Yes Prime Minister made its television debut on the same day that Michael Heseltine quit the cabinet. In a celebration of thirty years of one of Britain’s best loved sitcoms, BBC Radio 4 Extra explores the relationship between the real world of Whitehall and this timeless satire.

In new and exclusive interviews, Sir Antony Jay, a former political speech writer, and Jonathan Lynn, now a Hollywood film director, who between them wrote every word, share the secrets of Yes Prime Minister’s success. Shaun Ley hears about the sources who blabbed, how New Labour ministers were influenced by Jim Hacker’s serial defeats at the hands of Sir Humphrey, and visits the very heart of the British government, the Cabinet Room, to find out how true to life some of the plotlines really were.

A three hour special programme, featuring four classic TV episodes of Yes Prime Minister.

Contributors include: Sir Anthony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, Sir Richard Mottram, Edwina Currie, Lord Bernard Donoughue, Lord Peter Hennessey, Graham McCann and Tony Blair.

Producer: Adam Bowen for BBC News – Westminster.

Source: BBC Radio 4 Extra – http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06vc0qn

Below is the scene from Party Games, where Sir Arnold Robinson (played by the great John Nettleton) discussing his future appointments and ruminating his retiring as Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service to hid Sir Humphrey Appleby (played by Nigel Hawthorne), this clip is from BBC Yes Minister (Series 3)