Looks like UKTV are getting in to this commissioning new series of old shows lark, first Red Dwarf now Yes Prime Minister.
GOLD commission new Yes Prime Minister
- Thread starter Bob The Skutter
- Start date
The timing's good, but I'll have to reserve judgement till we see what the casting's like (since Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne are both dead)
The fact that it's been written for the stage by the original team of Jay and Lynn means it has to be worth giving a try. Has anyone here seen the stage play?
I think Hacker was played by two different actors during the stage run but there's no word on whether either will be involved in this (unlikely). I think it would probably be a good idea for whoever lands the lead roles to avoid doing an impression of either of the original actors.
FWIW, David Haig is currently getting great reviews for playing onstage the other great role of Nigel Hawthorne's career, George III in The Madness of... A possible Sir Humphrey?
I think Hacker was played by two different actors during the stage run but there's no word on whether either will be involved in this (unlikely). I think it would probably be a good idea for whoever lands the lead roles to avoid doing an impression of either of the original actors.
FWIW, David Haig is currently getting great reviews for playing onstage the other great role of Nigel Hawthorne's career, George III in The Madness of... A possible Sir Humphrey?
Wow, this is big news. Yes Minister's an all time favourite. I agree casting's crucial. I'm not sure about reusing the name Jim Hacker, to be honest. Obviously he's meant to be a similar character to the original, but between having the same writers and show name, I don't think it needs it. Still, I'm quite excited.
Please no.
Makes sense, but with him being Steve Fleming I'd have thought that'd rule him out. The Thick of It's ostensibly too similar to have a link like that.
That's a good point, I hadn't thought of that.
I actually could see Laurie as bumbling Hacker and Fry as smarmy oleaginous Sir Humphrey, the more I think of it. I have to admit, I'm a little tired of Fry's shtick lately but we do know they have chemistry together.
I saw the yes minster play either last year or year before, and it was not bad, so has long as they get a good set of writers on board, I will be tuning in.
Well there was some shorts done by the BBC before the election, I suppose they might give a an idea...
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeprsb46AfI[/yt]
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19GcqcMnPaE[/yt]
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU0J1BDDMww[/yt]
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeprsb46AfI[/yt]
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19GcqcMnPaE[/yt]
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU0J1BDDMww[/yt]
@ SerialThreadKiller I believe that this is basically a filmed version of the play; the writers of the original show are on board.
My father saw it; he thought it was OK but that it felt a different product to the Yes, (Prime) Minister of the 80s. Not surprising, I suppose. He didn't think it was as clever as the 80s version but that it still had a few good jokes in it. He felt that Haig was a pretty decent sub for Eddington but wasn't impressed by the actor playing Sir Humphrey.
Politics is inherently an exceptionally silly process, and government even more so, so every government over the decades deserves a good satire tailored to its particular quirks. If I had GOLD, I'd probably give a new Yes, Prime Minister a watch just to see if could match the brilliant wordplay and intelligent jokes of the original. But I don't have GOLD, so...
... in any case, given the sheer idiocy of real-life politics this week has been way beyond satire. I mean, leaders from both major parties competing with each other over photo-ops eating disgusting reheated pasties, and George Galloway getting elected in the meantime in a by-election... you simply couldn't make up this stuff if you tried.
The funny thing is one of the story line from Yes Prime Minister about shennaignans in the corporate sector very much parallels what we sort over 20 years later with the lkes of Goldman Sachs and Lehman Bros & the GFC.
Indeed, watching the series again, it is a tribute to the cleverness and incite of the writers how much of the show still stands as fine satire for today. Great news, but Nigel Hawthorn's Sir Humphrey will be sorely missed.
Good stuff. Any idea how it might get distributed in the U.S...? It looks as if GOLD is half-owned by BBC International. I'm hoping it might end up on BBCAmerica.
Actually, Geoffrey Palmer would make a decent Sir Humphrey.
^ Too old now, though? Unless you had a retired Sir Humphrey advising the current lot.
I'd actually see GP as more of a Jim Hacker than a Sir Humphrey, personally.
I'd actually see GP as more of a Jim Hacker than a Sir Humphrey, personally.
I agree he's too old for Sir Humphrey, but he'd be a good Sir Arnold Robinson (Humphrey's retired predecessor as Cabinet Secretary).
Geoffrey Palmer has nearly always played world weary, put-upon characters, he would definately be better in a Jim Hacker type roll.