A few years ago, everyone in Westminster was obsessed by The West Wing, but a decade of chaos and populism has rendered Aaron Sorkin’s vision of idealists devoted to the public good obsolete. The madness of the last government left even The Thick of It a tame parody of reality. But listening to everyone from Dominic Cummings to Morgan McSweeney bemoan the state of the civil service shows that Yes Minister/Prime Minister, with their portrayal of hapless ministers in the spell of apex mandarin Sir Humphrey Appleby, may be (somewhat surprisingly) the most enduring of television’s political classics.

Sir Humphrey and his victim, Jim Hacker, were the creation of writing duo Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Hacker and Humphrey returned in a successful stage revival in 2010, but a lot has happened since then. Jaydied in 2016, but Lynn has penned one last hurrah for his heroes – I’m Sorry, Prime Minister – which runs until 9 May at the Apollo Theatre in London. Griff Rhys Jones is playing Hacker, while Sir Humphrey is Clive Francis, who was the gloriously oily foreign office official, Luke, in the TV series.

Sir Humphrey must get to grips with the certainties of ideologically blinkered youth

Both sparring partners are now in their eighties and nearing the end. Hacker is the master of Hacker College, Oxford, but has got himself into hot water with some -questionable comments. Humphrey returns to defend the former prime minister, setting up a delicious encounter between old world oratory and woke world ideology – as well as some timely reflections on what remains constant and what has changed in our -politics.

‘It’s about these two old men who are completely bewildered by the world as it is now, Jim more than Humphrey,’ says Lynn. ‘How they are struggling to come to terms with old age and loss – loss of power, loss of friends, loss of family. It’s the same theme as King Lear. But funnier.’ Lynn is 82 and admits there is an element of autobiography. ‘I’m bewildered by everything that goes on politically at the moment.’

The play wrestles with the reality that much political debate is no longer about power but social and cultural views – critical race theory, trans rights and social media virtue-signalling (on left and right) which passes for public debate these days. Hacker is, in effect, being cancelled. ‘He’s worried because he made a politically incorrect remark, actually a few of them, and the college wants him out,’ Lynn explains. ‘He can’t see anything wrong with anything he said and puts up a vigorous defence. He calls Humphrey out of desperation because he can’t think of anybody else who........

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