Yes Minister (1980–1984)

James Hacker is the British Minister for Administrative Affairs. He tries to do something and cut government waste, but he is continually held back by the smart and wily Permanent Secretary... See full summary »

Stars:

Paul Eddington, Nigel Hawthorne, Derek Fowlds

6 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
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)

Storyline

James Hacker is the British Minister for Administrative Affairs. He tries to do something and cut government waste, but he is continually held back by the smart and wily Permanent Secretary of the Department, Sir Humphrey Appleby. Private secretary Bernard Woolley is caught in the middle, between his political master, and his civil service boss.

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Plot Keywords:

career | strategy | trick | office | sitcom | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 February 1980 (UK)

Also Known As:

Javisst, herr minister

Filming Locations:

Westminster, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

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

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The British Film Institute (BFI) named this as one of the top ten television programmes of all time.

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Goofs

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

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Quotes

Bernard Woolley: That's one of those irregular verbs, isn't it? I give confidential security briefings. You leak. He has been charged under section 2a of the Official Secrets Act.

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Connections

Followed by Yes, Prime Minister (1986)

User Reviews

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.