Yes Minister

TV Series
1980–1984
TV-PG
30m

IMDb RATING

8.6/10

18K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer1:39

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 refo... Read allThe 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.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.

Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.6/10

18K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

3,470

Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Top rated TV #161

Won 5 BAFTA Awards
- 6 wins & 3 nominations total

Episodes22

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TopTop-rated3 seasons4 years

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The writers had advisors who worked within the government and many of the stories were based on real situations. For example, in season three, episode four, "The Moral Dimension", they go to an Arab country 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
During the train sequence in "The Official Visit", a close-up shows that the warning notice on the wall is written in gibberish.

Quotes
Bernard Woolley: It makes me feel rather downcast. If it's our job to implement Government Policies, shouldn't we believe in them?
Sir Humphrey Appleby: What an extraordinary thing to say.
Bernard Woolley: Why?
Sir Humphrey Appleby: Bernard, I have served 11 Governments in the last 30 years, if I believed in all their policies, I would have been passionately commited to keeping out of the Common Market and passionately committed to going into it, I would've been utterly convinced of the rightness of Nationalising Steel, and of denationalising it, and renationalising it. On Capital Punishment I would have been a fervent retentionist and an ardent Abolitionist, I would have been a Keynesian and a Friedmanite, a Grammar School Destroyer and Preserver, a Nationalisation Freak and a Privatisation Maniac, but above all, I would have been a stark, staring, raving Schizophrenic!

Alternate versions
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 (composed by Max Harris with Sidney Margo).

Connections
Featured in Zomergasten: Episode #8.4 (1995)

User reviews49

Featured review

Amazing acting and excellent writing

I love the way the writers, Anthony Jay and Jonathon Lynn, wrote the characters of Jim Hacker and Sir Humphrey Appleby. Jim is shown to be a weak, indecisive politician eager to change his mind to keep the voters happy, yet the audience love him. Humphrey is shown as a dominating, power-mad, scheming civil servant and yet the audience love him too! It's wonderful. And of course poor Bernard who is stuck in the middle, always a little unsure as to where his loyalties lie. As well as the excellent writing, the programmes wouldn't work without the wonderful talent of Paul Eddington, Nigel Hawthorne and Derek Fowlds. After watching just one or two episodes one thinks that the actors were born to play their parts! A must for future politicians!