Difference between revisions of "Yes Minister"

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Yes Minister is a British satirical television comedy about the workings of a fictional department of the British government; the Department of Administrative Affairs. Much of the humor is derived from the fact that Jim Hacker, despite being the Minister of the DAA is severely limited in his power; indeed, his Permanent Secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby insists that it is his job to run the Department, and Hacker's is only to provide a public face for it.

Through the course of three seasons of Yes Minister, Hacker establishes himself in the DAA, and then in a Christmas episode "Party Games" succeeds in becoming the Prime Minister, backed by Sir Humphrey and the Civil Service, who believe he will be easily manipulated. A sequel series, Yes Prime Minister ran for a further two series.

Characters

James "Jim" Hacker

After backing the loser in a bid for the leadership of his party (it is deliberately ambiguous and to which one), James Hacker (Paul Eddington) is given the Department of Administrative Affairs after spending around seven years as Shadow Minister of Agriculture. Although considered around tenth highest in the Cabinet, it has a reputation for being a political graveyard, much like the Home Office. Hacker has never worked in government before, and is constantly surprised and frustrated that he holds little real power, and that regardless of his promises made in opposition, all policies tend towards maintaining the status quo thanks to the intervention of his Civil Servants. As the series goes on, he starts to become more politically skilled, and in a small number of episodes, succeeds in outwitting Sir Humprey.

Sir Humphrey Appleby

The Permanent Secretary of the DAA, Sir Humprey (Nigel Hawthorne) is arrogant and elitist and considers it his job to run the department on a common ground, regardless of which party is in power or the minister's own policy. He is shown to have little understanding of the world outside his upper-class, grammar-school educated bubble, but believes that what is best for the Civil Service is honestly best for Britain. He constantly lampoons the fact that Hacker has an "inferior" education from London School of Economics (compared to his own degrees in Greek and Latin from Oxford) and generally talks down to Hacker (and often Bernard). A lot of Sir Humphrey's humor comes from the euphemisms he uses when advising the Minister:

• "A controversial decision, Minister" (That'll cost you votes.)
• "A courageous decision, Minister" (That'll cost you the election.)
• "Have you considered all of the implications?" (That's a bad idea.)

Bernard Wooley

Hacker's Private Secretary, Bernard Wooley (Derek Fowlds) is trusted by both Hacker (who is supposed to be loyal to) and Sir Humphrey (who he depends on for his future in the Civil Service). This means that both characters confide in him, and thus the audience. Bernard is shown to be extremely pedantic, pointing out the shortcomings in Sir Humprey's and Hacker's metaphors. For example, when Hacker announced that the idea was to "cut through red tape with a sledgehammer" he points out that it is not possible to "cut" tape with a sledgehammer. Bernard often acts very childlike; when Hacker insist that an inert compound is one that doesn't "ert", Bernard adds that it "wouldn't ert a fly". However, Humphrey considers him to be a "high flyer" and the novelizations of the series reveal that he eventually becomes head of the Civil Service itself.

Department of Administrative Affairs

The (fictional) department that Hacker leads is the DAA, the Department of Administrative Affairs, whose job it is to help administrate all the other departments and to reduce needless administration and red tape. Ironically, the idea of having a department whose sole purpose is to check up on other departments is itself needless administration. The DAA's unique purpose means that the programme can use ideas for episodes that would normally fall under the jurisdiction of various other ministries, such as the Foreign Office or the Home Office.

Portrayal of the Civil Service

Within the programme, the elected officials and ministers are portrayed as being controlled almost exclusively by the civil servants, who have been in their posts for much longer as they are not elected. The Civil Service is portrayed as being hideously overstaffed and overpaid and resistant to change anything about itself. Virtually all of the civil servants are upper-class with a grammar school/Oxford education but with little real understanding of the common people. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher commented that the portrayal of government was surprisingly accurate.