Jonathan Lynn

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About Jonathan Lynn

Jonathan Lynn has directed 10 feature films including the cult classic Clue (he also wrote the screenplay), Nuns on the Run (also written by Mr Lynn), My Cousin Vinny, The Distinguished Gentleman, Sgt. Bilko, Greedy, Trial And Error, The Whole Nine Yards, The Fighting Temptations and most recently, Wild Target. His first produced screenplay was The Internecine Project (1974).

For television, Jonathan's writing credits include dozens of episodes of various comedy series but he is best known for the phenomenally successful, multi-award-winning BBC series Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, co-written and created with Antony Jay.

Jonathan authored the bestselling books The Complete Yes, Minister and The Complete Yes, Prime Minister, which cumulatively sold more than a million copies in hardback and have been translated into numerous languages and are still in print nearly 30 years later; Mayday (1993, recently re-published in a 25th Anniversary edition with a new Preface by the author) and Comedy Rules (Faber and Faber), which also received rave reviews.

Jonathan made his first professional appearance on Broadway in the revue Cambridge Circus, and his television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, live with 70 million viewers, both at the age of 21. Jonathan's West End theater debut, aged 23, was as an actor in the role of Motel the Tailor in the original London cast of Fiddler on the Roof. His subsequent London directing credits include: The Glass Menagerie; Songbook (Best Musical, Olivier Award and Evening Standard Award); Anna Christie (RSC, Stratford and the Donmar); Joe Orton's Loot; Pass The Butler by Eric Idle, Shaw's Arms And The Man and The Gingerbread Man (Old Vic). At the National Theatre, he directed A Little Hotel on the Side by Georges Feydeau and Three Men on A Horse (Olivier Award, Best Comedy). As Artistic Director of the Cambridge Theatre Company, he directed 20 productions, producing 20 others, 9 of which transferred to the West End. He has written two successful plays, Yes Prime Minister (with Antony Jay) and The Patriotic Traitor.

His numerous awards include the BAFTA Writers Award, Writers Guild (twice), Broadcasting Press Guild (twice), NAACP Image Award, Environmental Media Award, Ace Award -Best Comedy Series on US cable, and a Special award from the Campaign For Freedom of Information.

Lynn received an MA in Law from Cambridge University and now lives in New York, describing himself as a recovering lawyer.

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Yes, Minister: The diaries of a cabinet minister

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Books By Jonathan Lynn

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The Complete Yes Prime Minister Mar 26, 2020

by Jonathan Lynn , Anthony Jay

( 89 )

$9.99

'Scalpel-sharp in observation, deceptively simple
in construction... at its frequent best
Yes Prime Minister exhibits the classical perfection of a
Mozart sonata' - Richard Last in The Times

'Its closely observed portrayal of what goes on in the
corridors of power has given me hours of pure joy'
- Rt Hon. Margaret Thatcher MP

'Yes Prime Minister... is not only a continuing marvel of
editing by Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay but also a
collector's must' - John Coldstream in the Daily Telegraph

'Yes Prime Minister is a comedy in a class of its own'
- Celia Brayfield in The Times

Other Formats: Paperback

Samaritans May 1, 2017

by Jonathan Lynn

( 87 )

$3.99

‘a coruscating, wrathful, passionate, hilarious and astonishingly timely novel’ – Stephen Fry

Samaritans Medical Center, Washington DC, can't seem to look after itself and its increasingly desperate doctors, let alone its patients. The chairman of the board, billionaire arms dealer and part-time philanthropist, David Soper, decides that it's time to kill or cure. Business School alumnus and Las Vegas hotel genius Max Green is the perfect man for the job. A man of vision. A man with a mission. A man who knows that wealth-care is smarter than healthcare. He's going to make Samaritans great again.

Andrew Sharp, star cardio-thoracic surgeon, turns his back on the NHS and buys in to this brave new world of Porsches and payola. But when his American Dream turns into a living nightmare, Andrew discovers that even the new-found love of his assistant, Cathy, may not be enough to save him…

Samaritans is the new novel from the co-creator and writer of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.

