Review: I'm Sorry Prime Minister brings sitcom revival to Milton Keynes Theatre

Bumbling politician Jim Hacker and master of manipulation civil servant Sir Humphrey Appleby were of course the main protagonists in Yes Minister / Yes Prime Minister as their power struggles played out in the corridors of Westminster. The programme was notably the favourite of then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

Now, from the BAFTA award-winning co-creator of original, Jonathan Lynn, comes the long-awaited final chapter.

Jim Hacker is hoping for a quiet retirement from Government as the master of Hacker College, Oxford. But instead he finds himself facing a crisis as the college committee want him booted out from the post, and the plush home that comes with it, for airing views caught on social media and deemed inappropriate in modern day Britain.

Struggling with arthritis, back pain, heart issues, memory loss and in need of a stair lift these days, Jim (Robert Kitson) reluctantly accepts he needs a care worker. Enter Sophie (Princess Donnough) who as well as tending to his needs (if he says ‘please’!) also acts as a sounding board and challenges his sometimes outdated opinions.

The first port of call for help to get Jim out of his predicament is his former secretary Bernard Woolley – but unfortunately Jim fails to recall he attended his funeral three years prior!

Next in line is Sir Humphrey (Clive Francis), who has lost none of his love for bureaucracy, Latin phrases, well-timed obstruction and producing plenty of verbal diarhoea.

How much use he can be is initially debatable given he’s in a home for the elderly and deranged – mainly thanks to his son and daughter-in-law.

It turns out he’s still quite apt at plotting and conspiring so could be quite useful, especially as he wants Jim to use his influence to find him work in return.

All the traits from the 80s sit-com are there to give us that dose of nostalgia we all yearned when we walked into the theatre.

There was Jim’s indecisiveness… “I’m pro-Brexit, at least I think I am.”

Then moments of long winded and colvaluted speech from Sir Humphrey, prompting the delighted audience to cheer that Clive had pulled it off.

And at times the script delivered some lines every bit as funny as those in the original show – reminiscing about a speech being a national disaster was out of the top drawer.

But I couldn’t help but feel the energy produced by the political sparring of 80s actors Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne was never going be matched in the transition to a rather slow-paced story centred on retirement. And so it proved.

Another issue for me was the play relied heavily on intricate dialogue but unfortunately, at times, conversations were hard to decipher from my position in the auditorium, which meant some of the jokes lost their impact.

Overall though, it was intriguing to see the characters brought to life again after all these years. It was a nice to touch that the play, like each episode of the TV series, ended with Sir Humphrey’s Yes Minister/Prime Minister sign-off. Plus there was also a fitting tribute to the original show and actors as the evening reached its conclusion.

I'm Sorry Prime Minister runs at Milton Keynes Theatre until Saturday, July 4. Tickets are available now at ATGTICKETS.COM/MiltonKeynes