Satirical show Spitting Image lampoons Ardern, New Zealand's latest lockdown

The British TV show Spitting Image has once again turned its satirical eye on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, this time in a Sound of Music parody of our latest lockdown.  

The popular comedy sketch show uses latex puppets to satirise politicians and celebrities.   

In a sketch that aired on Saturday night (UK time), Ardern announces at one of her familiar stand-ups New Zealand has had a single case of the deadly coronavirus so "nanny has no choice but to impose a full lockdown".

A journalist then pipes up saying New Zealand can't keep doing this forever before Ardern answers: "You must learn to be strong my child." 

The Prime Minister is then transformed into the nun Maria, the central figure and a role made famous by Julie Andrews in the classic film. 

Ardern's character, in a mountain setting, starts to sing a version of the film's 'Climb Every Mountain'. 

"Close every border, lock every door, shut every airport, a guard on every floor. 

"No more interaction, stay off the street, hide inside your basement staring at your feet.

"New Zealand is going to stay COVID free, and all because of wonderful me," Ardern sings.    

It is not the first time Spitting Image has satirised Ardern, last year they depicted her on a number of occasions as Mary Poppins. 

In a sketch in October the Ardern version of Mary Poppins flew down from the sky with an umbrella and burst into a version of 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' called 'Super-Kiwi-socialistic-empire-of-Jacinda'.

Then in November she was once again depicted as Mary Poppins, this time getting high just before the country voted on legalising cannabis. 

In a stand-up last year similar to the one parodied in the Sound of Music sketch Ardern said she had watched one of the clips and said she had stopped her daughter Neve from seeing all of it. 

"I'm glad I whipped Neve away from watching it near the end there," Ardern said, referring to the moment the puppet Arden chops the head off a coughing man in order to report "no new coronavirus cases". 

Spitting Image first aired in the UK in the 1980s and was known for its vicious satire on politicians such as Margeret Thatcher and Ronald Regan.

It also regularly parodied the Royal Family. The sketch show, which uses impressionists, gave breaks to comedians such as Steve Coogan and Harry Enfield.