A guide to No, Prime Minister, the 2026 BBC Radio 4 radio comedy drama. Comedy drama based on the true story of Margaret Thatcher performing
Comedy drama based on the true story of Margaret Thatcher performing a sketch with the cast of Yes Minister. Also features Fenella Woolgar, Miles Jupp, Richard Attlee, James Joyce, Karen Ascoe and more.
Due to be broadcast on Tuesday 18th August on Radio 4 at 2:15pm
A comedy drama, based on real events.
It's 1984, and 'moral campaigner' Mary Whitehouse, as President of the National Viewers & Listeners Association, honours the creators of BBC TV's popular situation comedy, Yes Minister, with an award "for exemplifying wholesome television".
Yes Minister actors, Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne are decidedly unenthusiastic at the prospect of receiving an award from Mrs. Whitehouse.
But there is worse to come: Mary Whitehouse manages to persuade the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher to present the award - as it's her favourite TV programme.
When Eddington hears this news, his fury knows no bounds. The last thing he wants to do is to appear on stage with Mrs Thatcher.
There is, however, still more bad news: Thatcher's Press Secretary, Bernard Ingham, suggests to the PM that, as part of the ceremony, she could appear in a comedy sketch with the cast of Yes Minister.
She thinks this is a marvellous idea - it will show the public her "softer, more human side" - and decides that she and her advisers will write the sketch themselves. Rehearsals begin at No 10 in earnest, with civil servants standing in for Eddington & Hawthorne - who, until the night before the awards ceremony, know nothing of this plan.
Our play follows the progress of these rehearsals, intercut with scenes showing the full horror dawning on left-leaning Eddington, as he learns, bit by bit, what is in store for him at the ceremony.
The sketch is finally performed, and broadcast live on BBC Radio 4's World At One.
Jim: Are you telling me the Foreign Office is keeping something from me?
Bernard: Yes!
Jim: But what?
Bernard: I don’t know! They’re keeping it from me too.
Jim: How do you know?
Bernard: I don’t know!
Jim: You just said that the Foreign Office was keeping something from me! How do you know if you don’t know?
Bernard: I don’t know specifically what, Prime Minister.
Sir Humphrey Appleby would be Lawful Neutral, I think. His rationale for doing things seems to be whether it maintains the status quo and avoiding rocking the boat. He's not being cruel or selfish in doing so, but he's not motivated by the greater good either. He's cynical and jaded but still carries an odd sense of duty and professionalism. He's mos maiorum, served cold.
Jim Hacker MP would be Neutral Good, I'd say. He does think about the greater good, and he is not radical in his approach. Perhaps by the end of any given episode he tends a little way towards Chaotic Neutral as he realises the system has, more often than not, tied his hands.
Mr Bernard Wooley is a tough one, but I'll say True Neutral. He seems to be content to just float on, doing his work, not pushing back one way or another. He's more apathetic to Appleby's cynic.
Radio 4 will air No, Prime Minister, a comedy drama about a famous sitcom sketch starring Margaret Thatcher.
Story of Yes Minister sketch starring PM Thatcher adapted for radio
30th July 2026, by Ian Wolf
No, Prime Minister tells the true story of a sketch Margaret Thatcher performed with the cast of Yes Minister
Thatcher presented Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne with an award in 1984
The play stars Fenella Woolgar as Thatcher and Miles Jupp as Eddington
BBC Radio 4 is to air comedy drama No, Prime Minister, about a Yes Minister sketch starring then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Known to be her favourite television series, in 1984 Thatcher was invited to present an award to the show's stars, Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne, on behalf of clean-up TV campaigner Mary Whitehouse's National Viewers & Listeners Association.
Not only were the two main stars of the show reluctant to receive the award, but Thatcher's Press Secretary, Bernard Ingham, wrote a sketch for Thatcher to perform with Eddington and Hawthorne during the award ceremony. While Thatcher liked that idea, believing it would show to the public her, "softer, more human side", Eddington and Hawthorne had no idea they were due to perform this sketch until the night before the ceremony.
The BBC says: "Our play follows the progress of these rehearsals, intercut with scenes showing the full horror dawning on left-leaning Eddington, as he learns, bit by bit, what is in store for him at the ceremony."
No, Prime Minister stars Fenella Woolgar as Thatcher, Miles Jupp as Eddington, and Richard Attlee as Hawthorne. It also stars James Joyce as Yes Minister co-star Derek Fowlds, Karen Ascoe as Whitehouse, and Geoff Leesley as Ingham. Zeb Soanes plays Thatcher's Principal Private Secretary Sir Robin Butler, Nigel Anthony as her speechwriter Ronald Millar, Jane Arden as Eddington's wife Patricia, and Julian Parkin as a taxi driver.
No, Prime Minister will air at 2:15pm on 18th August on BBC Radio 4.
S03E09 An Apple for the Archer The Adventures of Robin Hood Season 3 Episode 9
Apple-grower Timothy Cox (Kenneth Cope) must win the hand of Mary Quatermaine (Ann Firbank), against her Uncle's wishes, by beating Pierre of Bordeaux (Paul Eddington) in an archery contest. Hopeless with the longbow, Robin lends a hand by taking Timothy to a Bowyer to learn the art of bowmaking. The final round of the contest is shooting an apple in the air.
