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[[File:yesminister.jpg|frame|'Almost all government policy is wrong, but frightfully well carried out.']]
''Yes
▲Yes Ministers (1980-1988) is a British [[Sit Com]] about Jim Hacker (Paul Eddington), an inexperienced cabinet minister ([[No Party Given|party never specified]]), and his permanent secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne), who really runs the department. Almost every episode focuses on Hacker determinedly attempting, for political and occasionally idealistic reasons, to rock the bureaucratic boat by introducing some popular (and occasionally necessary) change, with Sir Humphrey just as determined to make sure that nothing comes of it. Hovering between them is Bernard Woolley (Derek Fowlds), Hacker's still idealistic and ingenuous Private Secretary, torn between his loyalty to Hacker (his political master) and his loyalty to Sir Humphrey (his civil service superior).
The best political [[Satire]] ever put on television, it dealt with both specific issues and general principles of governance intelligently, with a painfully precise balance of cynicism and good humour; the series made a star of Nigel Hawthorne, and rightly so.
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Famous for its [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness|long-winded dialogue and word-play]]. For example:
{{quote|
''...''
'''Jim Hacker:''' "Are you trying to say "Happy Christmas," Humphrey?"
'''Sir Humphrey:''' "Yes, Minister."
(These are all the more remarkable if you know that Hawthorne memorised these speeches. He ended up on anti-anxiety medication as a consequence.)
The original series was directly followed in 1986 by ''Yes, Prime Minister'', in which Hacker became Prime Minister. An [[Yes, Prime Minister (video game)|interactive fiction game]] based on that series was released in 1987.
Margaret Thatcher, the real-life PM at the time the series was first shown, was a huge fan and [[Self
[
''Ji Mantriji'' and ''Ji Pradhanmantriji'' are Indian remakes of ''Yes Minister'' and ''Yes Prime Minister'', respectively - the series' names are direct translations from English to Hindi. [[The Other Wiki]] [[w:Ji Mantriji|says]] that they used the same plotlines, adapted to be more relevant to the Indian subcontinent.
Any modern commentary on the civil service will almost certainly reference the series; a recent BBC look at Cabinet Secretaries through history was entitled "The Real Sir Humphrey", and interviews with the living office holders show they are intimately aware of the series' finest moments, and '[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17723935 Yes Ministerism]' is even used to describe when civil servants are said to be controlling matters.
A sequel series to ''Yes Prime Minister'', called ''Yes, Prime Minister'' (with a comma) was produced in 2013 with David Haig as Hacker, Henry Goodman as Sir Humphrey, and Chris Larkin as Bernard. It was aired on Gold, not the BBC, and lasted six episodes.
{{tropelist}}
* [[Adorkable]]: Bernard and his "''Gosh.''" and "''Crikey.''" and occasionally speaking at length about etymology.
* [[Analogy Backfire]]: This exchange between Bernard and Sir Humphrey:
{{quote|
'''Sir Humphrey:''' I agree, Bernard, no man is an island, entire of itself, and therefore, never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee, Bernard.
* [[And There Was Much Rejoicing]]: In "Official Secrets
* [[Antiquated Linguistics]]: I inquire of your presence to place your distracted attention from the apparatus to which you view these aptly pages to a passage of text spoken before from another character. Sir Humphrey often used this technique to obfuscate issues, or, ironically, when he was having a hard time saying something. Similar to [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]] because of its usage.
** As seen above, Sir Humphrey's wish of "Happy Christmas" in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vShJa6GobFQ this Christmas sketch].
* [[Balance of Power]]: Explicitly, and pretty truthfully, lays out Britain's primary foreign policy objective for at least the last 500 years: Create a disunited Europe.
* [[Ban
* [[The Barnum]]: Sir Humphrey had a cynical motto for everything ("Gratitude is merely the lively expectation of future reward"; "The Official Secrets Act exists to protect officials, not secrets"), and was always cool — except when some honesty broke into his perfect world. A more positive take on Sir Humphrey is that he and the Civil Service are providing effective (or at least stable) government, and performing damage control when elected politicians pander to their electorate without regards to their own political survival.