Praise for Samaritans

'A book Orwell would have approved of.' The Sunday Times

‘It’s wonderful! I was hooked, mouth open, heart pounding. The catastrophic state of medical care is his story but Samaritans can be read too as a wider allegory, a discourse on a politics of greed, dis-entitlement, deregulation and social brutality that has run quite mad.’ Stephen Fry

‘It is with the highest confidence that I recommend this book, with particularity, to those members of Congress who remain committed to making access to life saving care far too difficult for far too many people. It is my fondest hope that they might laugh their way to the education they so sorely require.’ Rick Ungar, Forbes

‘Jonathan Lynn tackles the US healthcare system in satirical splendour. I laughed out loud. It is both hilarious and scary at the same time! Nobody does it better.’ Barbara Broccoli

'Samaritans is smart, dark, and very, very funny. Stay healthy, America!' Michael McKean, Better Call Saul, Spinal Tap

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Paperback , MP3 CD

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

Comedy Rules: From the Cambridge Footlights to Yes, Prime Minister Aug 18, 2011

by Jonathan Lynn

( 27 )

$8.99

Jonathan Lynn's credits include creating and co-writing the long-running comedy series Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, as well as hit films Clue, My Cousin Vinny, Nuns on the Run and The Whole Nine Yards. With experience as a comedy actor, writer and director, here Jonathan Lynn shares valuable and hilarious lessons in all aspects of creating great comedy, all illustrated with brilliantly insightful and revealing anecdotes about his work and the legedary actors, writers and comedians he's worked alongside.

Other Formats: Hardcover , Paperback

Mayday Jan 25, 2018

by Jonathan Lynn

( 13 )

$3.99

"Very funny - will keep you turning the pages right to the surprising end." - Eric Idle

A 25th anniversary release of Jonathan Lynn's classic Mayday, in celebration of the release of his latest novel Samaritans.

“Joanna is in desperate need of $10,000, now or soon. No holds barred."

Ernest Mayday, a best-selling British author living in a Hollywood Hills mansion with a beautiful masseuse, has everything that money can buy - except an idea for his next book.

Then he replies to the personal ad placed by the mysterious, tantalizing Joanna. She needs money, fast, and will do anything to get it. Compromising a juror on a major fraud trial is just the beginning of an increasingly labyrinthine plot - a plot that Ernest realizes will make the perfect novel.

But is Ernest observer or voyeur? When does fact end and fiction begin? What is the truth about the Reverend Abel Pile and the sinister Angel of Darkness? Suddenly Ernest finds he is no longer calling the shots - and the bullets are real!

Praise for Mayday

"At last, a thought-filled, mystery-laced, laugh-packed, cynical, satirical knockout novel that takes on L.A.'s cluttered, complex culture, the gratuitous embroidery of American speech, the seismic idiocy of the movie business, feel-good religion, feel-bad psychoanalysis, academian nuts. single sex and group as well. Move over, Raymond Chandler and Nathaniel West, Jonathan Lynn has hit L.A." - Larry Gelbart

"Jonathan Lynn, with his marvelous sense of the comic and his artist's eye for detail has, like Thackeray, spun an unforgettable portrait of the exotic denizens of L.A. - engrossing, scathingly funny, original." - Oliver Sacks

"It is several satirical novels for the price of one, all jostling and milling and spraying their targets with unrestrained vigour." - Times Literary Supplement

"The funniest novel I have read in ages" - John Mortimer

" Lynn, author of Yes, Minister and creator and co-writer of the BBC series based on that and other books, has a cinematic writing style that lends itself well to the story and substance of the book. A multi-layered comic romp." - Kirkus Review

Jonathan Lynn is the multi-award winning author of The Complete Yes Minister and The Complete Yes, Prime Minister, which were drawn from the phenomenally successful BBC series which he created and wrote with Antony Jay, and which sold more than a million copies in hardback. They have been translated into numerous languages and are still in print nearly 30 years later. Other writing: his new novel Samaritans, the play The Patriotic Traitor and a memoir Comedy Rules. His films as director include Clue, Nuns on the Run (both of which he wrote), My Cousin Vinny, The Distinguished Gentleman and The Whole Nine Yards. Numerous writing awards include a BAFTA and a Special Award from the Campaign For Freedom of Information.

Other Formats: Hardcover , Paperback , Mass Market Paperback

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

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Praise for Samaritans

"Very funny - will keep you turning the pages right to the surprising end." - Eric Idle

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