Re-shuffle success

Sometimes the BBC are fools. When creators of the much lauded political comedy Yes, Prime Minister (and earlier Yes, Minister) Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay contacted them and said they would like to make a comeback following the more recent success of their stage play of the same name the BBC dithered. They asked for a pilot of the new series being proposed. Lynn and Jay pointed to their back catalogue, available on BBC DVD in its many stores and said that funnily enough they thought the corporation already had 38 pilots they could examine. It wanted another one. Protocol for a new commission. So the writing duo went to Gold and made a six-part series.

Back after 24 years, nothing has changed but everything has. The familiar austere theme tune introduces Gerald Scarfe’s caricatures of the main players, only this time around PM Jim Hacker is played by David Haig, Sir Humphrey Appleby by Henry Goodman, Chris Larkin appears as Sir Bernard Woolley – and there’s a new face amongst the pen scratched Houses of Parliament in the form of the PM’s personal advisor Claire Sutton, played by Zoe Telford. The issues of the day include economic recovery, joining the Euro, Britain’s ambitions within Europe and co-operation between European countries. All contemporary issues are addressed with the same buzzwords of yesterday and sharpness of writers that fully understand so much more the issues the papers are grappling to get to grips with – and the news journalists aren’t even tasked with making it funny too.

The dynamic between the main trio sparkles as the idealist Bernard and the wonderfully cynical and Machiavellian Humphrey debate behind closed doors and continue to hide the most important of documents in the bottom red box of Hacker’s reading, and in the very darkest recesses of that pile. Just like the original, this is a snapshot of a system that barely changes, simply the players and the songs they sing. And they are such brilliant tunes. With such barbs as: “Dealing with Europe isn’t about achieving success, it’s about concealing failure”, and describing the Prime Minister’s post as “the only top job that requires no experience”, Lynn and Jay have lost none of their cut and thrust.

The BBC mean well, investing in new comedies like Miranda (collecting plaudits left, right and centre) and Mrs Brown’s Boys (a big hit in the ratings), but they should be careful of throwing the baby out with the bath water. In searching for the zeitgeist of the moment there’s always a danger of losing tracks of the truly timeless classics – which Yes, Prime Minister really is. Sharply written and destined to be a box set on wish lists everywhere, as Gold is neither included amongst Freeview or Freesat channels, it’s good to hear the double speaking back again.
Yes, Prime Minister, Gold, Tuesday 15 January