Yes Minister is a
satiricalSatire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
British sitcomA British sitcom tends, as it does in most other countries, to be based on a family, workplace or other institution, where the same group of contrasting characters is brought together in each episode. Unlike American sitcoms, where twenty or more episodes in a season is the norm, British sitcoms...
written by
Antony JaySir Antony Rupert Jay, CVO, is an English writer, broadcaster, director, and actor famous for the co-authorship, with Jonathan Lynn, of the successful British political comedies Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister...
and
Jonathan LynnJonathan Lynn is an English actor, comedy writer and director. He is best known for being the co-writer of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.-Personal life:...
that was first transmitted by
BBC TelevisionBBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
between 1980–1982 and 1984, split over three seven-episode series. The sequel,
Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 to 1988. In total there were 38 episodes—of which all but one lasted half an hour. Several episodes were adapted for
BBC RadioBBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
, and a stage play was produced in 2010.
Set principally in the private office of a British government cabinet minister in the (fictional) Department for Administrative Affairs in
WhitehallWhitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...
(the sequel was set in the Prime Minister's offices at
10 Downing Street10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....
), the series follows the
senior ministerialA minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....
career of The Rt Hon Jim Hacker MP, played by
Paul EddingtonPaul Eddington CBE was an English actor best known for his appearances in popular television sitcoms of the 1970s and 80s: The Good Life, Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.-Early life:...
. His various struggles to formulate and enact legislation or effect departmental changes are opposed by the will of the British Home Civil Service, in particular his
Permanent SecretaryThe Permanent secretary, in most departments officially titled the permanent under-secretary of state , is the most senior civil servant of a British Government ministry, charged with running the department on a day-to-day basis...
, Sir
Humphrey ApplebySir Humphrey Appleby, GCB, KBE, MVO, MA , is a fictional character from the British television series Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. He was played by Sir Nigel Hawthorne. In Yes Minister, he is the Permanent Secretary for the Department of Administrative Affairs...
, played by
Nigel HawthorneSir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne, CBE was an English actor, perhaps best remembered for his role as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary in the 1980s sitcom Yes Minister and the Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. For this role he won four BAFTA Awards during the 1980s in the...
. His
Principal Private SecretaryIn the British Civil Service and Australian Public Service the Principal Private Secretary is the civil servant who runs a cabinet minister's private office...
Bernard WoolleySir Bernard Woolley GCB is one of the three main fictional characters of the 1980s British sitcom Yes Minister and its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. He was portrayed by Derek Fowlds.-Character:...
, played by
Derek FowldsDerek Fowlds is an English actor, known for playing Bernard Woolley in popular British television comedies Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister and Oscar Blaketon in the long-running ITV police drama Heartbeat....
, is usually caught between the two.
A huge critical and popular success, the series received a number of awards, including several
BAFTAsThe British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...
and in 2004 came sixth in the
Britain's Best SitcomBritain's Best Sitcom was a poll conducted in 2004 by the BBC, to identify the United Kingdom's best situation comedy. Viewers were asked to vote for their favourite by phone, text message and on the web. The top ten went forward to a final round of voting...
poll. It was the favourite television programme of the then
Prime Minister of the United KingdomThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
,
Margaret ThatcherMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
.
Situation
The series commences in the wake of a
general electionThis is a list of United Kingdom general elections since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliament of Ireland, before being co-opted to serve in the first Parliament of the United Kingdom, so that Parliament...
in which the incumbents have been defeated by the opposition to which Jim Hacker MP belongs—the party affiliation is not stated, although his party emblem is clearly not Conservative or Labour. The Prime Minister offers Hacker the position of Minister of Administrative Affairs, which he accepts. Hacker goes to his department and meets his Permanent Secretary, Sir
Humphrey ApplebySir Humphrey Appleby, GCB, KBE, MVO, MA , is a fictional character from the British television series Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. He was played by Sir Nigel Hawthorne. In Yes Minister, he is the Permanent Secretary for the Department of Administrative Affairs...
, and his Principal Private Secretary,
Bernard WoolleySir Bernard Woolley GCB is one of the three main fictional characters of the 1980s British sitcom Yes Minister and its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. He was portrayed by Derek Fowlds.-Character:...
. While Appleby is outwardly obsequious towards the new minister, he is prepared to defend the status quo at all costs. Woolley is sympathetic towards Hacker but as Appleby reminds him, his civil servant superiors will have much to say about the course of his future career, while ministers do not usually stay long in one department. Many of the episodes revolve around proposals backed by Hacker but frustrated by Appleby, and many others revolve around proposals promoted by the latter but rejected by Hacker, and which Sir Humphrey 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 says "there was not a single scene set in the House 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."
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 only 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, the Prime Minister) he must act as a loyal and effective party member. Sir Humphrey, on the other hand, genuinely believes that it is the Civil Service that knows what is best for the country (a belief shared by his bureaucratic colleagues) which is usually what is best for the Civil Service. Most of Sir Humphrey's actions are motivated by his wish to maintain the prestige, power, and influence he enjoys inside a large, bureaucratic organisation and also to preserve the numerous perks of his position: automatic honours, a substantial income, a fixed retirement age, a large pension, and the practical impossibility of being made redundant or being sacked. In fact, a good deal of the tension in their relationship comes from Hacker's awareness that the politicians are liable to lose
their jobs if civil service ineptitude comes to public attention.
Hacker sees his task as the initiation of departmental reforms and economies, a reduction of the level of
bureaucracyA bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...
and staff numbers in the Civil Service, and governing the country according to his party's policies. To do so, or to at least look as if he is, would 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 the
status quo is upheld as a matter of principle. He 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 between
CabinetThe Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the collective decision-making body of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 22 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government ministers....
ministers (who believe they are in charge) and the members of the British Civil Service who really run the country. A typical episode centres on Jim Hacker's suggesting and pursuing a reform and Sir Humphrey's ingenious 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, Hacker
does get his way. Sir Humphrey occasionally resorts to tactics such as calling a policy "courageous". He and Hacker both know that, in Sir Humphrey's view, a controversial policy will lose votes, whilst a courageous one will lose the election.
Initially, Woolley naively sees his job as the disinterested implementation of the Minister's policies but 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. Consequently, another recurring scenario is one where Bernard must "walk the tightrope"–-that is, arbitrate between his two conflicting duties by resorting to elaborate verbosity (much like Sir Humphrey) to avoid choosing one over the other.
