Jonathan Lynn

Jonathan Lynn
Jonathan Lynn
Born	Jonathan Adam Lynn; 3 April 1943 (age 82); Bath, Somerset, England
Education	Pembroke College, Cambridge
Occupations	Film director; writer; actor;
Years active	1964–present
Notable work	Clue ; Nuns on the Run ; My Cousin Vinny ; The Whole Nine Yards

Last updated September 02, 2025

Jonathan Adam Lynn (born 3 April 1943) is an English film director, screenwriter, and actor. He directed the comedy films Clue , Nuns on the Run , My Cousin Vinny , and The Whole Nine Yards . He also co-created and co-wrote the political-satirical television series Yes Minister .

Early life

Lynn was born in Bath, Somerset, the son of physician Robin Lynn and sculptor Ruth Helen (née Eban), whose first cousin on her mother's side was the neurologist Oliver Sacks. Another cousin, Caroline Sacks, married Nicholas Samuel, 5th Viscount Bearsted.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] Lynn was educated at Kingswood School, Bath, between 1954 and 1961, after which he studied law at Pembroke College, Cambridge. (His maternal uncle, Israeli statesman Abba Eban, had also studied at Cambridge in the 1930s.) There he participated in the Cambridge University Footlights Club revue Cambridge Circus (appearing with the revue in 1964 on Broadway and on The Ed Sullivan Show ).^[5]^[6]

Career

Acting

Lynn's first West End appearance was in a stage production of Green Julia, for which he was nominated for the 1965 Plays and Players Award as Most Promising New Actor.^[7] In 1967, he played Motel the tailor in the original West End production of Fiddler on the Roof (production recorded by CBS Records).^[8] From the late 1960s, Lynn was appearing in and writing television sitcoms, including the television comedy series Twice a Fortnight with Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Tony Buffery.^[9]

Lynn played the Irish medical student Danny Hooley in the second series of the television comedy Doctor in the House in 1970. He wrote some episodes for Doctor at Large , Doctor in Charge, Doctor at Sea and Doctor on the Go.^[4] As a TV actor, his most memorable roles included Beryl's boyfriend Robert in early series of The Liver Birds ,^[10] the role of Harold in Jack Rosenthal's 1976 television film Bar Mitzvah Boy ,^[11] and the role of Ted Margolis in Rosenthal's The Knowledge (1979).^[12] He had a bit-part as a window cleaner in the BBC television series The Good Life . His film appearances have included roles in Prudence and the Pill (1968), The House That Dripped Blood (1971), Romance with a Double Bass (1974), and Three Men and a Little Lady (1990).

Lynn is a guest instructor at HB Studio.^[13]

Screenwriting

Lynn's first (co-written) screenplay was for The Internecine Project , which was released in 1974.^[14] For television he wrote episodes for the Doctor TV series and On the Buses and wrote for Harry Worth and George Layton before eventually, in partnership with Antony Jay, writing Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister .^[15] His later writing credits include the first two films he directed, Clue (1985) and Nuns on the Run (1990).^[16] He is also known for his co-writing, co-producing, and co-directing of the revived Yes, Prime Minister series produced by the BBC on Gold in 2013.^[17]

Books

Lynn co-authored the books The Complete Yes Minister, as well as The Complete Yes Prime Minister, which spent 106 weeks on the Sunday Times top 10 fiction list. Both were ranked number one on the Sunday Times list, including in December 1986 when the books were ranked number one and number two respectively.^[18] He also wrote the 1993 novel Mayday.^[19] In 2011 Lynn wrote a non-fiction work entitled Comedy Rules. The Independent called the book "a charming memoir, full of amusing and insightful anecdotes about the many entertainers Lynn has worked with" and described it as a combination of autobiography and how-to manual for comedy. The paper wrote further: "By dovetailing different types of book, Lynn cleverly avoids the pitfalls of both genres. Because it's ostensibly a sort of how-to book, there are no boring childhood reminiscences. Because it's also a kind of autobiography, his no-nonsense dos and don'ts are springboards for entertaining yarns, rather than academic discourse."^[20]

Plays

Lynn won praise for his direction of the 2010 London stage version of Yes, Prime Minister, which he co-wrote as well.^[21]

In 2016 Lynn's play The Patriotic Traitor was published. Its subject is the relationship of Philippe Pétain to Charles de Gaulle. In the words of the blurb, ‘Two giants of the twentieth century who loved each other like father and son until they found themselves on opposing sides in World War II. In 1945 de Gaulle had his oldest friend tried for treason. Their complex relationship – noble, comic and absurd – changed history.’ ^[22]^[23]

Lynn also co-wrote the stage play of "Clue", together with Hunter Foster, Eric Price and Sandy Rustin.

