Sinden was regularly spoofed on "Spitting Image", the 1980s British satirical television programme in which famous people were lampooned by caricatured latex puppets. Much of the "Spitting Image" humour was centred around Sinden being a ″ham″ actor, forever overacting and behaving in an overly theatrical way. For example, when his puppet, sitting in a restaurant, summons a waiter and asks "Do you serve a ham salad?" the waiter replies "Yes, we serve salad to anyone". Another running theme was Sinden's inability to understand why he had never received a Knighthood from the Queen and his frustration at not being able to be addressed as ″Sir Donald Sinden″. From 2001 to 2007 he played the part of senior judge (and father-in-law of the title character), Sir Joseph Channing in "Judge John Deed" and was the voice of "Totally Viral". In 2008, he played Colonel Henry Hammond in the "Midsomer Murders" episode "Shot at Dawn." He also played Sir Henry Clithering, in Miss Marple, "The Blue Geranium," Episode 91, Agatha Christie, on BBC (Acorn TV).