YES Prime Minister, the show that famously provided comic relief for Margaret Thatcher during her Downing Street years, made a welcome return at Poole’s Lighthouse Theatre last night.

This much-loved political satire, which leaves many modern-day pretenders severely wanting, proved as sharp in front of a theatre audience as it ever was in front of the camera.

Following two sell-out West End seasons, the play has been rolled out to the provinces – and the results are as blissfully funny now as they were during Yes Prime Minister’s 1980s heyday.

The original writers of the classic BBC TV series, Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, reunited for this anniversary production, which is updated to include a coalition government, the Afghanistan war, a Twitter tsar and a tricky moral question facing the protagonists.

If you’ve ever wondered how Prime Minister Jim Hacker would have faired in today’s political climate, then this is the show for you?

The PM, played wonderfully by Graham Seed – of The Archers fame – is accompanied by his elitist cabinet secretary and master manipulator Sir Humphrey Appleby, played by Michael Simkins.

And what the two, indeed the rest of cast, do really well, is quickly make the roles their own. By the end of the opening act the audience is no doubt it is Jim Hacker and Sir Humphrey up there, but can they pull Europe back from the brink of financial meltdown?

With Sir Humphrey at the reins, was it ever in any doubt?