Yes Minister: Difference between revisions

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Famous for its [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness|long-winded dialogue and word-play]]. For example:

{{quote| '''Sir Humphrey:''' "I wonder if I might crave your momentary indulgence in order to discharge a by no means disagreeable obligation which has, over the years, become more or less established practice in government service as we approach the terminal period of the year -- calendar, of course, not financial -- in fact, not to put too fine a point on it, Week Fifty-One -- and submit to you, with all appropriate deference, for your consideration at a convenient juncture, a sincere and sanguine expectation -- indeed confidence -- indeed one might go so far as to say hope -- that the aforementioned period may be, at the end of the day, when all relevant factors have been taken into consideration, susceptible to being deemed to be such as to merit a final verdict of having been by no means unsatisfactory in its overall outcome and, in the final analysis, to give grounds for being judged, on mature reflection, to have been conducive to generating a degree of gratification which will be seen in retrospect to have been significantly higher than the general average."~~ ~~

{{quote|'''Sir Humphrey:''' "I wonder if I might crave your momentary indulgence in order to discharge a by no means disagreeable obligation which has, over the years, become more or less established practice in government service as we approach the terminal period of the year -- calendar, of course, not financial -- in fact, not to put too fine a point on it, Week Fifty-One -- and submit to you, with all appropriate deference, for your consideration at a convenient juncture, a sincere and sanguine expectation -- indeed confidence -- indeed one might go so far as to say hope -- that the aforementioned period may be, at the end of the day, when all relevant factors have been taken into consideration, susceptible to being deemed to be such as to merit a final verdict of having been by no means unsatisfactory in its overall outcome and, in the final analysis, to give grounds for being judged, on mature reflection, to have been conducive to generating a degree of gratification which will be seen in retrospect to have been significantly higher than the general average."

''...''~~ ~~

''...''

'''Jim Hacker:''' "Are you trying to say "Happy Christmas," Humphrey?"~~ ~~

'''Jim Hacker:''' "Are you trying to say "Happy Christmas," Humphrey?"

'''Sir Humphrey:''' "Yes, Minister." }}

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* [[Adorkable]]: Bernard and his "''Gosh.''" and "''Crikey.''" and occasionally speaking at length about etymology.

* [[Analogy Backfire]]: This exchange between Bernard and Sir Humphrey:

{{quote| '''Bernard:''' Well I can’t accept that, Sir Humphrey, no man is an island.~~ ~~

{{quote|'''Bernard:''' Well I can’t accept that, Sir Humphrey, no man is an island.

'''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," Prime Minister Hacker's predecessor is writing his memoirs, which will be very embarrassing for Hacker, when, in the next episode ("A Diplomatic Incident") he suddenly drops dead from a heart attack. When Hacker learns the news, and just before he remembers that he's supposed to act with dignified shock and grief, for a moment he has the biggest, happiest grin we've ever seen on his face.

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** 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| '''Humphrey:''' Does he watch television?~~ ~~

{{quote|'''Humphrey:''' Does he watch television?

'''Hacker:''' He hasn't even got a set.~~ ~~

'''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.

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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| '''Annie''': You're sort of a whisky priest. You do at least know when you've done the wrong thing.~~ ~~

{{quote|'''Annie''': You're sort of a whisky priest. You do at least know when you've done the wrong thing.

'''Jim''': Whisky priest?~~ ~~

'''Jim''': Whisky priest?

'''Annie''': That's right.~~ ~~

'''Annie''': That's right.

'''Jim''': Good. ''[[Beat]]''. Let's open another bottle.~~ ~~

'''Jim''': Good. ''[[Beat]]''. Let's open another bottle.

'''Annie''': You haven't got one.~~ ~~

'''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? }}

* [[Expospeak Gag]]: Humphrey's overly long speeches are a hallmark of the series.