* [[Batman Gambit]]: ''Oh so many.'' The opening episode alone shows Humphrey slipping a large purchase order for American-made computer monitors at the very bottom of the stack of daily paperwork in Hacker's red box work assignments (that most ministers just dodge anyway.) Knowing Humphrey would try to hide the ''good'' information from him, Hacker goes straight to the bottom of the pile and finds it, becoming irate that Britain would not buy British-made equipment instead, and plans to denounce it in a speech to be given the next day. {{spoiler|This is of course ''exactly'' the reaction Humphrey was hoping for, and Hacker gets immediately called in by the Prime Minister who received an advance copy of the speech. The purchase of American monitors is part of a multi-million dollar business deal with NASA and will generate even more revenue for England unless Hacker fouls it up with his speech which has already been sent in advance to newspapers for review. Humphrey then stepped forward and humbly apologized for his grievous mistake earlier that day... he did not complete the paperwork correctly, and thus the media did ''not'' get the speech, only the Prime Minister. Hacker's job is thus saved and Humphrey has proven his usefulness to him... ''exactly as he had planned.''}}
* [[Beleaguered Bureaucrat]]: There are few series that show quite how daunting the task of running a country actually is. One of Jim Hacker's main problems is merely knowing and understanding the issues. Then of course, he has to try to solve them (usually unsuccessfully).
** Bernard also becomes this frequently, either because of his troubles in balancing out the wishes of his two superiors or having to deal with the more mundane but equally tedious elements of a [[Vast Bureaucracy]].
* [[Biting the Hand Humor]]
{{quote|
'''Hacker:''' He hasn't even got a set.
'''Humphrey:''' Fine, make him a governor of the BBC. }}
* [[Blackmail]]: Rarely in ''[[Blackmail Is Such an Ugly Word|so many words]]''<ref> ...though Humphrey does make explicit use of the term in "The Official Visit", with somewhat [[Unfortunate Implications|unfortunate results]] </ref> but often A will have compromising evidence of B's activities, or perhaps tapes of C being very indiscreet. Humphrey wields this weapon unscrupulously.
* [[Bulungi]]: Buranda, referred to on the show as a TPLAC: "Tinpot Little African Country".
* [[Can't Hold His Liquor]]: Not exactly, but when Jim Hacker gets drunk, he gets ''drunk'' and it doesn't seem to take an incredible amount to do it.
* [[Catch Phrase]]: Nearly every episode ends with someone saying "Yes, Minister" (or "Yes, Prime Minister" in ''Yes, Prime Minister'')
** "Oh, very droll, _____." ''(used by both Hacker and Sir Humphrey; the blank is usually filled by each man with the other's name or title)''
** Similarly, Sir Humphrey's and Sir Arnold's "thin end of the wedge."
** "Yes
** "Thank you, Bernard." Hacker, or Sir Humphrey, or both, when they can't take any more of his pedantic corrections and are politely telling him to shut up
* [[Character Development]]: It's subtle, but over the seasons Hacker gradually learns how to beat Humphrey at his own game, Humphrey learns how to recognize when his interests coincide with Hacker's, and Bernard learns how to balance his two masters.
* [[Christmas Episode]]: The "Party Games" special.
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* [[Double Edged Answer]]: A [[Catch Phrase]].
* [[Drowning My Sorrows]]: Hacker, at the end of "The Whisky Priest," seems at first to just [[I Need a Freaking Drink|Need A Freaking Drink]] (OK, several drinks). Then:
{{quote|
'''Jim''': Whisky priest?
'''Annie''': That's right.
'''Jim''': Good. ''[[Beat]]''. Let's open another bottle.
'''Annie''': You haven't got one.
'''Jim''': That's what you think. *''Turns, opens a red box''* Who said nothing good ever came out of Whitehall?
* [[Early Installment Weirdness]]: During "The Official Visit", the first episode aired after the pilot, Sir Humphrey makes comments that are both straightforward and deliberately humourous. It's most obvious during [[the Stateroom Sketch]].
* [[Expospeak Gag]]: Humphrey's overly long speeches are a hallmark of the series.
* [[Eye Take]]: Humphrey's reaction whenever Hacker has a particularly ambitious, unexpected, and ill-advised idea.
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* [[Gallows Humor]]: A few of Bernard's (often ill-received) jokes fall into this category.
** When Minister Hacker is placed on a death list by a terrorist group, a detective meets with him to inform him of procedures to avoid being assassinated. The whole briefing is quite humorous.