The first series featured Frank Weisel, Hacker's political adviser (played by
Neil FitzwiliamNeil Fitzwiliam is an English actor who has made several appearances in theatre, film and television productions.Credits include the first stage production of the musical, Cats, and a part as a dancer in the film, The Slipper and the Rose. His most notable role was as Frank Weisel in the BBC...
in the television series, and later by
Bill NighyWilliam Francis "Bill" Nighy is an English actor and comedian. He worked in theatre and television before his first cinema role in 1981, and made his name in television with The Men's Room in 1991, in which he played the womanizer Prof...
in the radio series). The first syllable of his name is pronounced "Wise", but Sir Humphrey and Bernard persistently call him "Weasel". Weisel does not appear after the first series, following his convenient acceptance of a position on a
quangoQuango or qango is an acronym used notably in the United Kingdom, Ireland and elsewhere to label an organisation to which government has devolved power...
(Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation) tasked, appropriately, with investigating the appointment of other quangos and the government's honours system and 'jobs for the boys'. After the third series, following Sir Humphrey's promotion to
Cabinet SecretaryA Cabinet Secretary is almost always a senior official who provides services and advice to a Cabinet of Ministers. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powers, including general responsibility for the entire civil service...
, Hacker becomes Prime Minister and requests that Bernard Woolley continue as his Principal Private Secretary. The first series of
Yes, Prime Minister introduced Dorothy Wainwright (played by
Deborah NortonDeborah Norton is an English actress best known for her appearances in Yes, Prime Minister and A Bit of Fry and Laurie.- Personal life :...
) as a highly able special political adviser to the Prime Minister. Her experience and insight into many civil service tricks ensures a lasting mutual distrust between her and Sir Humphrey and an invaluable second opinion for Hacker. Sir Humphrey frequently annoys Dorothy by addressing her with a cry of "dear lady".
Hacker's home life is shown occasionally throughout the series. His wife Annie (
Diana HoddinottDiana Hoddinott is an English actress. She was born to Winifred Doris, née Dibble and Alan Hoddinott , who married in 1934 in Langport....
) is clearly frustrated by the disruptions caused by her husband's political career and is at times somewhat cynical about her husband's politics. Meanwhile, his sociology student daughter, Lucy (
Gerry CowperGeraldine Cowper is an English actress who is best known for playing Rosie Miller in EastEnders. In the mid 1980s she took the part of Clare France in After Henry on BBC radio and also appeared on television as Jim Hacker's daughter in Yes Minister.-Career:Cowper was Clare France, the youngest of...
), becomes an environmental activist in one episode, campaigning against the Department's intention to remove protected status from a wooded area believed to be inhabited by
badgerBadgers are short-legged omnivores in the weasel family, Mustelidae. There are nine species of badger, in three subfamilies : Melinae , Mellivorinae , and Taxideinae...
s. Sir Humphrey falsely assures her there have not been badgers in the woods for some years, a deceit winked at by Hacker.
Sir Humphrey's personal characteristics include his complicated sentences, his ineffable snobbery, his cynical views of government, and his superciliousness. Hacker's attributes include occasional indecisiveness, and a tendency to launch into ludicrous
ChurchillianSir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
speeches. Bernard is apt to linguistic pedantry. All characters are able to switch to a completely opposite opinion in seconds when convenient.
Sir Humphrey often discusses matters with other Permanent Secretaries, who appear similarly sardonic and jaded, and the Cabinet Secretary (whom he eventually succeeds in
Yes, Prime Minister), Sir Arnold Robinson (
John NettletonJohn Nettleton is an English actor.One of his most notable roles was that of Sir Arnold Robinson, the Cabinet Secretary in Yes Minister and President of the Campaign for Freedom of Information in the follow-up Yes, Prime Minister...
), an archetype of cynicism, haughtiness and conspiratorial expertise. This fairly counter-intuitive view of government administration is not only Sir Humphrey's: it is completely taken for granted by the civil service.
The
Yes, Prime Minister episode "
A Victory for Democracy“A Victory for Democracy” is the sixth episode of the BBC comedy series Yes, Prime Minister and was first broadcast 13 February 1986.- Plot :...
" lampoons the Foreign Office bureaucracy's control of Britain's foreign policy and also their pro-Arab, anti-Israeli tendency which is seen to flow from a realist or cynical approach to foreign affairs. The episode, where Hacker is kept in the dark by the Foreign Office but can make an informed decision thanks to a conversation with the Israeli ambassador, is partly based on an actual incident narrated to Lynn by his uncle
Abba EbanAbba Eban was an Israeli diplomat and politician.In his career he was Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister, Education Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and ambassador to the United States and to the United Nations...
.
Another
Yes, Prime Minister episode "
The Bishop's Gambit“The Bishop’s Gambit” is the seventh episode of the BBC comedy series Yes, Prime Minister and was first broadcast 20 February 1986.- Plot :...
" parodied
Liberal ChristianityLiberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically and biblically informed religious movements and ideas within Christianity from the late 18th century and onward...
and politics in the
Church of EnglandThe Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
. Hacker thought that the church is a Christian institution but Sir Humphrey gleefully informs him that most of the Anglican bishops do not
believe in GodTheism, in the broadest sense, is the belief that at least one deity exists.In a more specific sense, theism refers to a doctrine concerning the nature of a monotheistic God and God's relationship to the universe....
and that a theologian's job is partly to explain why an agnostic or atheist can be a church leader.
Almost all the episodes end with one of the characters (usually Sir Humphrey) saying "Yes, Minister" or "Yes, Prime Minister" accordingly (or "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 series of
Yes, Prime Minister had a loose
story arcA story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and in some cases, films. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story...
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 the show.
Politics
Lynn joined the
Cambridge UnionThe Cambridge Union Society, commonly referred to as simply "the Cambridge Union" or "the Union," is a debating society in Cambridge, England and is the largest society at the University of Cambridge. Since its founding in 1815, the Union has developed a worldwide reputation as a noted symbol of...
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 twenty, 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 twenty years later they all were:
Michael HowardMichael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...
; John Selwyn Gummer;
Kenneth ClarkeKenneth Harry "Ken" Clarke, QC, MP is a British Conservative politician, currently Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. He was first elected to Parliament in 1970; and appointed a minister in Edward Heath's government, in 1972, and is one of...
. I thought at that point that the only way that I could ever contribute to politics is making fun of the politicians."
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 of Conservative Central Office and Labour's
Transport HouseTransport House on Smith Square and Dean Bradley Street, London, England, was the headquarters of the Transport and General Workers' Union , and also originally of the Labour Party, the Trades Union Congress, and the Workers' Travel Association...
