| Yes Minister | |
|---|---|
 Title card | |
| Also known as | Yes, Prime Minister |
| Genre | Political satire British sitcom |
| Written by | Antony Jay Jonathan Lynn |
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer | Ronnie Hazlehurst |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 3 (Yes Minister) 2 (Yes Prime Minister) |
| No. of episodes | Yes Minister: 21 + 2 specials Yes, Prime Minister: 16(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producers | Stuart Allen Sydney Lotterby Peter Whitmore |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes (with a one-hour-long Christmas episode and a short special)[1] |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC2 |
| Release | 25 February 1980 (1980-02-25) – 28 January 1988 (1988-01-28)[2] |
| Related | |
| Yes, Prime Minister (2013 TV series) | |
Yes Minister is a Britishpolitical satire sitcom written byAntony Jay andJonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted onBBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel,Yes, Prime Minister, ran for 16 episodes from 1986 to 1988. All but one of the episodes lasted half an hour, and almost all ended with a variation of the title of the series spoken as the answer to a question posed by Minister (later, Prime Minister)Jim Hacker. Several episodes were adapted forBBC Radio; the series also spawned a 2010 stage play that led to anew television series onGold in 2013.
Set principally in the private office of aBritish cabinet minister in the fictional Department of Administrative Affairs inWhitehall,Yes Minister follows theministerial career of Jim Hacker, played byPaul Eddington. His various struggles to formulate and enact policy or affect departmental changes are opposed by the BritishCivil Service, in particular hisPermanent Secretary,Sir Humphrey Appleby, played byNigel Hawthorne. HisPrincipal Private SecretaryBernard Woolley, played byDerek Fowlds, is usually caught between the two. The sequel,Yes, Prime Minister, continued with the same cast and followed Hacker after his unexpected elevation to prime ministerial office.
There were 21 half-hourepisodes in three seasons (series), a two-minute Christmas sketch inThe Funny Side of Christmas, and a one-hour Christmas special ofYes Minister. There were 16episodes in two seasons (series) ofYes, Prime Minister, bringing the combined number of full episodes to 38.
The series received severalBAFTAs, and in 2004, was voted sixth in theBritain's Best Sitcom poll. It was the favourite television programme ofMargaret Thatcher, the then-British prime minister.[3] The series was also a big hit on Public Broadcasting System (PBS) stations throughout the United States.
The series opens in the wake of ageneral election in which the incumbent government has been defeated by the opposition party, to whichJim Hacker, anMP, belongs. His party affiliation is never stated, his party emblem is clearly neitherConservative norLabour, and his party's political colour is white. ThePrime Minister offers Hacker the position of Minister of Administrative Affairs, which he accepts. Hacker goes to his department and meets hisPermanent Secretary,Sir Humphrey Appleby, and Principal Private Secretary,Bernard Woolley.
While Appleby is outwardly deferential towards the new minister, he is prepared to defend the status quo at all costs. Hacker and his party's policies of reducing bureaucracy are diametrically opposed to the Civil Service's interests, in which staff numbers and budgets are viewed as merits of success (i.e. the more funding or staffing a department gets, the more successful it is considered). Woolley is sympathetic towards Hacker but as Appleby reminds him, Woolley's civil service superiors, including Appleby, will have much to say about the course of his future career, while ministers do not usually stay long in one department and have no say in civil service staffing recommendations.
Many of the episodes revolve around proposals backed by Hacker but frustrated by Appleby, who uses a range of clever stratagems to defeat ministerial proposals while seeming to support them. Other episodes revolve around proposals promoted by Appleby but rejected by Hacker, which Appleby attempts by all means necessary to persuade Hacker to accept. They do occasionally join forces in order to achieve a common goal, such as preventing the closure of their department or dealing with a diplomatic incident.
As the series revolves around the inner workings of central government, most of the scenes take place in private locations, such as offices and exclusive members' clubs. Lynn said that "there was not a single scene set in theHouse of Commons because government does not take place in the House of Commons. Some politics and much theatre takes place there. Government happens in private. As in all public performances, the real work is done in rehearsal, behind closed doors. Then the public and the House are shown what the government wishes them to see."[4] However, the episode "The Compassionate Society" does feature an audio recording ofYesterday in Parliament in which Hacker speaks in the House of Commons, and other episodes include scenes in theForeign Secretary's House of Commons office ("The Writing on the Wall") and a Committee room ("A Question of Loyalty").
The fictional Department of Administrative Affairs is the main setting of the first series. In "The Skeleton in the Cupboard", Woolley mentions that the DAA was founded in 1964 alongside theDepartment of Economic Affairs (the chief inspiration for the DAA). In "Open Government", the Department was referred to as a 'political graveyard', with Hacker's appointment as Minister of Administrative Affairs likely being punishment for managing the leadership campaign against the new Prime Minister when their party was in Opposition. In "Big Brother", Hacker reaches out to his predecessor in the previous government Tom Sargent, for help to overcome Civil Service resistance to the introduction of safeguards for the National Integrated Database, to which Sargent outlines the Civil Service's five step stalling technique and reveals the existence of a White Paper. Being responsible for overseeing the administration of other government departments, government archives, the purchase of office equipment and the enactment ofEEC directives, it serves as a vehicle to explore different political themes, such as foreign policy, education, the environment, health, defence,Europe, international trade, local government, infrastructure, and national security. In "The Death List", the DAA is mentioned as being responsible for the government's surveillance equipment. The DAA has gained other responsibilities through departmental reshuffles, namely the arts (albeit as a ploy to prevent Hacker from closing down an art gallery in his constituency to save a local football team from bankruptcy). The DAA has also been given responsibility for enacting policies or programmes which no other department would want to deal with due to their unpopularity or any other fallout, such as in "The Bed of Nails" when Hacker was made Transport Supremo and given responsibility for an Integrated Transport programme as the Department of Transport did not want to incur the wrath of any disadvantaged sector.
