JONATHAN Lynn’s “final chapter” in the story of Jim Hacker and Sir Humphrey Appleby, now simply titled I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, is back in Bath this week, as part of a summer national tour. Bringing the two old adversaries from the ever-popular TV sitcom up to date, the play opened in Cirencester in 2023.

The PM role, now Lord Hacker, Master of Hacker College, is taken by Simon Rouse, following in the footsteps of Griff Rhys Jones who recently played it on the London stage. Clive Francis, that master of the gleeful put-down, has continued in his exploration of Sir Humphrey since the opening of the play, and he’s even funnier now.

The story has not changed since 2023, but subtle tweaks, current updatings and a new set replete with a stair lift have sharpened and strengthened both the comedy and the pathos. This is a story of two widowed dinosaurs grasping on to memories of greatness at a time of political instability, familial estrangements and the need to tiptoe across the shards of ground glass that carpet almost every walk of life.

Reviewers have said that this a play for older audiences, who, instead of taking selfies and whooping, can pat themselves on the back for understanding the references. But it is much more than that. It is thought-provoking but it is also very funny – perhaps funnier than it was first time round.

The two television series, Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, had 37 episodes, running from 1980 to 1988. Co-written by Lynn and Antony Jay, they won multiple awards and are regularly included in the top ten favourite sitcoms of all time. In his entertaining programme note, Jonathan Lynn explains the way he and Jay wrote, and that the characters were not written for the “dream team” of Nigel Hawthorne, Paul Eddington and Derek Fowles.

The originals might have charted the cock-up element of government, but since 1988 the reality has more than mirrored the comedy classic, and keeping up to date with the revolving doors of Number 10 and the breakdown of so much of the society Jim Hacker and Sir Humphrey knew is an essential of the new play.

Once again, Clive Frances’s Sir Humphrey pixilates the audience with his long, complex tongue-twister speeches – they are simply breathtaking. However much we might gasp in horror at some of Lord Hacker’s calcified opinions, few can avoid feeling sympathy with his plight when High Court judge Sir David (William Chubb) comes to evict him from his promised home-for-life at the college.

There is already a chink of awareness creeping into his addled brain, thanks to the ministrations of his careworker Sophie (the excellent Princess Donnough). The end is still a bit strained, as not even Sir Humphrey’s wiles can stem the inevitable outcome. But then, he did say, “I’m sorry Prime Minister.”

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Photographs by Johan Persson