Jonathan Lynn – författare

Yes, Minister, and the equally successful sequel Yes, Prime Minister captured a niche in the political consciousness of the nation. First broadcast thirty years ago, the original writers of these classic series have reunited to create a bang up to date Yes, Prime Minister for the stage. Spin, blackberries, sexed-up dossiers, sleaze, global warming and a country on the brink of financial meltdown form the backdrop to mayhem at Chequers as the Foreign Minister of Kumranistan makes a seriously compromising offer of salvation. Prime Minister Jim Hacker remains in power with his coterie of close advisors including Cabinet Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby and Principal Private Secretary Bernard Woolley, but for how long? They govern a whole new world. Yes, Prime Minister premiered in the Festival Theatre, Chichester, in May 2010.

150 essential rules from the award-winning co-writer of Yes Minster and Yes Prime Minister, Hollywood movie director, producer, novelist and actor. A host of hugely enjoyable examples drawn from Lynn's varied and successful career bring these rules to life, covering everything from inspiration, collaboration and the Seven Deadly Sins to the perils of unmotivated comic business, pitching screenplays in LA, sexist jokes and lunch with the Inland Revenue. Along the way, we meet a cast of luminaries including Leonard Rossiter, John Landis, Nigel Hawthorne, Paul Eddington, Jack Rosenthal and Jonathan's long-time co-writer, Antony Jay. As we travel with him from his first digs in Coventry to the sushi bars of Hollywood, Comedy Rules offers an enlightening journey into the world of comedy and an indispensible companion to the elusive art of its creation.

I have a voice in the University, I'm in the House of Lords, I have this lovely permanent home. Everything's hunky-dory. I just need a bit of help.Jim Hacker is back - older, but perhaps not wiser, utterly bewildered by the world today. Hoping for a quiet retirement as Master of Hacker College, Oxford, instead Jim finds himself facing a very modern crisis: cancelled by the college committee.Enter the delightfully devious Sir Humphrey Appleby, who has lost none of his love for Latin phrases andobstructive bureaucracy. But when faced with meddling students, faculty Fellows and the reality of old age itself, it might at last be time for him to say, 'I'm Sorry, Prime Minister . . . 'I'm Sorry, Prime Minister is the final chapter of the BAFTA-winning political comedy first seen in the 1980stelevision series Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.The play was first performed at the Barn Theatre, Cirencester, in September 2023, and transferred to the Apollo Theatre, London, in February 2026.'Enjoyable and touching . . . honours a magnificent comic project.' Guardian'Deliciously rueful.' Daily Telegraph

'We have had diaries from other Cabinet Ministers, but none I think which have been quite so illuminating... It is a fascinating diary... It is shorter than Barbara Castle's... and although it is rather more accurate than Dick Crossman's, itis distinctly funnier' - Lord Allen of Abbeydale (formerlyPermanent Secretary at the Home Office) in The Times'It has an entertainment and educational value which isunique. It is uproariously funny and passes the acid test ofbecoming more amusing at every subsequent reading... I willgo so far as to claim that in the characters of Jim Hacker andSir Humphrey Appleby, Messrs Lynn and Jay have createdsomething as immortal as P.G. Wodehouse's Bertie Woosterand Jeeves' - Brian Walden in The Standard

Phillipe Pétain, a tough, uncompromising soldier who rose through the ranks to save France in 1916 Battle of Verdun. Charles de Gaulle, the aristocratic, academic and equally uncompromising soldier who led France to freedom when, decades later, Pétain became a Nazi collaborator. Two giants of the twentieth century who loved each other like father and son until they found themselves on opposing sides in World War II. In 1945 de Gaulle had his oldest friend tried for treason. Their complex relationship - noble, comic and absurd - changed history.Jonathan Lynn's The Patriotic Traitor tells the extraordinary story of these great men as Pétain awaits his verdict.The Patriotic Traitor premiered at the Park Theatre, London, in February 2016.