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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| '''Commander Forest:''' Oh, if you are pushed out of a high window and there's iron railings underneath, try and land on your head. Quicker.}}

{{quote|'''Commander Forest:''' Oh, if you are pushed out of a high window and there's iron railings underneath, try and land on your head. Quicker.}}

* [[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| '''Hacker''': Don't discuss this with Arnold until I've spoken to him.~~ ~~

{{quote|'''Hacker''': Don't discuss this with Arnold until I've spoken to him.

'''Humphrey''': Of course not, Prime Minister, I wouldn't dream of it.~~ ~~

'''Humphrey''': Of course not, Prime Minister, I wouldn't dream of it.

''Cut to a visibly-distraught Humphrey taking a sip of wine.''~~ ~~

''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.

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* [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]]: The entire Civil Service, for the most part. A bit ''too'' competent for Hacker's liking.

* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: The Chief Whip.

{{quote| "You've got to treat people with tact and finesse, you berk!"}}

{{quote|"You've got to treat people with tact and finesse, you berk!"}}

** 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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* [[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| '''Hacker''': Humphrey, can you ever give me a straight answer? A plain "yes" or "no"?~~ ~~

{{quote|'''Hacker''': Humphrey, can you ever give me a straight answer? A plain "yes" or "no"?

'''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.

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*** 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."

* [[People's Republic of Tyranny]]: [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in the following dialogue from [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpUD7ZRTx4s&feature=player_detailpage#t=200s "A Victory for Democracy"]:

{{quote| ''Sir Humphrey'': East Yemen, isn't that a democracy?~~ ~~

{{quote|''Sir Humphrey'': East Yemen, isn't that a democracy?

''Sir Richard Wharton'': Its full name is "The Peoples' Democratic Republic of East Yemen."~~ ~~

''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 on a Bus]]: Frank Weisel, Hacker's political advisor in the first series of ''Yes, Minister'', was written out of the show by the end of that season because the authors couldn't find much use for his overtly political character in a show that was supposed to focus on the conflict between government and administration.

** 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," Hacker visits [[wikipedia:Qumran ~~chr~~(~~28)~~fictional ~~countrychr(29~~)|Qumran]], a fictional Muslim country based on a Gulf Arab state -- in fact, the scene where Hacker and his staff secretly consume alcohol was based on a real-life incident that happened on a British diplomatic visit to Pakistan.

* [[Qurac]]: In "The Moral Dimension," Hacker visits [[wikipedia:Qumran (fictional country)|Qumran]], a fictional Muslim country based on a Gulf Arab state -- in fact, the scene where Hacker and his staff secretly consume alcohol was based on a real-life incident that happened on a British diplomatic visit to Pakistan.

** 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 "[[People's Republic of Tyranny|The People's Democratic Republic of East Yemen]]" (as well as its twin, West Yemen), although the name suggests that it is rather a Marxist dictatorship than an emirate or a theocracy.

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* [[Running Gag]]: the fact that Hacker's studies at the LSE don't compare to the [[Oxbridge]] education of Sir Humphrey.

* [[Self-Deprecation]]: The Permanent Secretaries talking about merging department responsibilities:

{{quote| Arts and Television together? What do they got to do with each other?}}

{{quote|Arts and Television together? What do they got to do with each other?}}

* [[Self-Insert Fic]] Possibly the only time the author of a [[Self-Insert Fic]] performed alongside the stars. Helps if you're [[Margaret Thatcher]].

* [[Servile Snarker]]: Guess who?

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* [[Take a Third Option]]: In "Party Games," Hacker becomes the kingmaker in the battle to select his party's new leader (and therefore Prime Minister), and his decision pretty much comes down to whether he'd prefer to be the next Chancellor of the Exchequer or the next Foreign Secretary. Bernard persuades him that neither of those is really that desirable, and persuades him to take the third option -- become the Prime Minister himself.

** 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| '''Hacker:''' Home Secretary? Responsible for every race}}

{{quote|'''Hacker:''' Home Secretary? Responsible for every race}}

* [[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.)

* [[Title Drop]]: At the end of almost every episode.