The murky world of modern politics is a world away from the rural paradise that Graham Seed is used to.
Up until last January, Seed played Nigel Pargeter in the ever-popular BBC Radio 4 soap The Archers – until he took an unfortunate swan-dive off the roof of Lower Loxley as part of their 60th anniversary episode.
Now he is gearing up to play one of BBC sitcom’s most iconic parts – Prime Minister Jim Hacker – as original writers Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay bring their updated revisit to the seat of power back to Poole to launch another national tour.
Through the new theatre set-up, and by turning the clock forward more than 20 years from when Yes, Prime Minister was last broadcast, the writers are able to include the computer technology and 24-hour rolling news which was absent from the original series, as well as the rise of the soundbite.
One particular highlight of the play is private secretary Bernard Wooley’s production of a red folder, crammed full of soundbites, some of which are eerily familiar. Speaking when the tour first launched in 2010, Lynn believes many of the issues featured in the original television series have remained unchanged.
“We aren’t writing about politicians, we are writing about government,” he said.
“Nothing gets resolved in Parliament.
“It is just theatre. Everything that gets resolved is done in Whitehall. Parliament is just the play that gets put on at the end, after several months’ rehearsal.
“Nothing changes. We stopped writing Yes Minister when we felt we had set out all we had to say about being a cabinet minister.
“When we were offered the chance to write Yes, Prime Minister (following a Christmas special showing how Hacker was raised to high office) we felt we could get into home and foreign affairs and defence – things we hadn’t tackled before.”
• Yes, Prime Minister runs at the Lighthouse Poole from March 20-24.
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