). The terms "
LabourThe Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
" and "
ConservativeThe Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
" are scrupulously avoided throughout the series, favouring terms such as "the party" or "the Government" and "the opposition." In the first scene of the first episode, "Open Government", Hacker is shown at the declaration of his constituency result wearing a white
rosetteA rosette is a small, circular device that is presented with a medal. The rosettes are primarily for situations where wearing the medal is deemed inappropriate. Rosettes are issued in nations such as France, Italy and Japan...
, 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"The National Education Service" is the fifteenth episode of the BBC comedy series Yes, Prime Minister and was first broadcast 21 January 1988.- Plot :...
", when Sir Humphrey explains to Bernard how the policy of
comprehensive educationA comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
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"Jobs for the Boys" is the seventh episode of the BBC comedy series Yes Minister and was first broadcast 7 April 1980. In this episode, the final ' Yes Minister ' is uttered by Sir Humphrey Appleby...
", for example, rejected
corporatismCorporatism, also known as corporativism, is a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labor, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common...
. Throughout the period of
Yes Minister and
Yes Prime Minister the incumbent government of the United Kingdom was Conservative with the government led by Thatcher.
In a 2004 documentary,
Armando IannucciArmando Giovanni Iannucci is a Scottish comedian, satirist, writer, director, performer and radio producer. Born in Glasgow, he studied at Oxford University and left graduate work on a PhD about John Milton to pursue a career in comedy....
compared
Yes Minister to
George OrwellEric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
's
Nineteen Eighty-FourNineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
in how it has influenced the public's view of the state. Although Lynn comments that the word "
spinIn public relations, spin is a form of propaganda, achieved through providing an interpretation of an event or campaign to persuade public opinion in favor or against a certain organization or public figure...
" has "probably entered the political vocabulary since the series," 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." The series depicted the media-consciousness of politicians, reflecting the
public relationsPublic relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
training they undergo to help them deal with interviews and reading from
autocueAn autocue is a display device that prompts the person speaking with an electronic visual text of a speech or script. Using a teleprompter is similar to the practice of using cue cards...
effectively. This is particularly evident in the episode "
The Ministerial Broadcast“The Ministerial Broadcast” is the second episode of the BBC comedy series Yes, Prime Minister and was first broadcast 16 January 1986.-Plot:...
", in which Hacker is advised on the effects of his clothes and surroundings. The episode "
A Conflict of Interest"A Conflict of Interest" is the twelfth episode of the BBC comedy series Yes, Prime Minister and was first broadcast 31 December 1987.- Plot :...
" humorously lampoons the various political stances of Britain's newspapers through their readers (although this material was not original):
Adam CurtisAdam Curtis is a British BAFTA winning documentarian and a writer, television producer, director and narrator. He works for BBC Current Affairs.-Early life and education:Curtis was born in 1955...
, in his three-part TV documentary
The Trap, criticised the series as "ideological propaganda for a political movement", and claimed that
Yes Minister is indicative of a larger movement of criticism of government and bureaucracy, centred upon public choice economics. This view has been supported by Jay himself:
Inspirations
The writers were inspired by a variety of sources, including sources inside government, published material and contemporary news stories. The writers also met several leading senior civil servants under the auspices of the Royal Institute of Public Administration, a think-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"The Compassionate Society" is the eighth episode of the BBC comedy series Yes Minister and was first broadcast 23 February 1981. In this episode, the final ' Yes Minister ' is uttered by Bernard Woolley.- Plot :...
" depicts a hospital with five hundred 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."
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 of
Harold WilsonJames Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
and
James CallaghanLeonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...
, namely Marcia Williams and
Bernard DonoughueBernard Donoughue, Baron Donoughue is a British politician, businessman and author.The son of Thomas Joseph Donoughue was educated at Campbell Secondary Modern School and Northampton Grammar School, Lincoln College, Oxford, where he read History and obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1957,...
. The published diaries of
Richard CrossmanRichard Howard Stafford Crossman OBE was a British author and Labour Party politician who was a Cabinet Minister under Harold Wilson, and was the editor of the New Statesman. A prominent socialist intellectual, he became one of the Labour Party's leading Zionists and anti-communists...
also provided inspiration.
The episode entitled "
The Moral Dimension"The Moral Dimension" is the eighteenth episode of the BBC comedy series Yes Minister and was first broadcast 2 December 1982. The final ' Yes, Minister ' is said in unison by both Sir Humphrey and Bernard.- Plot :...
", in which Hacker and his staff engage in the scheme of secretly consuming
alcoholAn alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
on a trade mission to the fictional Islamic state of Qumran, was based on a real incident that took place in
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, involving Callaghan and Donoughue, the latter of whom informed Jay and Lynn about the incident. 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." 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."
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." 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, in order to conceal the layout of the buildings.
James "Jim" Hacker
The Rt Hon. Jim Hacker, Lord Hacker of Islington KGThe Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...
PC BSc (
Paul EddingtonPaul Eddington CBE was an English actor best known for his appearances in popular television sitcoms of the 1970s and 80s: The Good Life, Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.-Early life:...
) was the editor of a newspaper,
Reform, before entering government. He apparently spent a good deal of time in Parliament on the Opposition benches before his party won the general election. In
Yes Minister he is the Minister for Administrative Affairs (a fictitious ministry of the British government) and a Cabinet Minister, and in
Yes, Prime Minister he becomes the
Prime Minister of the United KingdomThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
. Hacker received his degree from the
London School of EconomicsThe London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
(graduating with a Third), for which he is often derided by the Oxford-educated Sir Humphrey (who attended the fictitious Baillie 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, and uses 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.
Throughout
Yes Minister Hacker is regularly portrayed as a publicity-mad bungler who is incapable of making a firm decision, prone to make potentially embarrassing blunders, and a frequent target of criticism from the
pressJournalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
and stern lectures from the
Chief WhipThe Chief Whip is a political office in some legislatures assigned to an elected member whose task is to administer the whipping system that ensures that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires.-The Whips Office:...
. However, in
Yes, 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 a
Radio TimesRadio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
interview to promote
Yes, 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."
Sir Humphrey Appleby
Sir Humphrey Appleby GCBThe Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, KBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, MVOThe Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
, MA (Oxon) (
Nigel HawthorneSir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne, CBE was an English actor, perhaps best remembered for his role as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary in the 1980s sitcom Yes Minister and the Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. For this role he won four BAFTA Awards during the 1980s in the...