| Character | Yes Minister | Yes, Prime Minister | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series 1 | Series 2 | Series 3 | Special | Series 1 | Series 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |||
| Jim Hacker | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sir Humphrey Appleby | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bernard Woolley | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Annie Hacker | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Civil Servants | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sir Arnold Robinson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sir Frederick Stewart | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sir Ian Whitchurch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sir Frank Gordon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sir Richard Wharton | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bill Pritchard | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Malcolm Warren | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dr Richard Cartwright | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political Advisors | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Frank Weisel | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dorothy Wainwright | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sir Mark Spencer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Others | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sir Desmond Glazebrook | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Field Marshal Sir Guy Howard | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vic Gould,Chief Whip | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Robert Dougall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ludovic Kennedy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| George, the driver | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Character | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Special | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |
| Series 1 | Series 2 | Series 3 | Series 1 | Series 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yes Minister | Yes, Prime Minister | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Right Honourable Jim Hacker MP (Paul Eddington), eventually elevated to theHouse of Lords as Lord Hacker of Islington, was the editor of a newspaper calledReform before going into politics. He spent a good deal of time in Parliament on the Opposition benches before his party won a general election, including serving as the Shadow Secretary for Agriculture. InYes Minister, he is the Minister for Administrative Affairs (a fictitious ministry of the British government) and a cabinet minister, and inYes, Prime Minister he becomes thePrime Minister of the United Kingdom. Hacker received his degree from theLondon School of Economics (graduating with aThird), for which he is often derided by the Oxford-educated Sir Humphrey (who attended "Baillie College", a thinly veiled reference to the realBalliol College, graduating with a First in Classics). His early character is that of a gung-ho, but naïve, politician, bringing sweeping changes to his department. Before long, Hacker begins to notice that Civil Service tactics are preventing his planned changes being put into practice. As he learns, he becomes more sly and cynical, using some of the Civil Service ruses himself. While Sir Humphrey initially held all the aces, Hacker now and again plays a trump card of his own and thus scores the occasional victory over Sir Humphrey.
ThroughoutYes Minister, Hacker, at his worst, is portrayed as a publicity-seeking bungler who is incapable of making a firm decision. He is prone to potentially embarrassing blunders, and is a frequent target of criticism from thepress and stern lectures from theChief Whip. However, he is also shown to be relatively politically savvy, and he slowly becomes more aware of Sir Humphrey's real agenda. InYes, Prime Minister, Hacker becomes more statesmanlike. He practises more grandiose speeches, dreams up his "Grand Design" and hones his diplomatic skills. Nearly all of these efforts land him in trouble. In aRadio Times interview to promoteYes, Prime Minister, Paul Eddington stated, "He's beginning to find his feet as a man of power, and he's begun to confound those who thought they'd be able to manipulate him out of hand."[5]
Sir Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne) serves throughout the series aspermanent secretary under his minister, Jim Hacker at the Department of Administrative Affairs. He is appointed Cabinet Secretary just as Hacker's party enters a leadership crisis, and is instrumental in Hacker's elevation to Prime Minister. He is committed to maintaining thestatus quo for the country in general and for theCivil Service in particular.[6] Sir Humphrey is a master ofobfuscation andmanipulation, baffling his opponents with long-winded technical jargon andcircumlocutions, strategically appointing allies to supposedly impartial boards, and setting up interdepartmental committees to smother his minister's proposals inred tape.
However, although presenting an outward appearance of supreme confidence and competence, Sir Humphrey is not immune to making miscalculations or outright blunders. When such blunders occur, he relies on the Civil Service bureaucracy to save him.
InBritain's Best Sitcom,Stephen Fry comments that "we love the idea of the coherence and articulacy of Sir Humphrey ... it's one of the things you look forward to in an episode ofYes Minister ... when's the big speech going to happen? And can I see if he's reading it from anidiot board ... he's really learned it, and it's superb."[6] Derek Fowlds posited to a concerned Eddington that these speeches were the reason why Hawthorne won a BAFTA for Best Comedy Performance four times in a row, while Eddington, though nominated, did not win at all.[6]
Loquacious and verbose, he frequently uses both his mastery of the English language and his grasp ofLatin and Greek grammar both to perplex his political master and to obscure the relevant issues. In aRadio Times interview to promote the second series ofYes, Prime Minister, producer Sydney Lotterby said that he always tried to give Eddington and Hawthorne extra time to rehearse as their scenes invariably featured lengthy dialogue exchanges.[7]
Bernard Woolley,MA (Oxon) (Derek Fowlds) is Jim Hacker'sPrincipal Private Secretary. His loyalties are often split between his Minister and his Civil Service boss, Sir Humphrey. Whilst in theory he is personally responsible to Hacker, in practice it is Sir Humphrey who writes his performance reviews and influences his Civil Service career. He usually handles these situations well, and maintains his reputation in the Civil Service as a "high flier" as opposed to a "low flier supported by occasional gusts of wind."[8]
Woolley is always quick to point out the physical impossibilities of Sir Humphrey's or Hacker'smixed metaphors, with almost obsessivepedantry. He can occasionally appear rather childlike, by making animal noises and gestures or by acting out how such an analogy cannot work, which sometimes annoys his Minister. Woolley tends to side with Hacker when new policies are announced, because they seem radical or democratic, only for Sir Humphrey to point out the disadvantages to the status quo and the civil service in particular. To sway Bernard, Sir Humphrey uses phrases such as "barbarism" and "the beginning of the end".[9] At times when Sir Humphrey fails to get his way, Woolley can be seen smiling smugly at him over his defeat.[10] As Hacker awaits confirmation of his elevation to Prime Minister, he asks Woolley to join him in Downing Street as his principal private secretary, which Sir Humphrey endorses, thus keeping the trio together.
