On the eve of the British Grand Prix we can exclusively reveal that the much-missed Yes, Prime Minister (the first programme to win the Bafta Best Comedy Series three years in succession), is returning to our screens. And rather than the tedium of everyday life, it is to have F1 as its theme.
The late Nigel Hawthorne (Sir Humphrey Appleby) and Paul Eddington (Jim Hacker) are sadly no longer with us and there can be no continuity of casting. Possible alternatives are said to include the current FIA president Max Mosley who, fittingly enough, has been nominated for the role of PM, assisted by FIA cohort Richard Woods in the role of Sir Humphrey Appleby, the senior civil servant.
A much heavier-hitting role is being prepared for the original Bernard (Derek Fowlds).
Much of the programme's humour was based around the hapless Hacker being intellectually inferior to the scheming Sir Humphrey. We hear that Mosley is currently struggling with the dumbing down process but, keen on acting if ever the lure of politics waned, he is giving it a go.