Yes, Prime Minister - New Series

[kjgood]

Thought the original show was one of the cleverest ever. Made a point of watching the re make last night and was very disappointed, TBH I wont be making the effort again. Nigel Hawthorn in the original series really mastered the role and was credible as a senior civil servant of bygone age, last night Sir Humphrey was none of these.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Thought the original show was one of the cleverest ever. Made a point of watching the re make last night and was very disappointed, TBH I wont be making the effort again. Nigel Hawthorn in the original series really mastered the role and was credible as a senior civil servant of bygone age, last night Sir Humphrey was none of these.

I watched a few minutes before giving up, but the two things that struck me were

a) The casting and acting of Nigel Hawthorne and Paul Eddington was superb.
b) Everybodies' humour has moved on and evolved, whereas there writing was still stuck in the same 80s vein.

 

[Hamilton]

Watched it and was disappointed. Not a disaster, but the expectations are always going to be so high.

Henry Goodman (who I have lots of time for) played it too panto. I thought David Haig as Jim Hacker was ok, but Humphrey and Bernard were like Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The great thing about Nigel Hawthorne was that he never tried to play it for laughs, whereas last night they did just that.

Also, I think the writers have maybe gotten a little rusty in the intervening years. In some cases they were trying to be up with the times - in others clearly not.

 

[simmo]

It seems not many liked it at all.

BBC News - Yes, Prime Minister panned by UK critics

 

[Pavilionaire]

The question I would like to ask the writers is: "Have you watched The Thick Of It?" If they have then I wouldn't have even attempted this new series.

For me there are two sitcoms double acts that stand out - Delboy / Rodney and Hacker / Sir Humphrey. Part of the appeal of watching the original YPM was that you knew you were watching two absolutely top class actors going toe to toe.

 

[Freddie Goodwin.]

I haven't watched it but would be dissapointed if they just tried to re-hash the characters of years ago. The actors were outstanding and the characters had chemistry.

But it's a different world now. Polititians are no longer amatures and have an army of political advisers. The Civil Service no longer has Grandees, like Sir Humphey, pulling the strings.

There must still be scope for a good political comedy, in a more serious vein than TTOI, so let's have it updated with new characters that reflect the dirty world of politics today.