) serves throughout the series as
Permanent SecretaryThe Permanent secretary, in most departments officially titled the permanent under-secretary of state , is the most senior civil servant of a British Government ministry, charged with running the department on a day-to-day basis...
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 the
status quo for the country in general and for the Civil Service in particular. Sir Humphrey is a master of
obfuscationObfuscation is the hiding of intended meaning in communication, making communication confusing, wilfully ambiguous, and harder to interpret.- Background :Obfuscation may be used for many purposes...
and
manipulationSocial influence occurs when an individual's thoughts, feelings or actions are affected by other people. Social influence takes many forms and can be seen in conformity, socialization, peer pressure, obedience, leadership, persuasion, sales, and marketing...
, baffling his opponents with technical jargon and circumlocutions, strategically appointing allies to supposedly impartial boards, and setting up interdepartmental committees to smother his Minister's proposals in
red tapeRed tape is excessive regulation or rigid conformity to formal rules that is considered redundant or bureaucratic and hinders or prevents action or decision-making...
. In
Britain's Best Sitcom,
Stephen FryStephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
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 of
Yes Minister... when's the big speech going to happen? And can I see if he's reading it from an idiot board... he's really learned it, and it's superb." 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, didn't win at all.
Loquacious and verbose, he frequently uses both his mastery of the English language and even his superb grasp of
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
and Greek grammar both to perplex his political master and to obscure the relevant issues. In a
Radio TimesRadio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
interview to promote the second series of
Yes, Prime Minister, producer Sydney Lotterby stated that he always tried to give Eddington and Hawthorne extra time to rehearse as their scenes invariably featured lengthy dialogue exchanges.
Bernard Woolley
Bernard Woolley (
Derek FowldsDerek Fowlds is an English actor, known for playing Bernard Woolley in popular British television comedies Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister and Oscar Blaketon in the long-running ITV police drama Heartbeat....
) is Jim Hacker's
Principal Private SecretaryIn the British Civil Service and Australian Public Service the Principal Private Secretary is the civil servant who runs a cabinet minister's private office...
. His loyalties are therefore split between his Minister and his Civil Service boss, Sir Humphrey: while he is theoretically responsible to Hacker personally, it is Sir Humphrey who writes his performance reviews and influences Bernard's Civil Service career. This leads to difficult situations for the young civil servant. 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").
Woolley is always quick to point out the physical impossibilities of Sir Humphrey's or Hacker's mixed metaphors, with almost obsessive
pedantA pedant is a person who is excessively concerned with formalism and precision, or who makes a show of his or her learning.-Etymology:The English language word "pedant" comes from the French pédant or its older mid-15th Century Italian source pedante, "teacher, schoolmaster"...
ry. 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". At times when Sir Humphrey fails to get his way, Woolley can be seen smiling smugly at him over his defeat.
In a 2004 retrospective,
Armando IannucciArmando Giovanni Iannucci is a Scottish comedian, satirist, writer, director, performer and radio producer. Born in Glasgow, he studied at Oxford University and left graduate work on a PhD about John Milton to pursue a career in comedy....
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 Bernard 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."
The Editor's Note to
The 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.
Other characters
The series featured a cast of recurring characters.
- Frank Weisel (often deprecatingly called weasel), played by Neil Fitzwiliam
Neil Fitzwiliam is an English actor who has made several appearances in theatre, film and television productions.Credits include the first stage production of the musical, Cats, and a part as a dancer in the film, The Slipper and the Rose. His most notable role was as Frank Weisel in the BBC...
, was Hacker's political adviserPolitical consulting, beyond the self-evident definition of consulting in political matters, refers to a specific management consulting industry which has grown up around advising and assisting political campaigns. This article deals primarily with the development and nature of political consulting...
in the first series. The less scrupulous Hacker eventually found him rather tiresome (and Mrs. Hacker wondered why he "[didn't] just move in") and he was sent on a worldwide fact-finding assignment from which he did not return to the cast.
- It was not until Yes, Prime Minister that another such character appeared regularly: Dorothy Wainwright
Dorothy Wainwright is a fictional character in the 1980s British sitcom, Yes, Prime Minister. She was portrayed by Deborah Norton.During the time that James Hacker served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Wainwright served as his Chief Political Advisor. She had already served his...
, special adviser to the Prime Minister, who was played by Deborah NortonDeborah Norton is an English actress best known for her appearances in Yes, Prime Minister and A Bit of Fry and Laurie.- Personal life :...
. Earlier Prime Ministerial advisers had appeared from time to time in episodes of Yes Minister, including Daniel Moynihan as Daniel Hughes in "The Writing on the Wall" (1980) and Nigel Stock as Sir Mark Spencer in "Bed of Nails" (1982).
- Hacker also had a Press Secretary
A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage....
, Bill Pritchard, played by Antony Carrick.
Meanwhile, Sir Humphrey's civil service colleagues were regularly featured.
- They included Sir Arnold Robinson (played by John Nettleton
John Nettleton is an English actor.One of his most notable roles was that of Sir Arnold Robinson, the Cabinet Secretary in Yes Minister and President of the Campaign for Freedom of Information in the follow-up Yes, Prime Minister...
), Cabinet Secretary in Yes Minister and later President of the Campaign forThe Campaign for Freedom of Information is a lobbying group based in the United Kingdom that campaigns for Freedom of information in the United Kingdom and against unnecessary secrecy by the UK Government.It is not affiliated with any political party....
Freedom of InformationFreedom of information legislation in the United Kingdom is controlled by two Acts of the United Kingdom and Scottish Parliaments respectively, which both came into force on 1 January 2005.* Freedom of Information Act 2000...
;
- Sir Frederick Stewart (played by John Savident
John Savident is a British actor, best known for playing the part of Fred Elliott in the soap opera Coronation Street from 1994 to 2006. And also was a frequent guest on Soccer AM alongside fellow actor Jack 'The Rigger' Spooner....
), Permanent Secretary of the Foreign and Commonwealth OfficeThe Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
, known as "Jumbo" to his friends;
- Sir Ian Whitchurch (played by John Barron
John Barron was an English actor.-Biography:Born in Marylebone, London, Barron was interested in acting from an early age. For his 18th birthday his godfather paid his entry fee to RADA. After serving as a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, he returned to stage acting...
), Permanent Secretary to the Department of Health and Social SecurityThe Department of Health and Social Security was a ministry of the British government in existence for twenty years from 1968 until 1988, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Social Services.-History:...
and
- Sir Frank Gordon, who appeared in both series of Yes, Prime Minister as Permanent Secretary to the Treasury
HM Treasury, in full Her Majesty's Treasury, informally The Treasury, is the United Kingdom government department responsible for developing and executing the British government's public finance policy and economic policy...