{{quote|
* [[Gambit Pileup]]: The French government is scuttled by this in "A Diplomatic Incident". Their gambit to create a situation to force Her Majesty the Queen to reject a gift of a puppy from the French President due to British quarantine laws, which would thus create outrage in France which will force the British government to accept terms favourable to the French in negotiations over the Channel Tunnel, would have worked perfectly {{spoiler|had they not ''also'' put in place a gambit to embarrass the British security services in revenge for not being allowed to provide their own security by planting a bomb in the French embassy. Since the latter is discovered, and will prove far more embarrassing and scandalous than the puppy, they're forced to back down.}}
* [[Geeky Turn On]]: Really the only way to describe Humphreys's reaction to Bernard's speech in the last minute and a half of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL_m5Czneno this clip].
* [[Gilligan Cut]]: In "One of Us:"
{{quote|
'''Humphrey''': Of course not, Prime Minister, I wouldn't dream of it.
''Cut to a visibly-distraught Humphrey taking a sip of wine.''
'''Humphrey''': So what do you think I should do, Arnold?
* [[Glasses Pull]]: Hacker suggests doing this during his first Prime Ministerial broadcast, so that he can look both formal and informal at different points in his speech. The broadcast's director talks him out of it, saying that it would just make Hacker look like an insurance salesman.
* [[Government Procedural]]
* [[Grey and Gray Morality]]- Sir Humphrey and Hacker, whilst both giving lip service to the good of Britain are both patently in it for their own ends, and the benefit of the Civil Service or the Party respectively. Hacker is lightly more sympathetic, as he actually posesses a conscience, but ignores it when it becomes politically inconvenient, as opposed to
* [[Gunboat Diplomacy]]: After getting caught up in a foreign policy mess about to cause substantial embarrassment and hearing about this trope being the approach in the "old days," Hacker briefly questions whether it is, absolutely, out of the question, much to the shock of his colleagues.
* [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]]: The entire Civil Service, for the most part. A bit ''too'' competent for Hacker's liking.
* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: The Chief Whip.
{{quote|
** A subtle example exists with the Department of Administrative Affairs itself; an entire government department has been set up and staffed specifically to find ways of making cuts in other government departments.
** In one episode, Hacker and Humphrey are having one of their debates when Hacker brings up some facts to prove his point. Humphrey superciliously notes that his facts are statistical, which can be altered or doctored. When the debate gets a bit more heated, Humphrey begins to point out that statistics exist to prove ''his'' point, only to catch himself and present them as 'facts'. Hacker immediately jumps on the hypocrisy of claiming that his facts are merely statistics while Humphrey's statistics are facts.
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* [[I Need a Freaking Drink]]: Hacker, fairly often. See also [[Drowning My Sorrows]].
* [[Insult Backfire]]: Hacker accuses Humphrey of being a moral vacuum. Humphrey is non-committal in the scene, but soon after Bernard asks if he'll end up a moral vacuum, too. Humphrey says he sincerely hopes so, if Bernard works hard enough.
* [[In Vino Veritas]]: Hacker spilling his guts after having had too much of the wine at Baillie College's High Table dinner in "Doing the Honours
* [[Invisible President]]: You never see the Prime Minister or even learn his name until Hacker himself gets the job.
* [[Jade
* [[Kicked Upstairs]]: Frequently referenced, and may have popularised the phrase.
* [[The Main Characters Do Everything]]: The Department of Administrative Affairs was [[Word of God|specifically invented]] to allow Hacker to deal with any political issue the writers might be interested in exploring.
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* [[Manipulative Bastard]]: Humphrey. Hacker thinks he is.
** In ''Yes, Minister'', Cabinet Secretary Sir Arnold Robinson does his share of string-pulling. Even Sir Humphrey is hard-pressed to keep up.
* [[May
* [[Metaphorgotten]]: Bernard often pulls a thread on Hacker's metaphors, unravelling or derailing them completely.
* [[Never Speak Ill of the Dead]]: In "A Diplomatic Incident", when Hacker's predecessor dies.
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* [[No Party Given]]: Hacker. His party was generally an amalgamation of the Tories and Labour (but not the Liberals either). He's implied to be a small-c "compassionate conservative".
* [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]]: Premise of series (with special award given for civil service). Exemplified by Humphrey's admission that there are often complications:
{{quote|
'''Sir Humphrey''': Well... yes and no.
* [[Only Sane Man]]: Varies from episode to episode, and on whether one sides with Humphrey or Jim Hacker. Humphrey is often coldly calculating and opposed to any kind of change on principle, but he also tries to rein in overtly politically based (and often ill thought out) moves from Hacker. Hacker, for his part, is earnest about reducing some of the bureaucratic insanity that Humphrey tries to pull.