In a 2004 retrospective,Armando Iannucci commented that Fowlds had a difficult task because he had to "spend most of his time saying nothing but looking interested in everyone else's total and utter guff" but "his one line frequently had to be the funniest of the lot." Iannucci suggests that Woolley is essential to the structure of the show because both Hacker and Appleby confide in him, "which means we get to find out what they're plotting next."[6]
The editor's note toThe Complete Yes Prime Minister (supposedly published in 2024 after Hacker's death but actually published by the BBC in 1989), thanks "Sir Bernard Woolley,GCB" for his help and confirms that he did indeed make it to the position of Head of the Civil Service.[11]
The series featured a cast of recurring characters.
Meanwhile, Sir Humphrey's Civil Service colleagues were also regularly featured. They include:
Hacker's family:
Others:
Lynn joined theCambridge Union in his first year at the University of Cambridge because he thought that he might like to enter politics. "All of the main debaters there, aged 20, were the most pompous, self-satisfied, self-important bunch of clowns that I've ever clapped eyes on. They were all behaving as if they were on the government front bench, and 20 years later they all were:Michael Howard;John Selwyn Gummer;Kenneth Clarke. I thought at that point that the only way that I could ever contribute to politics is making fun of the politicians."[6]
The series, then, intended to satirise politics and government in general, rather than any specific party. The writers placed Hacker at the centre of the political spectrum, and were careful to identify his party headquarters as "Central House" (a combination ofConservative Central Office and Labour'sTransport House). The terms "Labour" and "Conservative" are scrupulously avoided throughout the series, favouring terms such as "the party" or "the government" and "the opposition".[1] In the first scene of the first episode, "Open Government", Hacker is shown at the declaration of his constituency result wearing a whiterosette, with other candidates sporting the red and blue rosettes associated with the two leading British parties. The one exception to this neutrality occurs very briefly in "The National Education Service", when Sir Humphrey explains to Bernard how the policy ofcomprehensive education is retained through successive governments, using different arguments according to which party is in power. Even there, Humphrey does not reveal which party Jim Hacker represents. Despite this, the overall thrust was towards government reduction rather than expansion. The episode "Jobs for the Boys", for example, rejectedcorporatism. Throughout the period ofYes Minister andYes Prime Minister the incumbent government of the United Kingdom was Conservative with the government led byMargaret Thatcher (although the pilot was produced before she came to power). Hacker's predecessor as Prime Minister was unseen and unnamed, but established as male.
In a 2004 documentary,Armando Iannucci comparedYes Minister toGeorge Orwell'sNineteen Eighty-Four in how it has influenced the public's view of the state. Although Lynn comments that the word "spin" has "probably entered the political vocabulary since the series,"[4] Iannucci suggests that the show "taught us how to unpick the verbal tricks that politicians think they can get away with in front of the cameras."[6] The series depicted the media-consciousness of politicians, reflecting thepublic relations training they undergo to help them deal with interviews and reading fromautocue effectively. This is particularly evident in the episode "The Ministerial Broadcast", in which Hacker is advised on the effects of his clothes and surroundings. The episode "A Conflict of Interest" humorously lampoons the various political stances of Britain's newspapers through their readers (although this material was not original):[13]
Sir Humphrey: The only way to understand the Press is to remember that they pander to their readers' prejudices.
Hacker: Don't tellme about the press. I knowexactly who reads the papers: theDaily Mirror is read by peoplewho think they run the country;The Guardian is read by people who thinkthey ought to run the country;The Times is read by the peoplewho actually do run the country; theDaily Mail is read by thewives of the people who run the country; theFinancial Times is read by peoplewho own the country; theMorning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run byanother country; andThe Daily Telegraph is read by people who thinkit is.
Sir Humphrey: Prime Minister, what about the people who readThe Sun?
Bernard:Sun readers don't care who runs the country, as long asshe's got big tits.
Adam Curtis, in his three-part TV documentaryThe Trap, criticised the series as "ideological propaganda for a political movement",[14] and claimed thatYes Minister is indicative of a larger movement of criticism of government and bureaucracy, centred uponpublic choice economics. Jay himself supported this:
The fallacy that public choice economics took on was the fallacy that government is working entirely for the benefit of the citizen; and this was reflected by showing that in any [episode] in the programme, inYes Minister, we showed that almost everything that the government has to decide is a conflict between two lots of private interest – that of the politicians and that of the civil servants trying to advance their own careers and improve their own lives. And that's why public choice economics, which explains why all this was going on, was at the root of almost every episode ofYes Minister andYes, Prime Minister.[15]
Jay, however, has elsewhere emphasized that he and Lynn were interested first and foremost in the comical possibilities present in government and bureaucracy and that they were not seeking to promote any agenda: "Our only firm belief on the subject was that the underlying conflicts between ministers and ministries were better brought out into the open than kept secret".[16]
The writers were inspired by a variety of sources, including sources inside government, published material and contemporary news stories.[17] Jay has written that as early as 1965, he had been induced by developments in theTimothy Evans case to wonder about an "inverted alchemy" operating in Whitehall, capable of frustrating the most impassioned campaigner.[16] The writers also met several leading senior civil servants under the auspices of theRoyal Institute of Public Administration, athink-tank for the public service sector, which led to the development of some plot lines. Some situations were conceived as fiction, but were later revealed to have real-life counterparts. The episode "The Compassionate Society" depicts a hospital with 500 administrative staff but no doctors, nurses or patients. Lynn recalls that "after inventing this absurdity, we discovered there were six such hospitals (or very large empty wings of hospitals) exactly as we had described them in our episode."[4]
In a programme screened by the BBC in early 2004, paying tribute to the series, it was revealed that Jay and Lynn had drawn on information provided by two insiders from the governments ofHarold Wilson andJames Callaghan, namelyMarcia Falkender andBernard Donoughue.[18]: 98 The published diaries ofRichard Crossman also provided inspiration.[4][19] In particular the first of these describe his battles with "the Dame", his Permanent Secretary, the formidableBaroness Sharp, the first woman in Britain to hold the position.