(played by Peter CellierPeter Cellier is an English actor who has appeared in film, stage and television. He is perhaps best known for his role as Sir Frank Gordon in Yes Minister and then Yes, Prime Minister in the 1980s.-Biography:...
).
- Sir Humphrey also had an old acquaintance: Sir Desmond Glazebrook (played by Richard Vernon
Richard Vernon was a British actor. He appeared in many feature films and television programmes, often in aristocratic or supercilious roles...
), who was Board member, then Chairman, of Bartlett's Bank. He became Governor of the Bank of EnglandThe Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
in the Yes, Prime Minister episode "A Conflict of Interest"A Conflict of Interest" is the twelfth episode of the BBC comedy series Yes, Prime Minister and was first broadcast 31 December 1987.- Plot :...
". (This was to avoid, as one possibility, Britain's expulsion from the CommonwealthThe Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
.)
Hacker's family:
- His wife, Annie Hacker
Anne "Annie" Hacker is a fictional character in the 1980s British sitcom Yes Minister and its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. She was portrayed by Diana Hoddinott....
(played by Diana HoddinottDiana Hoddinott is an English actress. She was born to Winifred Doris, née Dibble and Alan Hoddinott , who married in 1934 in Langport....
), who appeared in several episodes, and
- His daughter, Lucy (played by Gerry Cowper
Geraldine Cowper is an English actress who is best known for playing Rosie Miller in EastEnders. In the mid 1980s she took the part of Clare France in After Henry on BBC radio and also appeared on television as Jim Hacker's daughter in Yes Minister.-Career:Cowper was Clare France, the youngest of...
), who only appeared on-screen in one episode ("The Right to Know"The Right to Know" is the sixth episode of the BBC comedy series Yes Minister and was first broadcast 31 March 1980. This was one of a few episodes during the first series which did not end with the trademark phrase "Yes Minister".- Plot :...
") but who is mentioned intermittently throughout.
- At one point (in "Party Games
"Party Games" is the twenty-second and final episode of the BBC comedy series Yes Minister. A one-hour Christmas special that was first broadcast 17 December 1984, its events lead into the sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. The episode was shown again at Christmas 1990, shortly after the fall of Margaret...
") it is stated that the Hackers have more than one child.
Others:
- Various Chief Whip
The Chief Whip is a political office in some legislatures assigned to an elected member whose task is to administer the whipping system that ensures that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires.-The Whips Office:...
s, usually acting in Yes Minister as a "gatekeeper" to the unseen Prime Minister, the first of whom, Vic Gould, was played by Edward JewesburyEdward Jewesbury was a British actor, notable for his film, stage and television work and as a member of the Renaissance Theatre Company. In his later years he appeared in such television comedies as Yes Minister and Blackadder II.His son Ian was a senior civil servant at the UK Department of...
.
- Hacker's chauffeur, George (Arthur Cox
Arthur Cox , is a British actor of television and film.His most regular role was as George, the driver of Jim Hacker in the comedy Yes Minister. His other television credits include The Avengers, Terry and June, and Harbour Lights...
), appeared in five episodes. He is a character who is always more in touch with current events than the Minister—anything from empty NHSThe National Health Service or NHS is the publicly funded healthcare system in England. It is both the largest and oldest single-payer healthcare system in the world. It is able to function in the way that it does because it is primarily funded through the general taxation system, similar to how...
hospitals to Cabinet reshufflesIn the parliamentary system a cabinet shuffle or reshuffle is an informal term for an event that occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet....
. This often irritates Hacker who, when he asks George where the information came from, is usually told that it is common knowledge among the Whitehall drivers.
- Tom Sargent (Robert Urquhart
Robert Urquhart was a Scottish character actor who mainly worked in British television during his career.He was born in Ullapool, Scotland on 16 October 1921, educated at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh and made his stage debut in 1947...
), Hacker's predecessor as Minister for Administrative Affairs in the previous government, appeared in the episode "Big Brother"Big Brother" is the fourth episode of the BBC comedy series Yes Minister and was first broadcast 17 March 1980.-Plot:Jim Hacker is being interviewed by Robert McKenzie for the TV current affairs programme Topic...
".
- Basil Corbett is a rival politician who, though he is not seen, is central to the plot of "The Devil You Know
"The Devil You Know" is the twelfth episode of the BBC comedy series Yes Minister and was first broadcast 23 March 1981. In this episode, the final ' Yes Minister ' is uttered by Sir Humphrey Appleby.- Plot :Jim Hacker is not best pleased...
".
- Well-known broadcasters who played themselves included Robert McKenzie, Ludovic Kennedy
Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy was a British journalist, broadcaster, humanist and author best known for re-examining cases such as the Lindbergh kidnapping and the murder convictions of Timothy Evans and Derek Bentley, and for his role in the abolition of the death penalty in the United...
and Sue Lawley- Early life and education:Born in Sedgley, Staffordshire, England and brought up in the Black Country, she was educated at Dudley Girls High School and graduated in modern languages from the University of Bristol and some time later started her career at the BBC in Plymouth...
. Robert DougallRobert Dougall MBE was a British broadcaster and ornithologist, mainly known as a newsreader and announcer.-Television news:...
regularly played a newsreader, which was his own real life profession. Another newscaster, Nicholas WitchellNicholas Newton Henshall Witchell is an English journalist. He is the current diplomatic and royal correspondent for BBC News...
, can be heard reporting on Hacker's visit to a school in "The National Education Service"The National Education Service" is the fifteenth episode of the BBC comedy series Yes, Prime Minister and was first broadcast 21 January 1988.- Plot :...
".
Episodes
A total of thirty-eight 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 added 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." There were occasionally film inserts of location sequences, and some shots of Hacker travelling in his car were achieved by means of
chroma keyChroma key compositing is a technique for compositing two images together. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production...
. Each programme usually comprised around six scenes.
The pilot was produced in 1979 but not transmitted until 1980 in fear that it could influence the results of the
1979 UK General ElectionThe United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 43 seats...
.
Yes Minister ran for three series, each of seven episodes, between 1980 and 1982. These were followed by two Christmas specials: one 10-minute sketch as part of an anthology presented by
Frank MuirFrank Herbert Muir was an English comedy writer, radio and television personality, and raconteur. His writing and performing partnership with Denis Norden endured for most of their careers. Together they wrote BBC radio's Take It From Here for over 10 years, and then appeared on BBC radio...