* [[OOC Is Serious Business]]: In "The Writing on the Wall", Hacker is dead set on a course of action that won't do anyone any favours, and won't be swayed. It's serious enough that Sir Humphrey even drops his incredibly elaborate [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]] and tells him "If you're going to do this damn silly thing, don't do it in this damn silly way." This stops Hacker in his tracks.
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** Another running gag was [[Truth in Television|the Oxford graduates taking every change to badmouth Cambridge and vice versa]].
*** To quote Sir Humphrey: "British democracy recognises that you need a system to protect the important things of life, and keep them out of the hands of the barbarians. Things like the opera, Radio Three, the countryside, the law, the universities ... both of them."
* [[
{{quote|
''Sir Richard Wharton'': Its full name is "The Peoples' Democratic Republic of East Yemen
''Sir Humphrey'': Ah, I see, so it's a communist dictatorship.
* [[Plucky Comic Relief]]: Bernard to a certain degree, a very slight degree as he was more than just the comic relief. Often seemed to have the funny thing to say at the least appropriate times as well as his acting out of animals or to visually show Hacker why his metaphors were wrong (see this clip [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnaZQYPd_40#t=126s "The Challenge"], in this case it was actually Sir Humphrey) and also see [[Metaphorgotten]] example above. Often found puncturing a hole in tension you could cut with a knife.
* [[Put
** The same thing happened to Vic Gould, the government's Chief Whip, who was originally supposed to be Sir Humphrey's opposite number, and would try and terrify Hacker into getting the government's policies pushed through his department. The writers found him to be too one-dimensional though, meaning that he never even made it past the pilot episode.
* [[Qurac]]: In "The Moral Dimension",
** In "The Bishop's Gambit", a British nurse was sentenced to several lashes for possessing a bottle of whiskey, which provokes a miniature crisis as the government does not want to push too hard as the Qumranis are described as great friends of Britain, letting them know what the Soviets were up to in Iraq, allowing listening posts to be set up for Britain's use, and even sabotaging Opec agreements for them.
** Another possible [[Qurac]] in "A Victory for Democracy" is "[[
*** Not quite. At the time of production there was, in fact, a "People's Democratic Republic of Yemen" which was a Marxist/Socialist state and was to the east of "Yemen Arab Republic
*** M'yes, although that "People's Democratic Republic of Yemen" was generally known as ''South'' Yemen, not ''East'' Yemen.
* [[Reassigned to Antarctica]]: Bernard (and occasionally Sir Humphrey) is occasionally threatened with reassignment to the Vehicle Licensing Centre in Swansea -- not that Hacker would send him there (not having the power to do so), but Humphrey's inevitable Fate if they cannot jointly avert various impending crises.
** The most common threat is being sent [[Oop North]]. One episode resolves around a mass reassignment of defence personnel there, uniting every senior officer and civil servant who wanted to be near Harrods and Wimbledon against it. Bernard reacts in horror at being even a head of department in Lossiemouth. He thought it was [[Lassie|a kind of dog food]].
** Hacker's worry about being assigned to [[The Troubles|Northern Ireland]] is not an example of this, as the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland was and is based in London, but the post was regarded as one of the most troublesome in the cabinet and one of the few which carried a significant risk of assassination, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s.
** In "The Bishop's Gambit", it's revealed that the bishopric of Truro is a similar position for the Church of England; because it's 'very remote' it's where they like to send their more troublesome or irritating bishops (such as those who are either utterly incompetent or actually vocally believe in God).
* [[Revival]]: As a [[Theater|stage show]] in 2011, then as a six-episode series in 2013 with much of the same cast as the stage show.
* [[Running Gag]]:
* [[Self
{{quote|
* [[Self
* [[Servile Snarker]]: Guess who? (No, not Bernard.)
* [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]]: Sir Humphrey's (and occasionally Bernard's) preferred method of communication.
* [[Sleazy Politician]]: Averted! For all his attempts to win popularity in the most self-serving and underhanded ways imaginable
* [[The
* [[Status Quo Is God]]: Subverted, in that while Hacker never really achieves much and the things that he does achieve are so inconsequential that you can understand why they're never mentioned again, this all has a specific cause -- namely Sir Humphrey and the Civil Service's constant stymieing of Hacker's attempts to push reforms through.