The episode entitled "The Moral Dimension", in which Hacker and his staff engage in the scheme of secretly consumingalcohol on a trade mission to the fictional Islamic state of Qumran, was based on a real incident that took place in Pakistan, involving Callaghan and Donoughue, the latter of whom informed Jay and Lynn about the incident.[20] Jay says that "I can't tell you where, I can't tell you when and I can't tell you who was involved; all I can tell you is that we knew that it had actually happened. That's why it was so funny. We couldn't think up things as funny as the real things that had happened."[21] Media historian Andrew Crisell suggests that the show was "enriched by the viewers' suspicion that what they were watching was unhealthily close to real life."[22]
Fusing inspiration and invention, Lynn and Jay worked on the story "for anything from three days to two weeks," and only took "four mornings to write all the dialogue. After we wrote the episode, we would show it to some secret sources, always including somebody who was an expert on the subject in question. They would usually give us extra information which, because it was true, was usually funnier than anything we might have thought up."[4] Designers Valerie Warrender and Gloria Clayton were given access to the Cabinet Rooms and the State Drawing Rooms. For security purposes, the arrangements of the rooms were altered, and the views from the windows were never shown, to conceal the layout of the buildings.[23] Lynn said in a 2007 interview that he and Jay had two main sources who worked at Number 10, who introduced them to others, and that they used lunches with their sources to get information. "Everyone in Government has an axe to grind, everyone wants their point of view expressed in the media, and the higher up they get the more indiscreet they become...They all leak like sieves, as long as they know they won't be identified."[24]
The opening titles were drawn by artist and cartoonistGerald Scarfe, who provided distinctivecaricatures of Eddington, Hawthorne and Fowlds in their respective roles to represent distortion.[6] He animated them as 'self-drawing' by positioning the camera above his paper, adding parts of lines, and then photographing two frames at a time. The sequence ended with the title of the episode superimposed on a facsimile of an edition of the House of CommonsWeekly Information Bulletin. Curiously, the legendCompiled in the Public Information Office of the House of Commons Library was left in the sequence. Scarfe created a second set of graphics forYes, Prime Minister, including a different title card for each episode. Derek Fowlds wanted to buy an original drawing but was unable to afford it.[6] The series' performance credits typically only featured those of the actors who appeared in the particular episode, not the names of characters. The typeface used in the credits isPlantin, a common typeface used in the British press at the time. The show title is set in bold condensed and the credits are in bold.
Thetheme music was composed byRonnie Hazlehurst and is largely based on theWestminster Quarters: the chimes ofBig Ben. When asked in an interview about itsWestminster influence, Hazlehurst replied, "That's all it is. It's the easiest thing I've ever done."[25] The theme has a strong similarity to that ofTo The Manor Born, which was also composed by Hazlehurst around the same time.
A substantially different set of titles and music were produced for the pilot episode, "Open Government", which were never broadcast but appear on the DVD release.[26] The pilot opening and closing title caption cards feature drawings of most of the cast, but far less exaggerated than those of Scarfe, while the music byMax Harris is a more up-tempo piece forbrass band.[26] When the pilot was aired as part of series 1, these were replaced by the familiar Scarfe and Hazlehurst credits.[26]
The different ideals and self-interested motives of the characters are frequently contrasted. Whilst Hacker occasionally approaches an issue from a sense of idealism and a desire to be seen to improve things, he ultimately sees his re-election and elevation to higher office as the key measures of his success. Accordingly, he must appear to the voters to be effective and responsive to the public will. To his party (and, in the first incarnation of the series, the Prime Minister) he must act as a loyal and effective party member. Sir Humphrey, on the other hand, genuinely believes that the Civil Service, being politically impartial, has the most realistic idea of what "good governance" means, and therefore knows what is best for the country – a belief shared by his bureaucratic colleagues.
Hacker sees the job of government as one of "doing good",[27] or more specifically reforming the country according to his own party's policies: which, more often than not, means the initiation of departmental reforms and economies, a reduction of the level ofbureaucracy and reduction of staff numbers in the Civil Service. To do so, or to at least look as if he is doing so, is what he considers to be a vote-winner. Conversely, Sir Humphrey sees his role as ensuring that politics is kept out of government as much as possible and that thestatus quo is upheld as a matter of principle. But with thestatus quo notably including the prestige, power and influence of the Civil Service, Sir Humphrey attempts to block any move that seeks either to prevent the further expansion of the civil service or to reduce the complexity of its bureaucracy.