, and then the hour-long "
Party Games"Party Games" is the twenty-second and final episode of the BBC comedy series Yes Minister. A one-hour Christmas special that was first broadcast 17 December 1984, its events lead into the sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. The episode was shown again at Christmas 1990, shortly after the fall of Margaret...
", in 1984. The latter's events led to Hacker's elevation to Prime Minister, dovetailing into the sequel,
Yes, Prime Minister. This ran for two series, each of eight episodes, from 1986 to 1988.
Opening titles and music
The opening titles were drawn by artist
Gerald ScarfeGerald Anthony Scarfe, CBE, RDI, is an English cartoonist and illustrator. He worked as editorial cartoonist for The Sunday Times and illustrator for The New Yorker...
, who provided distinctive
caricatureA caricature is a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.Caricatures can be...
s of Eddington, Hawthorne and Fowlds in their respective roles to represent distortion. 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 Commons
Weekly Information Bulletin. Curiously, the legend
Compiled in the Public Information Office of the House of Commons Library was left in the sequence. Scarfe created a second set of graphics for
Yes, Prime Minister, including a different title card for each episode. Derek Fowlds wanted to buy an original drawing but was unable to afford it. The series' performance credits typically only featured those of the actors who appeared in the particular episode, not the names of characters.
The
theme musicTheme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
was composed by
Ronnie HazlehurstRonald "Ronnie" Hazlehurst was an English composer and conductor who, having joined the BBC in 1961, became its Light Entertainment Musical Director....
and is largely based on the
Westminster Quarters: the chimes of
Big BenBig Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, and is generally extended to refer to the clock or the clock tower as well. It is the largest four-faced chiming clock and the third-tallest free-standing clock tower in the world...
. When asked in an interview about its
WestminsterThe Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
influence, Hazlehurst replied, "That's all it is. It's the easiest thing I've ever done." Scarfe's and Hazlehurst's work was not used for the first episode, "Open Government". The final version of the titles and music had yet to be agreed, and both differ substantially from those used for subsequent instalments. The opening and closing title caption cards feature drawings of most of the cast, but are less exaggerated than those of Scarfe, while the unaccredited music is a more up-tempo piece for
brass bandA brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...
. The Scarfe and Hazlehurst credits were used for some repeat broadcasts of the first episode, but the original pilot credits were retained for the DVD release.
Reception
The series gained high audience figures, and 90+ on the audience
Appreciation IndexThe Audience Appreciation Index is a score out of 100 which is used as an indicator of the public's appreciation for a television or radio programme, or broadcast service, in the United Kingdom. Until 2002, the AI of a programme was calculated by BARB, the organisation that compiles television...
. Critics, such as Andrew Davies in the
Times Educational SupplementThe Times Educational Supplement is a weekly UK publication aimed primarily at school teachers in the UK. It was first published in 1910 as a pull-out supplement in The Times newspaper. Such was its popularity that in 1914, the supplement became a separate publication selling for 1 penny.The TES...
and Armando Iannucci, have noted that the show had high expectations of audience. Lynn posits that the public are more intelligent than most situation comedies, often patronising, 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.
Yes Minister won the
BAFTAThe British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
award for Best 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.
Yes Minister came sixth in a 2004
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
poll to find '
Britain's Best SitcomBritain's Best Sitcom was a poll conducted in 2004 by the BBC, to identify the United Kingdom's best situation comedy. Viewers were asked to vote for their favourite by phone, text message and on the web. The top ten went forward to a final round of voting...
'. In a list of the
100 Greatest British Television ProgrammesThe BFI TV 100 is a list compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute , chosen by a poll of industry professionals, to determine what were the greatest British television programmes of any genre ever to have been screened....
drawn up by the
British Film InstituteThe British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
in 2000, voted by industry professionals,
Yes Minister and
Yes, Prime Minister were jointly placed ninth. They were also placed 14th in
Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's
The Ultimate Sitcom, a poll conducted by people who work in sitcoms.
The series have been cited by
political scientistsPolitical Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
for their accurate and sophisticated portrayal of the relationships between civil servants and politicians, and are quoted in some textbooks on British politics. The series was highly rated by critics and politicians. The shows were very popular in government circles.
The Guinness Television Encyclopedia suggests that "real politicians ... enjoyed the show's cynical dismissal of
WhitehallWhitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...
intrigue and its insights into the machinations of government." Lord Donoughue, an admirer of the series who was head of
James CallaghanLeonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...
's policy unit at 10 Downing Street from 1976–9, 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.
Yes Minister and
Yes Prime Minister were the favourite programme of then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. She told
The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
that "its clearly-observed portrayal of what goes on in the corridors of power has given me hours of pure joy."
Gerald KaufmanSir Gerald Bernard Kaufman is a British Labour Party politician, who has been a Member of Parliament since 1970, first for Manchester Ardwick, and then subsequently for Manchester Gorton...
described it as "The Rt Hon.
FaustFaust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
MP, constantly beset by the wiles of Sir
MephistophelesMephistopheles is a demon featured in German folklore...
." As a supporter of Thatcher, Jay embraced her appreciation, although the more leftist Lynn was concerned.
Thatcher performed a short sketch with Eddington and Hawthorne on 20 January 1984 at a ceremony where the writers were presented with an award from
Mary WhitehouseMary Whitehouse, CBE was a British campaigner against the permissive society particularly as the media portrayed and reflected it...
's NVLA, an event commemorated on the cover of the satirical magazine
Private EyePrivate Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
. Authorship of the sketch is unclear. In
Britain's Best Sitcom,
Bernard InghamSir Bernard Ingham is a journalist and former civil servant who is best known as Margaret Thatcher's Chief Press Secretary while she was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Today Ingham lectures in Public Relations at Middlesex University in London...
says that he wrote it; other sources give Thatcher sole credit, while
Michael CockerellMichael Roger Lewis Cockerell is a British broadcaster and journalist.Educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, Cockerell is the BBC's most established political documentary maker, with a long, Emmy award-winning career of political programmes spanning television and radio...
says that she wrote it with Ingham's help. Another source gives renegade credit to
Charles PowellCharles Edwin Powell is an American actor, known for his roles as himself on Popular Mechanics for Kids and as President Harold Bates on 15/Love.-Biography:...
. The actors, who were both 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. Ingham says that it "went down a bomb", while Lynn brands it a "dreadful sketch" that was only funny because Thatcher was doing it. 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.
