Yes Prime Minister Revival Slammed By Critics

Gold’s revival of the classic comedy Yes, Prime Minister has not received a warm welcome from the critics.

The revival of the comedy is from the show’s original creators, Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, but that doesn’t mean the critics have been won over. The revival of Yes, Prime Minister is airing on digital channel Gold (formerly known as UK Gold) as reportedly the BBC decided to pass on the project.

The new version of Yes, Prime Minister stars David Haig and Henry Goodman and with the coalition government providing plenty of comedy material – and not to mention London mayor Boris Johnson – you would think the time was ripe for a revival of the comedy. However, it would seem as though some critics think the series was best left untouched.

The Radio Times published a detailed review but overall the television listings magazine conclusion was the revival was “not even close” to the “untouchable classic”. Meanwhile The Independent was quick to point out comedies such as The Thick Of It are doing the same job Yes, Prime Minister was all those years ago. Online entertainment news website Digital Spy was also critical of the remake writing “Sadly, what could have been a triumphant return for one of the best British sitcoms is undone by bad decisions and ruinous execution.”

The original Yes, Prime Minister was a sequel to Yes, Minister which ran from 1980 to 1984 with the sequel lasting from 1986 to 1988; in total 38 episodes were made. The comedy starred Paul Eddington, Nigel Hawthorne and Derek Fowlds. Actors such as John Savident, John Barron, Donald Pickering and Diana Hoddinott also appeared in the series.