Much of the show's humour thus derives from the antagonism betweenCabinet ministers (who believe they are in charge) and the members of the British Civil Service (who believe they really run the country). A typical episode centres on Hacker's suggesting and pursuing a reform and Sir Humphrey's blocking of all Hacker's lines of approach. More often than not, Sir Humphrey prevents him from achieving his goal while mollifying Hacker with some positive publicity, or at least a means to cover up his failure. Occasionally, however, Hackerdoes get his way, often by thwarting other arrangements or deals that Sir Humphrey has been making behind the scenes elsewhere with other ministers or civil servants. In the case of the episodes "The Skeleton in the Cupboard" and "The Tangled Web", Hacker manages to exploit embarrassing mistakes committed by Sir Humphrey;blackmailing him into adopting his stance. Sir Humphrey occasionally resorts to tactics such as calling a policy "courageous" to remind Hacker to contemplate the view that "a controversial policy will lose votes, whilst a courageous one will lose the election", and thus to hinder the implementation of a particular policy. Sir Humphrey, on the other hand, believes that from the Civil Service's perspective "it makes very little difference who the Minister is".
The character of Bernard Woolley is characterised by a significant degree of ambivalence; largely playing the role of an observer of the cold conflict between Hacker and Sir Humphrey, mostly interjecting only to add a comic effect to the drama albeit occasionally playing a decisive part in determining which adversary triumphs ultimately. Initially, he naively sees his job as the disinterested implementation of the Minister's policies, but he gradually finds that this conflicts with his institutional duty to the department, and sometimes (since Sir Humphrey is responsible for formally assessing Woolley's performance) his own potential career development.[1] Consequently, another recurring scenario is one where Bernard must "walk the tightrope" — that is, balance his two conflicting duties by resorting to elaborate verbosity (much like Sir Humphrey) so that he can avoid the appearance of being disloyal to one, in favour of the other. For example, in "The Skeleton in the Cupboard", he sees the importance of notifying Sir Humphrey that Hacker has left his office, whilst still assisting Hacker in his aims. Such is Bernard's success in performing this balancing act, that after the third series, following Sir Humphrey's promotion toCabinet Secretary, when Hacker becomes Prime Minister he requests that Bernard continue as his Principal Private Secretary, reasserting the perception that he is a "high flier".
Sir Humphrey's personal characteristics include his complicated sentences, his cynical views of government, and his snobbery and superciliousness. Hacker's attributes include occasional indecisiveness, and a tendency to launch into ludicrousChurchillian speeches. Bernard is prone to linguistic pedantry. All characters are able to switch to a completely opposite opinion in seconds when convenient.
Nigel Hawthorne had worked withAntony Jay andJonathan Lynn before, and he andPaul Eddington claimed they immediately recognised the quality of writing of the series, but Jay and Lynn said that both actors asked for a second episode script (and a third script), after having read the pilot script, before committing to the series. When casting the role of Bernard, Jonathan Lynn metDerek Fowlds at a dinner, and subsequently offered him the role.[28]
The first series featured Frank Weisel, Hacker's political advisor (played byNeil Fitzwiliam in the television series, and later byBill Nighy in the radio series). The first syllable of his surname is pronounced "Wise", but Sir Humphrey and Bernard persistently call him "Weasel". Weisel does not appear after the first series, following his acceptance of a position on aquango (Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation) tasked with investigating the appointment of other quangos, the government's honours system, and "jobs for the boys".[1] The character was dropped because Jay and Lynn thought that the interjection of a character concerned with party political matters distracted from the focus on the tension between the government and the civil service.
The first series ofYes, Prime Minister introduced Dorothy Wainwright (played byDeborah Norton) as a highly able special political advisor to the Prime Minister. Her experience and insight into many civil service tricks ensure a lasting mutual distrust between her and Sir Humphrey and provide an invaluable second opinion for Hacker.[6] Sir Humphrey frequently annoys Dorothy by addressing her as "dear lady" whereas she occasionally calls him "Humpy".
Hacker's home life is shown occasionally throughout the series. His wife Annie (Diana Hoddinott) is generally supportive, but is sometimes frustrated by the disruptions caused by her husband's political career and is at times somewhat cynical about her husband's politics. In one episode, his sociology student daughter, Lucy (Gerry Cowper), becomes an environmental activist, campaigning against the department's intention to remove protected status from a wooded area believed to be inhabited bybadgers. Sir Humphrey assures her there have not been badgers in the woods for some years (leaving open the question of the veracity of his statement).
Sir Humphrey often discusses matters with other Permanent Secretaries, who appear similarly sardonic and jaded, and the Cabinet Secretary (whom he eventually succeeds inYes, Prime Minister), Sir Arnold Robinson (John Nettleton), an archetype of cynicism, haughtiness and conspiratorial expertise. SirFrank Gordon, the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, is a friend and often a rival as they jostle for supremacy within the civil service. The fairly counter-intuitive view of government administration displayed by Sir Humphrey is completely taken for granted by the Civil Service.
A total of 38 episodes were made, and all but one are of 30 minutes duration. They were videotaped in front of a studio audience, which was standard BBC practice for situation comedies at the time. The actors did not enjoy filming as they felt that the studio audience placed them under additional pressure. Lynn, however, says that the studio audience on the soundtrack was necessary because laughter is a "communal affair." The laughter also acted as a kind of insurance: Jay observes that politicians would be unable to put pressure on the BBC not to "run this kind of nonsense" if "200–250 people were falling about with laughter."[6] There were occasionally film inserts of location sequences, and some shots of Hacker travelling in his car were achieved by means ofchroma key. Each programme usually comprised around six scenes. By the time ofYes, Prime Minister, the producers were permitted to useDowning Street itself for some exterior shots, most notably in the episode "The Key" where Sir Humphrey has to re-enter the building through the door of No.10.
