Comedy show I’m Sorry, Prime Minister will visit Richmond Theatre as part of its 2026 UK tour, following its West End run at the Apollo Theatre in May next year.
From the BAFTA Award-winning co-creator of Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, Jonathan Lynn, comes the long-awaited final chapter of British political satire — and it is as cutting and catastrophically funny as ever.
Jim Hacker is back — older, but perhaps not wiser, and still utterly baffled by the real world. Hoping for a quiet retirement from Government as the master of Hacker College, Oxford, Jim instead finds himself facing the ultimate modern crisis: cancelled by the college committee. Enter Sir Humphrey Appleby (played by the acclaimed Clive Francis), who has lost none of his love for bureaucracy, Latin phrases, and well-timed obstruction.
Can Humphrey and Jim outmanoeuvre the hostile students, the Fellows, and reality itself? Or is it finally time to say, “I’m Sorry, Prime Minister…”? Brimming with razor-sharp wit, nostalgic brilliance, and more double-speak than a press briefing, this is political comedy at its most timeless — and timely.
Yes Minister is a British television comedy series written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran for 16 episodes from 1986 to 1988. A hugely successful stage play entitled Yes, Prime Minister was premiered at Chichester Festival Theatre in May 2010. The production transferred to the West End, where it played at three different theatres and also toured the UK twice to great acclaim.
I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, the final chapter of Yes, Minister, is written by Jonathan Lynn and sees ex-Prime Minister Jim Hacker and Sir Humphry Appleby in their old age, facing up to life in their retirement. The production is co-directed by Michael Gyngell. Casting is to be announced.
The full creative team includes director Lynn, co-dorector Gyngell, set & costume designer Lee Newby, lighting designer Mark Henderson, sound designer Ben and Max Ringham, with casting by Marc Frankum.
I’m Sorry, Prime Minister first opened at The Barn Theatre in September 2023, followed by visits to Theatre Royal Bath and Cambridge Arts Theatre. The West End transfer, a first for The Barn Theatre, runs at the Apollo Theatre until May 9, 2026.
The tour will then open in Cambridge on May 19, visiting Richmond Theatre from May 26-30, 2026, among other venues.
Set principally in the private office of a British cabinet minister in the fictional Department of Administrative Affairs in Whitehall, Yes Minister follows the ministerial career of Jim Hacker, played by Paul Eddington. His various struggles to formulate and enact policy or effect departmental changes are opposed by the British Civil Service, in particular his Permanent Secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby, played by Nigel Hawthorne. The series received several BAFTAs and in 2004 was voted sixth in the Britain’s Best Sitcom poll. It was the favourite television programme for fans across the political spectrum, most notably of the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher.