Yes, Prime Minister (2013 TV series)

Did You Know?

• The revived series was set in Chequers in 2013, with Hacker leading a coalition government.
• Critical reaction for the series was largely negative.
• Jay and Lynn first offered the show to the BBC, which asked for a pilot episode; the writers thought this unnecessary and the series was produced by the BBC for Gold.

Characters

Jim Hacker, played by David Haig, is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, having previously been Minister for the fictional Department of Administrative Affairs. He is prone to embarrassing blunders and frequent press criticism, but is also politically savvy and increasingly aware of his Cabinet Secretary's hidden agenda. Haig's portrayal was more manic than Paul Eddington's had been. Sir Humphrey Appleby, played by Henry Goodman, was appointed Cabinet Secretary during a leadership crisis and helped elevate Hacker to Prime Minister.

He uses obfuscation, jargon, and strategic appointments to manipulate opponents. Goodman's Sir Humphrey was more aloof and supercilious than Hawthorne's had been. Bernard Woolley, played by Chris Larkin, is Hacker's Principal Private Secretary, often torn between his minister and Sir Humphrey. He can appear childlike, making animal noises and gestures, and tends to side with Hacker on new policies until Sir Humphrey points out disadvantages. He confides in Claire Sutton that his job is impossible if Hacker and Humphrey want opposite things.

Background

Jay and Lynn collaborated on a stage play that ran from 13 May to 5 June 2010 at Chichester Festival Theatre, then revived at the Gielgud Theatre in London's West End from 17 September 2010 until 15 January 2011. The principal cast was David Haig as Jim Hacker, Henry Goodman as Sir Humphrey, Jonathan Slinger as Bernard Woolley, and Emily Joyce as Claire Sutton. Set contemporaneously at Chequers, the play featured BlackBerrys and a topical reference to a coalition agreement drafted by Sir Humphrey.

The plot was more provocative and risqué than earlier episodes, including a debate about procuring a twelve-year-old as a sexual partner for a visiting dignitary, and included stronger expletives. There was also a higher element of traditional farce. The play began a UK tour in February 2011 with Simon Williams as Sir Humphrey, Richard McCabe as Jim Hacker, Chris Larkin as Bernard, and Charlotte Lucas as Claire Sutton. It returned to the West End in July 2011 for ten weeks at the Apollo Theatre, with Williams and McCabe.

Further rewrites took place before the 2012 UK tour and Trafalgar Studios run, replacing references from underage to multiple partner sex. Reflecting in 2011, Jonathan Lynn noted that since the stage show opened, only a couple of jokes about hacking and an extra joke about the Greeks had been added, and that satirical comedy does not change.