Almost all the episodes (the exceptions chiefly being the earlier ones of the first series) end with one of the characters (usually Sir Humphrey) saying "Yes, Minister", "Yes, Prime Minister", as appropriate, and once, "Mais oui, Prime Minister," in "A Diplomatic Incident" which centred on negotiations with the President of France. Each episode of the former was more or less self-contained, but the first two episodes of Yes, Prime Minister had a loosestory arc relating to Hacker's attempts to reform the United Kingdom's armed forces, while the second was mostly devoted to concluding storylines and character arcs that had been seen over the course of Yes Minister.
The pilot was produced in 1979 but not transmitted immediately for fear that it could influence the results of the May1979 UK General Election.[6] It eventually aired on 25 February 1980.[1]Yes Minister ran for three series, each of seven episodes, between March 1980 and 1982. These were followed by twoChristmas specials: one 10-minute sketch as part of an anthology presented byFrank Muir,[29] and then the hour-long "Party Games", in 1984. The latter's events led to Hacker's elevation to Prime Minister, dovetailing into the sequel,Yes, Prime Minister. This ran originally for two series, each of eight episodes, from 1986 to 1988.
In the U.K. the show has regularly reaired on TV including on BBC andThat's TV channels.[30][31]
In January 2013, a new series ofYes, Prime Minister was launched on theGold television channel.[32][33][34] Jim Hacker is now portrayed as heading acoalition government, while dealing with an economic downturn, his coalition partner having a leadership crisis, andScottish independence.[34] The revived series was produced by the BBC forGold.[35]
The series gained high audience figures, and 90+ on the audienceAppreciation Index.[23] Critics, such as Andrew Davies in theTimes Educational Supplement and Armando Iannucci, have noted that the show had high expectations of its audience.[23] Lynn posits that the public are more intelligent than most situation comedies, often patronisingly, give them credit for. Jay believes that the viewers were just as intelligent as the writers, but that there were some things that they needed to know but didn't.[6]
Yes Minister won theBAFTA award forBest Comedy Series for 1980, 1981 and 1982, and the "Party Games" special was nominated in the Best Light Entertainment Programme category for 1984.Yes, Prime Minister was short-listed for Best Comedy Series for both 1986 and 1987. Nigel Hawthorne's portrayal of Sir Humphrey Appleby won the BAFTA Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance four times (in 1981, 1982, 1986 and 1987). Eddington was also nominated on all four occasions.Nigel Hawthorne was awarded Best Actor in Light Entertainment Programme at the 1981Broadcasting Press Guild Awards.
Yes Minister came sixth in a 2004BBC poll to find 'Britain's Best Sitcom'.[36] In a list of the100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by theBritish Film Institute in 2000, voted by industry professionals,Yes Minister andYes, Prime Minister were both placed ninth. They were also placed 14th inChannel 4'sThe Ultimate Sitcom, a poll conducted by people who work in sitcoms.[37]
Somepolitical scientists cite the series for its accurate and sophisticated portrayal of the relationships between civil servants and politicians,[38] and are quoted in some textbooks on British politics.[4] Some political scientists considered it a reflection of thepublic choice model, which encouraged a "conservative agenda of balanced budgets and reduced government spending".[39]The Washington Post considered its "ideas were at the center of the Thatcher and Ronald Reagan administrations in Britain and the United States, which favored cutting government and shifting its functions to the private sector".[40]
The series was praised by critics and politicians, and it was reported that the shows were popular in government circles.The Guinness Television Encyclopedia suggests that "real politicians ... enjoyed the show's cynical dismissal ofWhitehall intrigue and its insights into the machinations of government."[41]Lord Donoughue, an admirer of the series who was head ofJames Callaghan's policy unit at 10 Downing Street from 1976 to 1979, noticed that, when the Labour Party returned to power in 1997 after 18 years in opposition, a number of junior Ministers took so seriously the relationships with civil servants as depicted by Jay and Lynn that they were unduly wary of senior officials and allowed this suspicion to influence their behaviour.[42]
Yes Minister andYes, Prime Minister were the favourite programme of then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. She toldThe Daily Telegraph that "its clearly-observed portrayal of what goes on in the corridors of power has given me hours of pure joy."[23]Gerald Kaufman described it as "The Rt Hon.Faust MP, constantly beset by the wiles of SirMephistopheles."[23] As a supporter of Thatcher, Jay embraced her appreciation, although the more leftist Lynn was concerned.[6]
Thatcher performed a short sketch with Eddington and Hawthorne on 20 January 1984 at a ceremony where the writers were presented with an award fromMary Whitehouse'sNVLA,[43] an event commemorated on the cover of the satirical magazinePrivate Eye.[44] Authorship of the sketch is unclear. InBritain's Best Sitcom,Bernard Ingham says that he wrote it; other sources give Thatcher sole credit, whileMichael Cockerell says that she wrote it with Ingham's help.[3] Another source gives renegade credit toCharles Powell.[23] The actors, who were starring in separate West End plays at the time, were not enthusiastic at the idea and asked Lynn to "get them out" of it. The writer, however, was not in a position to help. Hawthorne says he and Eddington resented Thatcher's attempts to "make capital" from their popularity.[21] Ingham says that it "went down a bomb", while Lynn brands it a "dreadful sketch" that was only funny because Thatcher was doing it.[6] Accepting the award from the NVLA, Lynn thanked Thatcher "for taking her rightful place in the field of situation comedy." Everyone, except the Prime Minister, laughed.[21]
When Paul Eddington visited Australia during the 1980s, he was treated as a visitingBritish PM by the then Australian leader,Bob Hawke, who was a fan of the show. At a rally, Hawke said "You don't want to be listening to me; you want to be listening to the real Prime Minister", forcing Eddington to improvise.[45] In an interview to promote the first series ofYes, Prime Minister, Derek Fowlds said that "both political sides believe that it satirises their opponents, and civil servants love it because it depicts them as being more powerful than either. And of course, they love it because it's all so authentic."[5] The series was well received in the United States, running on theA&E Network and repeatedly onpublic television.[46]
In a 2024 interview, Lynn said he and Jay were approached several times about creating an American version of the show, but that they felt that the systems of government were too different.[47] In a 2003 interview, he also said that the American sensibility tended to be more family-oriented or inspirational likeThe West Wing, but did point toSpin City as having a more satirical approach.[48]
The show has been remade several times internationally, albeit sometimes unofficially.
