"Yes Minister" (1980)TV series 1980-1984

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3

Release Date:

25 February 1980 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

James Hacker is the British Minister for Administrative Affairs. He tries to do something and cut government waste...

Plot Keywords:

State Employee | Trick | Strategy | Political Issue | Politicians

Awards:

6 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Paul Eddington	...	James Hacker (22 episodes, 1980-1984)
Nigel Hawthorne	...	Sir Humphrey Appleby (22 episodes, 1980-1984)
Derek Fowlds	...	Bernard Woolley (22 episodes, 1980-1984)
Diana Hoddinott	...	Annie Hacker (10 episodes, 1980-1984)

Runtime:

30 min (21 episodes) | 60 min (1 episode)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Finland:K-3 (2001) | Australia:G | Singapore:PG | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Westminster, London, England, UK

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

The writers had advisors who had worked within the government and many of the stories were based on real situations. For example, in episode #3.4 ('The Moral Dimension') they go to an arab state where alcohol is not allowed and so they set up a "communications room" in the embassy where they keep a stash of booze so they could slip out and have a drink. This really happened.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the train sequence in "The Official Visit", a close-up shows that the warning notice on the wall is written in gibberish.

Quotes:

Sir Humphrey Appleby: It is necessary to get behind someone in order to stab them in the back?

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Funny Blokes of British Comedy (2005) (TV)

Should be requirement for any political science degree

Yes Minister is Britain after three hundred years of Democracy.

As an assessment of Democracy it is hard to surpass, and so I believe that every one studying for a degree in political science should watch this serial, or better still, read the books.

I watched this programme with my parents who are civil servants (in India), and they tell me that every bit is true.

If one had to nitpick, then I should observe that the initial episodes had more of a serious strain than the later ones. They are better because they concentrate on the politics, rather than on the comedy as is the case in the later episodes. Yes Minister became massively popular very quickly, and so the authors naturally tried to enhance its comic appeal. The last few episodes are a bit feeble in comparison to the initial ones, though they are, of course, still much, much better than any other television comedy.

Crossman's diaries are the real antecedents of this programme, and some of the incidents, such as moving the contents of the in tray to the out tray come directly from Crossman.

This is the best programme on television that I have seen, and the the standard by which one should judge all others.