'Last chapter' as Jim Hacker and Humphrey Appleby face the 'woke era'

Yes, Prime Minister is returning to the stage to reveal the ‘final chapter’ in the characters' lives.

The political comedy’s co-creator Jonathan Lynn has created a new play, I'm Sorry, Prime Minister, I Can't Quite Remember  which catches up with former premier Jim Hacker and his Cabinet Secretary  Humphrey Appleby in their old age.

And it will see the characters coping with what’s described as ‘the woke era’ with Hacker calling in Humphrey from his retirement home to save him from cancellation.

The script has Hacker losing his job as a master of an Oxford college after one too many gaffes, including declaring himself in favour of keeping the Cecil Rhodes statue at Oriel College and saying the British did more good than harm in India. He is now looked after by care worker Sofie, a thirtysomething black woman.

Lynn, 80. said: I wanted to write the final chapter about Jim Hacker and Sir Humphrey Appleby, now in their 80s, discarded, ignored, watching today’s world with utter bewilderment.

‘An elegiac play about old age and loss – loss of power, loss of influence, loss of friends, loss of family. The only play I’ve ever seen on this theme is King Lear. This will be funnier.’

In addition, he told the Daily Telegraph: ’It seemed an interesting subject. Powerful people in their old age, who have been put in the dustbin of history but are still around.’

The Yes Minister characters were previously revived for the stage in 2010 with David Haig and Henry Goodman in the lead roles. The show led to a six-episode TV series on Gold.

 I'm Sorry, Prime Minister, I Can't Quite Remember will  run at the Barn Theatre in Cirencester from September 25 to November 4, although the cast have not yet been named.

Lynn, who created Yes Minister with the Antony Jay in 1980 , told the Telegraph original stars Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne ‘were superb but that doesn't mean the characters can't be played another way’. He will also be directed the new show.

Jay, a former Conservative speech-writer, died in 2016 at the age of 86.

Published: 19 Apr 2023