The series was remade in Portugal in 1996 asSim, Sr. Ministro by Portuguese channelTVI. The names of characters, locations and institutions were changed to reflect Portuguese reality, but the plot of the episodes follow the originals. A total of 26 episodes were produced and screened between 1996 and 1997.[citation needed]
Not My Department took joint inspiration fromYes Minister andCharles Gordon'sThe Governor General's Bunny Hop, a contemporary satire of Canadian politics. UnlikeYes Minister,Not My Department was set almost entirely among public servants, with the Minister for Regional Incentive Targets only making occasional appearances by video tape—often because he was hoping to evade the latest scandal by taking protracted tours of the regions.Not My Department aired on theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1987.[citation needed]
Ji Mantriji (literally "Yes Minister" in Hindi) is an Indian adaptation ofYes Minister. It was telecast onSTAR TV's channelSTAR Plus with permission from the BBC.[49]Ji Mantriji featuresFarooq Sheikh as Surya Prakash Singh, the Minister of Administrative Affairs andJayant Kripalani as the department's secretary. The plot lines were the same as those of the original, with suitable changes in the Indian context.
Sayın Bakanım ("Dear Minister" in Turkish) is a Turkish adaptation ofYes Minister that ran in 2004. The show featured acclaimed actorsHaluk Bilginer,Kenan Isik andAli Sunal.Sayin Bakanim was cancelled after 14 episodes. Although there were rumours that the show was scrapped because of a warning from the government, the producer of the show denied this. Instead, he explained that the reason was low ratings.[50]
The Australian seriesThe Hollowmen andUtopia were also inspired byYes Minister.[citation needed]
The Israeli sitcomPolishuk, also modelled onYes Minister, aired for three seasons on Channel 2's Keshet Broadcasting.[citation needed]
A Dutch remake had been made by S&V Fiction forVPRO, lasting 11 episodes, calledJa, Bewindsman (Yes Minister). In the Dutch version, Sir Humphrey is a woman and Bernard is a Moroccan called Mohammed.[51]
Jay and Lynn collaborated again to produce a stage play, titledYes, Prime Minister.[52] It ran from 13 May to 5 June 2010, atChichester Festival Theatre. This production revived at theGielgud Theatre, in London's West End from 17 September 2010 until 15 January 2011. The principal cast wasDavid Haig as Jim Hacker,Henry Goodman as Sir Humphrey,Jonathan Slinger as Bernard Woolley andEmily Joyce as Claire Sutton, Hacker's special policy advisor.[53]
Lynn wrote another playI'm Sorry, Prime Minister, I Can't Quite Remember focusing on an ageing retired Hacker and Sir Humphrey. It was first performed in 2023.[54] Christopher Bianchi played Hacker, whilstClive Francis portrayed Humphrey. It was announced on May 8th 2025 that a production ofI'm Sorry, Prime Minister is to open in London's Apollo Theatre starring Griff Rhys Jones and Clive Francis. The production will run for 12 weeks from the 30th of January 2026.
Sixteen episodes ofYes Minister were adapted and re-recorded for broadcast byBBC Radio 4, with the principal cast reprising their roles. Produced byPete Atkin, they were broadcast across two series, each with eight episodes.[55] The first series aired 18 October to 6 December 1983, with the second originally transmitted 9 October to 27 November 1984.[1] The complete set was released on cassette in February 2000, and on compact disc in October 2002. The series was repeated on the digital radio stationBBC Radio 7 in early 2007 and onBBC Radio 4 Extra in November 2013. The series was re-repeated onBBC Radio 4 Extra in 2018.
In 1997, Derek Fowlds reprised the role of Bernard Woolley to read Antony Jay'sHow To Beat Sir Humphrey: Every Citizen's Guide To Fighting Officialdom. It was broadcast in three daily parts by Radio 4 from 29 September to 1 October 1997[1] and released by BBC Audiobooks on cassette in October 1997.
Both series were aired inScandinavia during the 1980s.
Both series were also aired in the Czech Republic (ČT2) on Friday nights along with other 'britcoms'.
Israel Broadcasting Authority aired both series during the early to mid-1980s where they both gained broad popularity.
After 7 episodes of the first seriesYes, Minister were broadcast onChina Central Television inmainland China under the name ofYes, Minister (是，大臣), Chen Xuyi, the former director of the translation and production factory ofShanghai Film Translation Factory, died, and there was no successor to the translator, so it had to stop. It was not introduced from the video website until 2021. In 2024, it was broadcast onYouku andBilibili, and theBBC Entertainment was introduced inTaiwan to translate it asMinister (部长大人).[56]Hong KongTVB Pearl has also broadcast this drama. At that time, the Chinese name wasPrime Minister, what do you want? (首相你想点).
