Yes, Prime Minister To Return To TV After 24 Years
Thursday, 29 March 2012 - Reported by John Bowman
The hit political sitcom Yes, Prime Minister is to be revived for a new series - 24 years after its last TV episode.
The classic comedy channel Gold has commissioned six new episodes from the BBC - the satirical show's original home. It will be written by the TV series' original authors, Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, who will be basing it on their theatrical production of two years ago.
Yes, Prime Minister, which ran for 16 episodes over two series between 1986 and 1988, was a sequel to the equally popular Yes, Minister and starred Paul Eddington as PM Jim Hacker, Nigel Hawthorne as his Permanent Secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby, and Derek Fowlds - who was formerly married to Adrienne Corri - as his Principal Private Secretary, Bernard Woolley. Both shows' opening title sequences were drawn by the artist Gerald Scarfe, who is married to Jane Asher.
The new episodes will be set in the present day and will see Hacker at the head of a coalition government, facing, says Gold:
Mark Freeland, the head of BBC In-House Comedy, said: "The much-extended tour of Yes, Prime Minister in theatres up and down the country proved that this iconic comedy has lost none of its satirical bite."
Casting is yet to be announced. Eddington died in 1995 and Hawthorne in 2001.
It is Gold's first commission since it was announced last month that it would inject "double-digit millions" into creating original content over the next two years. As part of the overall investment by UKTV, sister channel Dave recently finished recording a new six-episode series of Red Dwarf, to be shown later this year.
The classic comedy channel Gold has commissioned six new episodes from the BBC - the satirical show's original home. It will be written by the TV series' original authors, Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, who will be basing it on their theatrical production of two years ago.
Yes, Prime Minister, which ran for 16 episodes over two series between 1986 and 1988, was a sequel to the equally popular Yes, Minister and starred Paul Eddington as PM Jim Hacker, Nigel Hawthorne as his Permanent Secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby, and Derek Fowlds - who was formerly married to Adrienne Corri - as his Principal Private Secretary, Bernard Woolley. Both shows' opening title sequences were drawn by the artist Gerald Scarfe, who is married to Jane Asher.
The new episodes will be set in the present day and will see Hacker at the head of a coalition government, facing, says Gold:
the greatest economic crisis in a generation, with European economies going down the toilet, a tempting energy deal from an unusual source, a leadership crisis with his coalition partners, a Scottish independence referendum and the greatest moral dilemma he has ever faced.
Jane Rogerson, of Gold's parent company UKTV, said: "The political landscape in Britain today is the perfect setting for Yes, Prime Minister to return." Mark Freeland, the head of BBC In-House Comedy, said: "The much-extended tour of Yes, Prime Minister in theatres up and down the country proved that this iconic comedy has lost none of its satirical bite."
Casting is yet to be announced. Eddington died in 1995 and Hawthorne in 2001.
It is Gold's first commission since it was announced last month that it would inject "double-digit millions" into creating original content over the next two years. As part of the overall investment by UKTV, sister channel Dave recently finished recording a new six-episode series of Red Dwarf, to be shown later this year.
(newslink: BBC News)
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