When Paul Eddington visited Australia during the 1980s, he was treated as a visiting British PM by the then Australian leader,
Bob HawkeRobert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
, who was obviously a great 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. In an interview to promote the first series of
Yes, 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." The series was well-received in the United States, running on the
A&E NetworkThe A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
and repeatedly on
public televisionPublic broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing and commercial financing.Public broadcasting may be...
.
Legacy
The show has been remade several times, albeit sometimes unofficially. The first was the unofficial Canadian remake
Not My DepartmentNot My Department was a Canadian television sitcom, which aired on CBC Television in 1987. The show lasted only a single season.The show, based on Charles Gordon's comedic novel The Governor General's Bunny Hop, starred Harry Ditson and Shelley Peterson as ministerial aides in Ottawa...
, which only lasted one season and was ostensibly based on a novel unrelated to
Yes, Minister.
Rosenbaddarna (from 1990) was the Swedish unofficial remake. The title of the Portuguese remake,
Sim, Sr. Ministro (from 1996), is a direct translation of the original's title.
Ji, MantrijiJi Mantriji is an Indian adaptation of the British satirical sitcom Yes Minister. It was telecast on STAR TV's channel STAR Plus with permission from the BBC. Ji Mantriji features Farooq Sheikh as Surya Prakash Singh, the Minister of Administrative Affairs; and Jayant Kripalani as the...
(2001) was the remake in
HindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
(with the BBC's permission) by
STAR PlusSTAR Plus is a Hindi language general entertainment television channel based in India. The channel is part of the STAR TV network's bouquet of channels...
,
Rupert MurdochKeith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
's Indian satellite TV channel. Both Sir Humphrey and Jim Hacker are portrayed there by the same actors who dubbed them for the original. A computer game version of
Yes Minister was released in 1987 for the
Commodore 64The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
,
Amstrad CPCThe Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...
and
ZX SpectrumThe ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
. The premise was to survive one week in office as Jim Hacker. In 2009, Israeli sitcom
Polishook, explicitly modelled on
Yes Minister, aired for a single season on Channel 2's Keshet Broadcasting. Also in 2009, it was announced that a Dutch remake would be made by S&V Fiction for
VPROThe VPRO was established in the Netherlands in 1926 as a religious broadcasting organization. Falling under the Protestant pillar, it represented the Liberal Protestant current...
, lasting 11 episodes. In the planned Dutch version, Sir Humphrey will be a woman and Bernard will be a Moroccan called Mohammed.
In 2005,
BBC FourBBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
launched
The Thick of ItThe Thick of It is a British comedy television series that satirises the inner workings of modern British government. It was first broadcast on BBC Four in 2005, and has so far completed fourteen half-hour episodes and two special hour-long episodes to coincide with Christmas and Gordon Brown's...
, described by director
Armando IannucciArmando Giovanni Iannucci is a Scottish comedian, satirist, writer, director, performer and radio producer. Born in Glasgow, he studied at Oxford University and left graduate work on a PhD about John Milton to pursue a career in comedy....
as "
Yes Minister meets
Larry SandersThe Larry Sanders Show is a satirical television sitcom that aired from August 1992 to May 1998 on the HBO cable television network in the United States. It starred stand-up comedian Garry Shandling as vain, neurotic talk show host Larry Sanders, and centered on the running of his TV show, and the...
", and
The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
called it "a
Yes, Minister for the
LabourThe Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
years." The style shows many identifiable hallmarks of
Yes Minister, namely the blundering politician virtually entirely dependent on those whose presentational and political
nousNous , also called intellect or intelligence, is a philosophical term for the faculty of the human mind which is described in classical philosophy as necessary for understanding what is true or real, very close in meaning to intuition...
greatly eclipse his own limited abilities.
Stage play (2010)
It was announced in early 2010 that Jay and Lynn would collaborate again to produce a stage play which ran from 13 May to 5 June, at
Chichester Festival TheatreChichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989....
. This production revived at the
Gielgud TheatreThe Gielgud Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, London, at the corner of Rupert Street. The house currently has 889 seats on three levels.-History:...
, in London's West End from 17 September 2010 until 15 January 2011. The principal cast was
David HaigDavid Haig is an Olivier Award-winning English actor and FIPA Award-winning writer. He is known for his versatility, having played dramatic, serio-comic and comedic roles, playing characters of varied social classes...
as Jim Hacker,
Henry GoodmanHenry Goodman is a British theatre actor. He trained at RADA in London alongside Jonathan Pryce.In 1988, he played George Green's brother-in-law Cyril in London's Burning. He played character roles in episodes of the popular UK police drama The Bill...
as Sir Humphrey,
Jonathan SlingerJonathan Slinger is a British actor. He trained at RADA, graduating in 1994. From there, he went to work at the Royal National Theatre and Shakespeare's Globe...
as Bernard Woolley and
Emily JoyceEmily Sian Joyce is an English stage and television actress.-Early life:Joyce is the youngest of three sisters, all of whom are in the entertainment business in the UK. Their mother loved the theatre and took the three girls to shows constantly...
as Claire Sutton, Hacker's special policy advisor. This production, while following the spirit and tone of the original series in many respects, was set contemporaneously at
ChequersChequers, or Chequers Court, is a country house near Ellesborough, to the south of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England, at the foot of the Chiltern Hills...
, the Prime Minister's country residence, with
BlackBerryBlackBerry is a line of mobile email and smartphone devices developed and designed by Canadian company Research In Motion since 1999.BlackBerry devices are smartphones, designed to function as personal digital assistants, portable media players, internet browsers, gaming devices, and much more...
s frequently in evidence, and even included a topical reference to a coalition agreement which Sir Humphrey had drafted (the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats having formed a
coalition governmentA coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...
in Britain in May 2010). The plot was a little more provocative and
risqué than most of those seen previously (including a debate about the ethics of procuring a fifteen year old as a sexual partner for a visiting dignitary, a proposition which Claire suggested might be
spunIn public relations, spin is a form of propaganda, achieved through providing an interpretation of an event or campaign to persuade public opinion in favor or against a certain organization or public figure...
in the national interest as a "euro-job") and included some stronger
expletivesProfanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
(reflecting perhaps their widely reported use among New Labour's hierarchy between 1997 and 2010). There was also a higher element of traditional
farceIn theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
.
The play features a new character, Claire Sutton, who is introduced by the Prime Minister as head of the policy unit at Number Ten. She is a 21st century successor to Dorothy Wainwright, but less haughty and seemingly more willing to get her hands dirty. She is described by Jay and Lynn as in her late thirties, attractive and intelligent. She calls Hacker by his first name ("Fiscal mechanics, Jim"), whereas Dorothy addressed him as "Prime Minister". In response to a sarcastic interjection about "starving permanent secretaries", Sir Humphrey patronises her as "dear lady" (as he did "that Wainwright female" in the TV series). Emily Joyce, who played Claire both at Chichester and in London, was forty-one when the play opened.