There have been at least three translation versions of the simplified Chinese version of "Yes Minister" published. One of them of the BBC book version ofThe Complete Yes Minister (遵命大臣：内阁大臣海克尔日记) was published in Beijing in 1991. The Chinese translator wasCheng Hong, whose husbandLi Keqiang later became thePrime Minister of People's Republic of China.[57]
Both series aired in the United States on some PBS stations during the 1980s, usually in the Sunday night British Comedy Block, and have aired on PBS stations as recently as 2021 and 2022.[58][59][60]
In West Germany, all three series ofYes Minister were aired in 1987 (German title:Yes Minister), and the first series ofYes, Prime Minister in 1988 (German title:Yes Premierminister) on national public broadcasterARD; repeats occurred during the 1990s on some of thepublic regional channels.[61][62] They were broadcast inbilingual mode, permitting owners of a stereo set to select between German overdub and English original sound. Each episode was shortened by about 5 minutes to allow time for the continuity announcer, as was common practice at the time. The second series ofYes Prime Minister was never aired in Germany, thus no German overdub and no German episode titles exist for it. The German DVD release (December 2013) reflects these alterations; it contains the full length episodes, but during the edited portions it throws the German sound back to the English one, and it omits the second series ofYes Prime Minister.[63] The booksThe Complete Yes Minister andThe Complete Yes, Prime Minister were also translated into German asYes Minister (ISBN 3-442-08636-1) andYes Premierminister (ISBN 3-442-08892-5) respectively.
In Spain, the series was broadcast under the title of "Sí ministro".
The BBC issued some episodes ofYes Minister, and all ofYes, Prime Minister on VHS.[64] They were re-released and repackaged at various points. The complete collection was released by the BBC throughWarner Home Video on Region 1 DVD in October 2003. Warner appears to have addedRCE region coding to the individual release of the second series ofYes Minister, but there are no similar reported problems on playing the complete collection.[64] The BBC, through 2 Entertain Video, also issued several Region 2 DVDs:
The 2013 relaunched series on Gold was released on 25 February 2013[65]
Netflix previously streamed both series to subscribers. All four series are also available for download purchase from iTunes, Amazon Prime Video and similar platforms.[66][67] Episodes have been made available onBBC iPlayer in the U.K. andBritbox in the United States.[68][69][70][71]
The Region 4 (Australian/New Zealand) releases took place from 2002 to 2007:
The series spawned several books. The scripts were edited and transformed into prose, and published by BBC Books in the form of diaries. Scenes that did not involve Hacker took the form of private memos between civil servants, or 'interviews' and written correspondence from other characters. In some instances, the novelizations added extra details, while padding-out some existing details. For example, in the novelization for 'The Official Visit', Sir Humphrey manages to confuse Hacker, by reeling-off a plethora of acronyms—without explaining them, leaving Hacker with nonsense to fathom.
The three series ofYes Minister were published as paperbacks in 1981, 1982 and 1983 respectively before being combined into a revised hardback omnibus edition,The Complete Yes Minister: The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister, in 1984. Two volumes ofYes, Prime Minister: The Diaries of the Right Hon. James Hacker were published in 1986 and 1987, before being made available as an omnibus edition in 1988. Both series were published as omnibus paperback editions in 1989:
Sir Antony Jay'sHow to Beat Sir Humphrey: Every Citizen's Guide to Fighting Officialdom (ISBN 0-9528285-1-0) was published in April 1997. It was illustrated by Gerald Scarfe and Shaun Williams. It was read by Derek Fowlds on Radio 4 later that year.
The "Yes Minister" Miscellany was released in October 2009.
The script of the play,Yes, Prime Minister, was published in paperback byFaber & Faber in 2010 (ISBN 978-0-571-26070-6).
Graham McCann's 'A Very Courageous Decision: The Inside Story of Yes Minister,' was published by Aurum Books in October 2014 (ISBN 978-1781311899).
AYes, Prime Minister video game was released in 1987 forAmstrad CPC,BBC Micro,Commodore 64,MS-DOS, andZX Spectrum. The player takes on the role of Prime Minister Jim Hacker for one week as he navigates through meetings with Sir Humphrey, Bernard Woolley, and other government officials, making decisions about seemingly minor government policies which regardless have an effect on the PM's approval rating by the end of the week.[74]
In 2005,BBC Four launchedThe Thick of It, described by directorArmando Iannucci as "Yes Minister meetsLarry Sanders",[75] andThe Daily Telegraph called it "aYes, Minister for theLabour years."[76] The style shows many identifiable hallmarks ofYes Minister, namely the blundering politician virtually entirely dependent on those whose presentational and politicalnous greatly eclipse his own limited abilities.
As an adaptation ofThe Thick of It, Armando Iannucci also created and directedVeep, an American political satire comedy television series.[77] As the United Stateshas a different political system from United Kingdom'sparliamentary system, the show instead focuses on a fictional female Vice President of the United States and her staff. BothYes, Minister andVeep feature a Prime Minister/President that is never depicted on-screen, but nevertheless highly influential in the plot; and in both series, the unseen Prime Minister/President eventually resigns, with the result that both protagonists later become the Prime Minister/President themselves.
In a 2006 poll, British MPs votedYes Minister as the greatest political comedy of all time.[78][79]
In January 2025, the British government announced that a new collection of artificial intelligence tools aimed at helping civil servants with their work would be called Humphrey, named after theYes Minister character Sir Humphrey Appleby.[80]
We are especially grateful also to Sir Bernard Woolley GCB, formerly Hacker's Principal Private Secretary at Number Ten Downing Street and eventually Head of the Home Civil Service
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