The Right Honorable James Hacker has landed the plum job of Cabinet Minister to the Department of Administration. At last he is in a position of power and can carry out some long-needed reforms, or so he thinks.
Sir Humphrey Appleby receives his just reward when he's told by Sir Arnold Robinson that he is to be his successor as Cabinet Secretary. Jim Hacker has mixed feelings about the whole thing and while ...
The Minister is once again locking horns with Sir Humphrey, this time over a local Council's inability, or refusals, to submit its statistical reports. The local Council government belongs to ...
The Minister wants to give citizens access to their files on a new national database, but Sir Humphrey is at his obfuscating best. Accused by his political advisor and his wife of being a mouthpiece ...
In the Tudor court of Elizabeth I, Lord Edmund Blackadder strives to win Her Majesty's favour while attempting to avoid a grisly fate should he offend her.
Stars:
Rowan Atkinson,
Tony Robinson,
Tim McInnerny
Francis Urquhart, the unscrupulous but cunning Conservative Prime Minister, has his survival threatened by a liberal monarch and an upcoming General Election.
Stars:
Ian Richardson,
Michael Kitchen,
Kitty Aldridge
Set in the corridors of power and spin, the Minister for Social Affairs is continually harassed by Number 10's policy enforcer and dependent on his not-so-reliable team of civil servants.
Bertram Wooster, a well-intentioned, wealthy layabout, has a habit of getting himself into trouble and it's up to his brilliant valet, Jeeves, to get him out.
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.Written by
Tony Lammens <lammens@connexus.apana.org.au>
The pilot version of the first episode, "Open Government", was released on the UK DVD release of Series 1. It differs from the broadcast version in having different, cheaper-looking titles and different theme music. See more »
I first saw Yes Minister when I was about eight. Even then I could see some of the humour that would lead me to fall in love with it years later, but I had no idea that I would to such a degree. Paul Eddington plays the Rt. Hon. James Hacker MP, Cabinet Minister in charge of the department of Administrative Affairs. He comes to his position high minded and full of ideals, only to find them being compromised as he finds that he is merely a cog in something far bigger, something he has little, and at times no control over. This bigger entity is humanised in the form of Machievellian Permanent Secratery Sir Humphery Appelby ( a brilliant Nigel Hawthorne ), who opposes the Minister on every turn with the power of the Civil Service behind him. Switiching sides as he sees fit is Hacker's Principal Private Secretary, Bernard Wooley ( Derek Fowlds, who's great ), a high flier who's job is to stand by Hacker, but who's future lies with Sir Humphery and the Civil Service. The great thing about this show is that although Hacker is weak, cowardly and vote-grubbing, you cannot help but pity him as his ideals and principles become distorted and disappear completely due to the brutal pragmatism placed on him not only by Appelby and the Civil Service but also his own Cabinet colleagues. A must for any one studying a Social Science.
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I first saw Yes Minister when I was about eight. Even then I could see some of the humour that would lead me to fall in love with it years later, but I had no idea that I would to such a degree. Paul Eddington plays the Rt. Hon. James Hacker MP, Cabinet Minister in charge of the department of Administrative Affairs. He comes to his position high minded and full of ideals, only to find them being compromised as he finds that he is merely a cog in something far bigger, something he has little, and at times no control over. This bigger entity is humanised in the form of Machievellian Permanent Secratery Sir Humphery Appelby ( a brilliant Nigel Hawthorne ), who opposes the Minister on every turn with the power of the Civil Service behind him. Switiching sides as he sees fit is Hacker's Principal Private Secretary, Bernard Wooley ( Derek Fowlds, who's great ), a high flier who's job is to stand by Hacker, but who's future lies with Sir Humphery and the Civil Service. The great thing about this show is that although Hacker is weak, cowardly and vote-grubbing, you cannot help but pity him as his ideals and principles become distorted and disappear completely due to the brutal pragmatism placed on him not only by Appelby and the Civil Service but also his own Cabinet colleagues. A must for any one studying a Social Science.