigly.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Monkey-Dust-DVD-cover.jpg)