The play began a tour of the United Kingdom in February 2011, with
Simon WilliamsSimon Williams is an English actor known for playing James Bellamy in the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. Frequently playing upper-class roles, he is also known for playing Dr...
as Sir Humphrey Appleby,
Richard McCabeRichard McCabe is a Scottish actor.-Biography:Richard McCabe was born in Glasgow to a Scottish father and French mother . He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , where he won several awards. Following the early death of his father and his mother's re-marriage, he grew up in Sussex where...
as Jim Hacker and
Charlotte LucasCharlotte Lucas is an English actress and painter.-Early life:Born in 1976 into an acting family, Lucas is the granddaughter of Linden Travers and Guy Leon. Linden appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes. Charlotte is the great niece of Bill Travers who appeared in Born Free...
as Claire Sutton. It returned to the West End in July 2011 for a 10-week run at the Apollo Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue, with Williams and McCabe reprising their roles.
Reflecting in 2011 on the sustained topicality of
Yes, Minister/Prime Minister, Jonathan Lynn noted that, since the opening of the stage show in Chichester, "all we've added is a couple of jokes about [telephone] hacking and an extra joke about the Greeks [subject at the time to a debt crisis]." He added that the original episodes were written about a year before transmission – "satirical comedy doesn't change" – and that "writing in 1986, we found the same headlines in 1956".
Radio
Sixteen episodes of
Yes Minister were adapted and re-recorded for broadcast by
BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, with the principal cast reprising their roles. Produced by
Peter AtkinPete Atkin is a British singer-songwriter and radio producer notable for his 1970s musical collaborations with Clive James and for producing the BBC Radio 4 series This Sceptred Isle.-Early life:...
, they were broadcast across two seasons, each with eight episodes. The first series aired 18 October to 7 December 1983, with the second originally transmitted 8 October to 27 November 1984. 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 station
BBC 7BBC Radio 4 Extra, formerly known as BBC 7 and BBC Radio 7, is a British digital radio station broadcasting comedy, drama, and children's programming nationally 24 hours a day. It is the principal broadcasting outlet for the BBC's archive of spoken-word entertainment...
in early 2007.
In 1997, Derek Fowlds reprised the role of Bernard Woolley to read Antony Jay's
How 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 and released by BBC Audiobooks on cassette in October 1997.
Video and DVD releases
The BBC issued some episodes of
Yes Minister, and all of
Yes Prime Minister on VHS. They were re-released and repackaged at various points. The complete collection was released by the BBC through
Warner Home VideoWarner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
on Region 1 DVD in October 2003. Warner appears to have added
RCEDVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
region coding to the individual release of the second series of
Yes Minister, but there are no similar reported problems on playing the complete collection. The BBC, through 2 Entertain Video, also issued several Region 2 DVDs:
- Yes Minister: Series One (BBCDVD1047), released 1 October 2001
- Yes Minister: Series Two (BBCDVD1120), released 30 September 2002
- Yes Minister: Series Three & "Party Games" (BBCDVD1188), released 29 September 2003
- The Complete Yes Minister (BBCDVD1462), released 15 November 2004
- Yes, Prime Minister: Series One (BBCDVD1365), released 4 October 2004
- Yes, Prime Minister: Series Two (BBCDVD1729), released 9 May 2005
- The Complete Yes Minister & Yes, Prime Minister, released 16 October 2006
Netflix streams both series to subscribers (as of August 2011, the series was no longer available to view via streaming). Computer users must use the Netflix player and Windows Media Player 11.
Australian/New Zealand releases (Region 4)
- Yes Minister: Series One, released 2 April 2002
- Yes Minister: Series Two, released 11 February 2002
- Yes Minister: Series Three & "Party Games", released 5 May 2003
- The Complete Yes Minister, released 10 July 2004
- Yes Prime Minister: Series One, released 12 February 2004
- Yes Prime Minister: Series Two, released 7 July 2005
- Yes Prime Minister: Series One and Two (Box Set), released 11 March 2005
- The Complete Yes Minister & Yes, Prime Minister, released 3 October 2007
- Roadshow Entertainment Australia / New Zealand – Search DVD Index
Books
Several books have been published surrounding the series. 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.
The three series of
Yes 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 of
Yes, 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:
- The Complete Yes Minister ISBN 0-563-20665-9
- The Complete Yes, Prime Minister ISBN 0-563-20773-6
Antony Jay's
How 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 by Faber & Faber in 2010 (ISBN 978-0-571-26070-6).
See also
- Hacker Ministry
The Hacker Ministry is the fictional British governing administration of the Right Honourable James "Jim" Hacker, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, as portrayed in the classic British sitcom, Yes, Prime Minister.- Tenure of government :...
- House of Cards
House of Cards is a 1990 political thriller television drama serial by the BBC in four parts, set after the end of Margaret Thatcher's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It was televised from 18 November to 9 December 1990, to critical and popular acclaim...
- The New Statesman
The New Statesman is an award-winning British sitcom of the late 1980s and early 1990s satirising the Conservative government of the time...
- Humphrey (cat)
Humphrey was a cat employed as the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office at 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from October 1989 to 13 November 1997...
, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet OfficeThe Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office is the unofficial title of the official resident cat of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at 10 Downing Street. Only one cat, Humphrey, was given the title officially; the other cats are given this title affectionately, usually by the British press...
(Humphrey the cat was named after Sir Humphrey Appleby)
- List of fictional politicians
- Party Animals
Party Animals is a British television drama series screened on BBC Two in 2007. It was produced by World Productions, the makers of No Angels and This Life....
- Politician's syllogism
The politician's syllogism, also known as the politician's logic or the politician's fallacy, is a logical fallacy of the form:#We must do something#This is something#Therefore, we must do this....
- Politics in fiction
This is a list of fictional stories in which politics features as an important plot element. Passing mentions are omitted from this list.-Written works:*The Republic by Plato*Panchatantra This is a list of fictional stories in which politics features as an important plot element. Passing...
- The West Wing
- The Thick Of It
The Thick of It is a British comedy television series that satirises the inner workings of modern British government. It was first broadcast on BBC Four in 2005, and has so far completed fourteen half-hour episodes and two special hour-long episodes to coincide with Christmas and Gordon Brown's...
External links