Yes Minister And Yes Prime Minister Jun 2026

The more important a decision is, the less time will be spent discussing it.

In an era of populist outrage, fake news, and deep disillusionment with "the establishment," watching Yes Minister is a strangely therapeutic act. It confirms your worst suspicions, but it makes you laugh while doing so. Yes Minister And Yes Prime Minister

The Ultimate Satire of Power: Analyzing Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister The more important a decision is, the less

Overwhelming the minister with hundreds of pages of dense, unreadable text. The Ultimate Satire of Power: Analyzing Yes Minister

Standing in his way is Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary of the department (and eventually Cabinet Secretary). Sir Humphrey is the personification of the "Civil Service"—the permanent bureaucracy that remains in power regardless of which party wins the election. To Humphrey, "government" isn't about implementing change; it’s about maintaining the status quo and ensuring that "the wrong people" (the public and the politicians) don't interfere with the smooth running of the country.

Nearly half a century ago, writers Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn created Yes Minister and its sequel Yes Prime Minister . On the surface, they were situation comedies about the bumbling Right Honourable Jim Hacker (Paul Eddington) and his perpetual struggle against the manipulative, civil service mandarin Sir Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne). But beneath the tweed suits and the port-soaked interiors of the Department of Administrative Affairs lay the most brutal, accurate, and depressing dissection of political power ever committed to television.