Griff Rhys Jones on free speech and his alternative bucket list
The actor and comedian on his new comedy, rejecting a traditional bucket list and the secret to his 40-year marriage.
The actor and comedian on his new comedy, rejecting a traditional bucket list and the secret to his 40-year marriage.
I'm 72! How did that happen? When my wife Jo told me, I said, "Are those figures correct?" Getting older always seems to surprise us. Some people panic, then we get the bucket list: "I must get invited to an orgy or take up golf."
I’ve devised a 'f***-it list'. All those things I’m really not worried about. If they happen, great; if not, so what!
I’ve lived a wonderful life. And now? Yes, I enjoy working, but the greatest moments are with my family. Just last week, reading with my grandchildren, seeing the joy on their faces as they mastered a new word. What can top that?
I’m about to start the West End run of I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. It’s an update of Yes, Minister, and an ageing Jim Hacker – that’s me – has found himself cancelled.
Now, for any of us who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s – especially comedians – the fight for free speech was a vital part of daily life. But here we are, in an age when you’re not allowed to say things just in case you "cause offence".
Jim Hacker struggles with that, and so do a lot of us. Will the play upset some people? Definitely! Not the Nine O’Clock News upset lots of people every week. Good comedy often does.
Jo and I have four grandchildren [aged from two to seven], and we’ve been together for more than 40 years. Is there a secret? In Jo’s case, I’d imagine that it’s not expecting too much from a relationship. Set the bar quite low! Being married to me can’t be easy.
I hear friends say to Jo, "I do admire you for putting up with him." Thankfully, my wife has a remarkable amount of tolerance and I adore everything about her.
I'm still president of The Victorian Society. The society and I have our critics: "You conservationists, stopping all the developments." In fact, 97% of planning applications go through with no problem.
But if, on the odd occasion, the consensus is that we shouldn’t build a 50-storey block of offices over that railway station, then why not leave that railway station alone?
Here’s a bit of philosophy. In life, you're allowed a certain amount of alcohol. If, like me, you use up that amount in your 20s and 30s, then you have to stop drinking. So, I did.
It's coming up to 44 years ago now. I still get offered alcohol at parties: "Go on, you know you want to!" No, it’s you who wants to because you’re an alcoholic.
It took a long time, but I eventually realised that I could be just as irritating and just as boring without a drink in my hand.
Mel Smith liked a drink. But I and his closest friends knew that unless Mel believed his indulgences were part of the problem, we weren’t going to change him.
From the BAFTA Award-winning co-creator of Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, Jonathan Lynn, comes the long-awaited final chapter of British political satire — and it is as cunning, cutting, and catastrophically funny as ever. Apollo Theatre, Friday 30 January - Saturday 9 May, 2026.
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