Producing

Lynn also produced six episodes of the new Yes, Prime Minister television series, was executive producer of He's Such a Girl, Vanity Fair , and was a producer for Trial and Error .^[6] It also received an exclusive production agreement with Columbia Pictures Television in 1992.^[24]

Awards

Lynn's work on the Minister series earned him three BAFTAs, two Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, and two Pye Television Writers Awards, and he won the ACE Award for Best Written Comedy Series. The Campaign for Freedom of Information also recognized Lynn with a special award for his work on the show.^[6] Lynn was a recipient of a Diamond Jubilee Award for Political Satire in 2010.^[25] He received an NAACP Image Award for the 2003 film The Fighting Temptations.^[26]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer
1974	The Internecine Project		Yes
1985	Clue	Yes	Yes
1990	Nuns on the Run	Yes	Yes
1992	My Cousin Vinny	Yes
1992	The Distinguished Gentleman	Yes
1994	Greedy	Yes
1996	Sgt. Bilko	Yes
1997	Trial and Error	Yes		Yes
2000	The Whole Nine Yards	Yes
2003	The Fighting Temptations	Yes
2010	Wild Target	Yes

Executive producer

Vanity Fair (2004)
He's Such a Girl (2008)

Acting roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	Prudence and the Pill	Chemist's Assistant
1971	The House That Dripped Blood	Mr. Petheridge (uncredited)	Segment "The Cloak"
1975	Romance with a Double Bass	Leader of the Orchestra	Short film
1975	Who Sold You This, Then?		Video short
1976	The Cold Call		Video short
1977	The Fortune Teller		Short film
1980	Breaking Glass	Radio DJ
1985	Into the Night	Tailor
1990	3 Men and a Little Lady	Vicar Hewitt
1994	Greedy	Douglas
1999	One Man Band	Tailor's Assistant	Short film
2009	He's Such a Girl	Priest
2010	Wild Target	Parrot (voice)

Additional credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	Decisions, Decisions	Writer	Video short
1976	The Cold Call
1977	How Am I Doing?
	The Unorganized Manager, Part One: Damnation
	The Unorganized Manager, Part Two: Salvation
	The Fortune Teller		Short film
1979	I'd Like a Word with You		Video short
2003	Beyoncé Feat. Walter Williams Sr.: He Still Loves Me	Director	Music video

Television

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
1971	Doctor at Large		Yes		Episode: "Pull the Other One!"
1972–73	On the Buses		Yes		6 episodes
1972–73	Doctor in Charge		Yes		11 episodes
1972	Nearest and Dearest		Yes		Episode: "Worker's Playtime"
1973	Romany Jones		Yes		Episode: "Look After the Pennies"
1973	All Star Comedy Carnival		Yes		Doctor in Charge
1974	My Name is Harry Worth		Yes		3 episodes
1974	Doctor at Sea		Yes		5 episodes
1975	Doctor on the Go		Yes		5 episodes
1975–76	My Brother's Keeper		Yes		13 episodes
1980–84	Yes Minister		Yes		22 episodes
1982	The Funny Side of Christmas		Yes		Yes Minister
1983	Arms and the Man	Yes			TV film
1985	Twee handen op een buik		Yes		TV film
1986–88	Yes, Prime Minister		Yes		16 episodes
1987	Mr. President		Yes		Episode: "Freedom of Speech"
1988	American Playhouse		Yes		Episode: "Suspicion"
1988	Smart Guys^[27]	Yes			Unsold pilot
1990	Ferris Bueller	Yes			Episode: "Pilot"
1990	Life After Life		Yes		TV film
2013	Yes, Prime Minister	Yes	Yes	Yes	6 episodes