Casting Announced for YES, PRIME MINISTER at Trafalgar Studios; Robert Daws to Lead Cast

Robert Daws will play Prime Minister Jim Hacker alongside Michael Simkins as Cabinet Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby in the triumphant return of Yes, Prime Minister to the West End. Bringing politics back to Whitehall, the popular political comedy will begin an open-ended run at Trafalgar Studios – formerly the Whitehall Theatre, on 6 June 2012.

Robert Daws is best known for his role as Dr. Gordon Ormerod in eight series of ITV's The Royal. Among his many TV appearances he has starred as Sam Mountjoy in John Sullivan's Roger Roger, Tuppy Glossop in Jeeves and Wooster and Roger Dervish in the award-winning Outside Edge for which he was nominated for Best Actor in the British Comedy Awards. Most recently, Robert has appeared in Rock and Chips and New Tricks for the BBC, as well as Doc Martin on ITV. Robert's recent theatre work includes Dietrich in Michael Frayn's Alarms and Excursions, Dr John Watson in The Secret of Sherlock Holmes at the Duchess Theatre, and Geoffrey Hammond in Public Property at Trafalgar Studios. Robert's first crime novella 'The Rock' will be published in May.

An associate member of RADA, Michael Simkins has made film and television appearances as well as starring as Billy Flyn in Chicago from 2007. His career in the West End has seen him featuring in Mamma Mia, The King and I and Off West End in Pinter's The Old Masters (2004) and Terence Rattigan's Less than Kind (2011). On television, Simkins' has played a regular character in Foyle's War, as well as featuring in TV dramas such as A Touch of Frost, Judge John Deed and most recently, Above Suspicion: Silent Scream. His film credits include Wilde and V for Vendetta.

Emily Bruni will join the cast in the role of Claire Sutton and Jim Barclay will play Simon Chester. Reprising their roles from the 2012 UK tour will be Clive Hayward as Bernard Woolley, Sam Dastor as the Ambassador and Tony Boncza as Jeremy Burnham (Director General of BBC).

AnTony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, the original writers of the classic TV series Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister have reunited for this anniversary production which has received universal critical and public acclaim on tour and during both its initial season at Chichester Festival Theatre and two previous West End runs at the Gielgud and Apollo Theatres.

As British troops are now out of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan is winding down, the focus has shifted towards Prime Minister Jim Hacker's desperate fight to avoid Sarkozy's fate as he battles the Europeans over greater austerity, the collapsing euro, assassinations by drones and serious diplomatic misbehaviour influenced by Silvio Berlusconi and Dominique Strauss Kahn. Sir Humphrey is in favour of greater austerity for ordinary people but not for senior civil servants.

AnTony Jay has enjoyed a distinguished career as writer, broadcaster and producer. He was founder and editor of the BBC's legendary Tonight programme, is the editor of The Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations, and author of Elizabeth R and two acclaimed documentaries on the Royal Family. He is a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.

Jonathan Lynn's prolific career spans more than four decades as a director, screenwriter, producer and actor in films, television and theatre, as well as best-selling author and novelist. As well as co-writing, he will be directing this stage version of Yes, Prime Minister. His film credits as director include The Whole Nine Yards, The Fighting Temptations, The Distinguished Gentleman, My Cousin Vinny and Nuns on the Run (which he also wrote).

Jay and Lynn's BAFTA award-winning political comedy Yes, Minister first aired on BBC2 in 1980 and ran until 1984. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister ran from 1986 until 1988.

Lynn and Jay also wrote three novels, The Complete Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, Volumes 1 and 2, which cumulatively sold more than a million copies in hardback, were on the British top-ten bestseller list for three years and have been translated into numerous languages.

The West End transfer of the Chichester Festival Theatre production of Yes, Prime Minister is produced by Mark Goucher (The Vagina Monologues, The Complete Works of Shakespeare), Wimpole Theatre (Whipping It Up, A Christmas Carol) and Matthew Byam Shaw (Frost Nixon, Flare Path, Boeing, Boeing) for Playful Productions.

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