The return of Yes, Prime Minister

As Yes, Prime Minister returns to our TV screens, Ben Lawrence talks to writer Jonathan Lynn about whether the Eighties classic can appeal to a modern audience.

David Haig: Cameron may squirm at my PM

The star of Yes, Prime Minister fears David Cameron will squirm when he sees the rebooted series.

How does the new Yes, Prime Minister measure up?

Your full guide to the cast and format of Gold's political comedy revival. Can it be a worthy successor to the 1980s classic?

It's 24 years since Yes, Prime Minister was last on our screens but, along with Fawlty Towers, it's probably the most fondly remembered of all British sitcoms. Doubtless fans will come to this updating by original writers Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay carrying big bags of goodwill. But political satire has changed in those intervening years, everyone's a critic and politicians are routinely savaged on social networking sites. And we've had The Thick of It, which attacked government and opposition with equal comic ferocity.

So all of this makes Yes, Prime Minister seem the most gentle and polite of comedies. There are no hard edges, just knowing winks and gags about Greek bail-outs. Its good manners feel dated, but luckily it is saved by the peerless David Haig and Henry Goodman as hapless PM Jim Hacker and suave cabinet secretary Sir Humphrey.

Jonathan Lynn on Yes, Prime Minister's rise

"No drama has ever changed the world. The most that art can do is make people look at something in a new way, with fresh eyes. We were writing comedy, and we simply found all the hypocrisy and humbug richly entertaining."

Twenty-four years on and following an acclaimed stage revival, Yes Prime Minister returns to our screens with the same on-stage pairing heading the cast: David Haig (as hapless PM Jim 'I lost my hair in the service of my country' Hacker) and Henry Goodman (playing Hacker's inscrutable, conspiratorial advisor, Sir Humphrey). In these post-The Thick of It times, its fundamental generosity of spirit and good nature inevitably feels a little dated, in spite of knowing references to Euro crises and coalition politics as the pair negotiate over funding a new pipeline for a post-Soviet state. Yet Hacker and Humphrey are durable archetypes and Haig and Goodman perfect for them, seeing the script through its flabbier passages with the assurance of actors entirely at ease in their roles.

Yes, Prime Minister, Gold, review

In the realms of televisual political satire, The Thick of It undeniably feels meaner, more modern, more "now". But, although Yes, Prime Minister shows its age in its polite language, unchanged format, and laughter track, it still has teeth.

Yes, Prime Minister review

Sadly, what could have been a triumphant return for one of the best British sitcoms is undone by bad decisions and ruinous execution.

Jim Hacker is back at number ten

In turns, David Haig describes his character Jim Hacker in Yes, Prime Minister as 'likeable', 'warm', 'politically shrewd'and 'bungling with a certain ineptness'.

Much like PM Jim Hacker, Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn's update of Yes, Prime Minister seems on a hiding to nothing. With the sublime original series and profane progeny The Thick Of It looming large, one might wonder what YPM2.0 can bring to the cabinet table. As it goes, just enough to stand out: it's a trad-sitcom delving into a modern political climate (this first episode revolves around a Eurozone summit). David Haig portrays a less likable Hacker and the performances are too stagey (understandable, given the reboot's theatrical beginnings), but it's different enough by current standards to stick with.