Yes Minister
Yes Minister is a British political satire sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. Comprising three seven-episode series, it was first transmitted on BBC2 from 1980 to 1984. A sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran for 16 episodes from 1986 to 1988. All but one of the episodes lasted half an hour, and almost all ended with a variation of the title of the series spoken as the answer to a question posed by Minister Jim Hacker. Several episodes were adapted for BBC Radio; the series also spawned a 2010 stage play that led to a new television series on Gold in 2013.
Set principally in the private office of a British cabinet minister in the fictional Department of Administrative Affairs in Whitehall, Yes Minister follows the ministerial career of Jim Hacker, played by Paul Eddington. His various struggles to formulate and enact policy or effect departmental changes are opposed by the British Civil Service, in particular his Permanent Secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby, played by Nigel Hawthorne. His Principal Private Secretary Bernard Woolley, played by Derek Fowlds, is usually caught between the two. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, continued with the same cast and followed Hacker after his unexpected elevation to prime ministerial office.
There were 21 half-hour episodes in three series, a two-minute Christmas sketch in The Funny Side of Christmas, and a one-hour Christmas special of Yes Minister. There were 16 episodes in two series of Yes, Prime Minister, bringing the combined number of full episodes to 38.
The series received several BAFTAs, and in 2004, was voted sixth in the Britain's Best Sitcom poll. It was the favourite television programme of Margaret Thatcher, the then-British prime minister. The series was also a big hit on Public Broadcasting System stations throughout the United States.
Plot
The series opens in the wake of a general election in which the incumbent government has been defeated by the opposition party, to which Jim Hacker, an MP, belongs. His party affiliation is never stated, his party emblem is clearly neither Conservative nor Labour, and his party's political colour is white. 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 Appleby, and principal private secretary, Bernard Woolley.While Appleby is outwardly deferential towards the new minister, he is prepared to defend the status quo at all costs. Hacker and his party's policies of reducing bureaucracy are diametrically opposed to the Civil Service's interests, in which staff numbers and budgets are viewed as merits of success. Woolley is sympathetic towards Hacker but as Appleby reminds him, Woolley's civil service superiors, including Appleby, will have much to say about the course of his future career, while ministers do not usually stay long in one department and have no say in civil service staffing recommendations.
Many of the episodes revolve around proposals backed by Hacker but frustrated by Appleby, who uses a range of clever stratagems to defeat ministerial proposals while seeming to support them. Other episodes revolve around proposals promoted by Appleby but rejected by Hacker, which Appleby attempts by all means necessary to persuade Hacker to accept. They do occasionally join forces in order to achieve a common goal, such as preventing the closure of their department or dealing with a diplomatic incident.
As the series revolves around the inner workings of central government, most of the scenes take place in private locations, such as offices and exclusive members' clubs. Lynn said that "there was not a single scene set in 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." However, the episode "The Compassionate Society" does feature an audio recording of Yesterday in Parliament in which Hacker speaks in the House of Commons, and other episodes include scenes in the foreign secretary's House of Commons office and a Committee room.
The fictional Department of Administrative Affairs is the main setting of the first series. In "The Skeleton in the Cupboard", Woolley mentions that the DAA was founded in 1964 alongside the Department of Economic Affairs. In "Open Government", the Department was referred to as a 'political graveyard', with Hacker's appointment as Minister of Administrative Affairs likely being punishment for managing the leadership campaign against the new Prime Minister when their party was in Opposition. In "Big Brother", Hacker reaches out to his predecessor in the previous government Tom Sargent, for help to overcome Civil Service resistance to the introduction of safeguards for the National Integrated Database, to which Sargent outlines the Civil Service's five step stalling technique and reveals the existence of a White Paper. Being responsible for overseeing the administration of other government departments, government archives, the purchase of office equipment and the enactment of EEC directives, it serves as a vehicle to explore different political themes, such as foreign policy, education, the environment, health, defence, Europe, international trade, local government, infrastructure, and national security. In "The Death List", the DAA is mentioned as being responsible for the government's surveillance equipment. The DAA has gained other responsibilities through departmental reshuffles, namely the arts. The DAA has also been given responsibility for enacting policies or programmes which no other department would want to deal with due to their unpopularity or any other fallout, such as in "The Bed of Nails" when Hacker was made Transport Supremo and given responsibility for an Integrated Transport programme as the Department of Transport did not want to incur the wrath of any disadvantaged sector.
Characters
Jim Hacker
Jim Hacker MP, eventually elevated to the House of Lords as Lord Hacker of Islington, was the editor of a newspaper called Reform before going into politics. He spent a good deal of time in Parliament on the Opposition benches before his party won a general election, including serving as the Shadow Secretary for Agriculture. In Yes Minister, he is the minister for administrative affairs and a cabinet minister, and in Yes, Prime Minister he becomes the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Hacker received his degree from the London School of Economics, for which he is often derided by the Oxford-educated Sir Humphrey. His early character is that of a gung-ho, but naïve, politician, bringing sweeping changes to his department. Before long, Hacker begins to notice that Civil Service tactics are preventing his planned changes being put into practice. As he learns, he becomes more sly and cynical, using some of the Civil Service ruses himself. While Sir Humphrey initially held all the aces, Hacker now and again plays a trump card of his own and thus scores the occasional victory over Sir Humphrey.Throughout Yes Minister, Hacker, at his worst, is portrayed as a publicity-seeking bungler who is incapable of making a firm decision. He is prone to potentially embarrassing blunders, and is a frequent target of criticism from the press and stern lectures from the Chief Whip. However, he is also shown to be relatively politically savvy, and he slowly becomes more aware of Sir Humphrey's real agenda. 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 Times 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 serves throughout the series as permanent secretary under his minister, Jim Hacker at the Department of Administrative Affairs. He is appointed Cabinet secretary just as Hacker's party enters a leadership crisis, and is instrumental in Hacker's elevation to prime minister. He is committed to maintaining the status quo for the country in general and for the Civil Service in particular. Sir Humphrey is a master of obfuscation and manipulation, baffling his opponents with long-winded technical jargon and circumlocutions, strategically appointing allies to supposedly impartial boards, and setting up interdepartmental committees to smother his minister's proposals in red tape. However, although presenting an outward appearance of supreme confidence and competence, Sir Humphrey is not immune to making miscalculations or outright blunders. When such blunders occur, he relies on the Civil Service bureaucracy to save him.In Britain's Best Sitcom, Stephen Fry comments that "we love the idea of the coherence and articulacy of Sir Humphrey ... it's one of the things you look forward to in an episode 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, did not win at all.
Loquacious and verbose, he frequently uses both his mastery of the English language and his grasp of Latin and Greek grammar both to perplex his political master and to obscure the relevant issues. In a Radio Times interview to promote the second series of Yes, Prime Minister, producer Sydney Lotterby said that he always tried to give Eddington and Hawthorne extra time to rehearse as their scenes invariably featured lengthy dialogue exchanges.