** Occasionally he achieves something noteworthy
*** [[Truth in Television]]. John Major's excellent management of the economy (politely excusing Black Wednesday) was pretty much completely forgotten in the 1997 election, and New Labour's introduction of the minimum wage and legalizing gay marriage didn't prevent them from being killed in the 2010 election.
** In the pilot episode, it's mentioned that the Department of Administrative Affairs is a political graveyard, and it's implied that the reason is that Humphrey was too good at blocking the Ministers' policies for them to ever advance any further.
* [[Story Arc]]: None were done in the ''Yes Minister'' phase, but a few were tried during ''Yes, Prime Minister'': Hacker's "Grand Design" had three episodes dedicated to it, and was at least mentioned in passing during every episode of the first season; his predecessor's memoirs the following season lasted for two episode.
* [[Take a Third Option]]: In "Party Games
** Also played with when Hacker, initially believing the 'third option' Bernard is pushing him towards is Home Secretary, makes it clear that even ''he's'' aware that that option isn't worth it:
{{quote|
* [[Tender Tears]]: Hacker, apparently, as he starts crying in "Party Games" when he believes Humphrey is telling him that he's dying, and then wears an embarrassed [[Tearful Smile]] once the misunderstanding is cleared up. (It's more hilarious than it sounds.)
* [[Throw the Dog
* [[Title Drop]]: At the end of almost every episode.
* [[Title Sequence Replacement]]: The pilot had a different title sequence, not drawn by Gerald Scarfe. In reruns (but not on DVD), it was replaced with the titles used for the rest of the series.
* [[Translation: "Yes"|Translation: Yes]]: Frequently, especially after one of Humphrey or Bernard's long-winded explanations leaves Hacker confused.▼
▲* [[Throw the Dog A Bone]]: Every so often, when the moon was right and the writers were feeling kind, Hacker would win out over Humphrey. This became gradually more frequent during ''Yes, Prime Minister'' as Hacker's power and experience grew. In "The Key", he has Humphrey at the brink of madness.
▲* [[Translation Yes|Translation: Yes]]: Frequently, especially after one of Humphrey or Bernard's long-winded explanations leaves Hacker confused.
* [[Truth in Television]]: Many politicians have admitted that it is, effectively, their version of [[This Is Spinal Tap]]. The writers also frequently got into trouble for featuring "entirely hypothetical" situations that bore a remarkable similarity to real life events. The aforementioned sneaking drinks into Qumran was one such example. It wasn't until (relatively) recently that the writers openly admitted (and named) their mole. On a somewhat scarier note, they also admitted that they never used a lot of the stories they were fed as they were simply too unbelievable, proving once again that [[Reality Is Unrealistic]].
* [[The Unfettered]]: Sir Humphrey and his [[Lawful Neutral]] stance. He is, as Hacker puts it, a "moral vacuum", and freely admits he is unconcerned with anything but the continued operation of the government and its policies, whoever and whatever they may be.
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** This can lead into [[The Woobie|Woobie territory]] on occasion: by the end of "The Key", Sir Humphrey has been forced to eat [[Humble Pie]] and begs Hacker, on the verge of tears, to let him have his key back. One can't help but want to give him a hug...
** According to annotations in the published 'memoirs', Humphrey did end up going completely mad in his old age. It's implied that Hacker was the main cause.
* [[The Watson]]: Jim Hacker's personal private secretary Bernard, to whom Sir Humphrey is often obliged to explain how things really work.
** In other instances, Bernard has to explain to Hacker how things really work -- often in order to help Hacker attempt to win the day.
* [[Westminster Chimes]]: The [[Theme Song]] is based on this motif.
* [[Whitehall]] and No. 10 Downing St.
* [[Wicked Cultured]]: Sir Humphrey, if one thinks him wicked. Certainly he is enough of an antagonist-figure to rule out his being a [[Gentleman and
* [[Work Com]]
* [[Xanatos Backfire]]: Humphrey's gambit in "Man Overboard" to get rid of the Employment Secretary in order to foil his plan to move half of the [[Brits With Battleships|armed forces]] [[Oop North]] backfires spectacularly in the very last minute of the episode when {{spoiler|Hacker decides that now that the Employment Secretary is gone, he can implement the plan anyway and take the credit for it himself. It's only then that Humphrey realises that he spent so much time engineering the Employment Secretary's downfall that he never bothered to discredit the actual plan, leaving him with no counter argument -- and as Hacker unwittingly points out, he's actually unwittingly strengthened several of the arguments ''for'' it}}.
** In "The Key
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