The Career Of The Right Honourable Jim Hacker MP, 1980 – 2026?
He’s one of our best loved comedy characters and possibly Britain’s longest serving Prime Minister, here we take a look back at the remarkable career of Jim Hacker.
It was 45 years ago we first met the right honourable Jim Hacker MP. With Good Life now finished each of the four lead characters would go on to get their own series. Paul Eddington’s was Yes Minister.
Just a humble MP
Yes Minister first appeared on our TV screens in February 1980 and introduced us to the character Jim Hacker.
In Yes Minister we meet Hacker for the first time, a mere MP, in an unspecified party who have just won the general election, threating over whether or not he will be given a place in the cabinet
Offered the post of Minister for Administrative Affairs we also meet his Principal Private Secretary Bernard Woolley who often finds himself caught between the ever enthusiastic Hacker and Permanent Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby who spends his time trying to thwart Hacker’s attempts to enact his party’s policy of party’s policies of reducing bureaucracy.
Over the next three series we are treated to an hilarious battle between politicians and the civil service as proposals backed by Hacker are frustrated by Appleby, who uses a range of clever stratagems to defeat ministerial proposals while seeming to support them. There are episodes that revolve around proposals promoted by Appleby but rejected by Hacker, which Appleby attempts by all means necessary to persuade Hacker to accept. They do occasionally join forces in order to achieve a common goal, such as preventing the closure of their department or dealing with a diplomatic incident.
Then in 1984 in a special Christmas episode Jim gets the big job
We’d have to wait 2 years, 1986, to see how he gets on when a new series Yes Prime Minister began.
Life at the top!
The battle between Hacker and Sir Humphrey continues with Bernard still stuck in the middle.
Finally in 1988 after 2 series the show came to an end
But that was not the end Hacker was still PM.
Still at it!
In 2010 writers Anthony Jay and Jonathan Lynn got together again to produce a stage play and yes Hacker was still PM, twenty two years later. Yes Prime Minister ran for three weeks at the Chichester Festival Theatre. Proving the character still had it the play was revived in 2011 at the Gielgud Theatre in London’s West End for a three month run.
Clearly after all this time we’d lost Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne although Derek Fowlds was still with us. This time around David Haig took on the role of Hacker. There was also a new team member in the form of Hacker’s special policy advisor Claire Sutton
Back on TV! And Still Prime Minister!
The stage play had proved successful so, in 2013 Jim Hacker returned to TV screens. In keeping with the times and based on the 2010 stage play Hacker now heads a coalition government.
The setting was chequers and the plot very in keeping with the times as Hacker dealt with Scottish Independence and the economic downturn.
After six episodes the show didn’t return and you might think that after 53 years in Government that was Hacker’s last stand but no there’s more…
In Retirement!
It’s 2023 and ten years after the GOLD TV series ended Hacker was back on stage. By this time Jonathan Lynn had lost his writing partner Antony Jay, however he delivers perhaps the final instalment of the much loved character.
I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, I Can’t Quite Remember focuses on a retired Hacker and Sir Humphrey. Christopher Bianchi takes the Hacker role this time.
Jim Hacker is back — older, but perhaps not wiser, and still utterly baffled by the real world. Hoping for a quiet retirement at the tranquil Hacker College, Oxford, Jim instead finds himself facing the ultimate modern crisis: cancelled by the college committee.
Enter the delightfully devious Sir Humphrey Appleby, who has lost none of his love for bureaucracy, Latin phrases, and well-timed obstruction.
Can Humphrey out manoeuvre the meddling students, the Fellowship, and reality itself?
Or is it finally time to say, “I’m Sorry, Prime Minister…”?
Like it’s previous stage production it proved to be so successful that it’s been revived .
This time Griff Rhys Jones will play Hacker as the show takes to the stage for a 12 week run in 2026.
Credits
Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister BBC
Jim hacker – Paul Eddington
Sir Humphrey Appleby – Sir Nigel Hawthorne
Bernard Wooley – Derek fowlds
Stage Play, 2010
Jim Hacker – David Haig
Sir Humphrey Appleby – Henry Goodman
Bernard Wooley – Jonathan Slinger
Claire Sutton – Emily Joyce
GOLD TV Series, 2013
Jim Hacker – David Haig
Sir Humphrey Appleby – Henry Goodman
Bernard Wooley – Chris Larkin
Claire Sutton – Zoe Telford
I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, I Can’t Quite Remember, 2023
Jim Hacker – Christopher Bianchi
Sir Humphrey Appleby – Clive Francis
I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, I Can’t Quite Remember, 2026
Jim Hacker – Griff Rhys Jones
Sir Humphrey Appleby – Clive Francis
Writing Credits
BBC TV series, 2010 Stage production, 2013 TV series: Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay
2023 and 2026 Stage production: Jonathan Lynn
Tickets for the 2026 production are currently on sale from the Apollo Theatre website and other ticket sellers