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After the idealistic & radical politician James Hacker (Paul Eddington) has
helped the new PM win the election, he is fed off with the job of running the
rather secondary "Department for Administrative Affairs".
Undaunted though, Hacker wants to put his plans for "Open
Government" into action (this basically meaning being honest to the
citizen), but his plans are met with grave opposition by Sir Humphrey Appleby
(Nigel Hawthorne), the permanent secretary of the department, who did also hold
the job for the 5 previous ministers for Administrative Affairs & who will
go to any length to leave everything as it is. Very soon, Hacker has to learn
that politics in this department are not one big war that can be won but rather
a series of battles over unimportant affairs.
Soon Humphrey has arranged it that Hacker is seperated from his political
advisor Weisel (Neil Fitzwiliam) & gets enough departmental work to keep
him from having any bright ideas ...
But to really keep Hacker in line, Humphrey arranges with the PM's permanent
secretary Sir Arnold (John Nettleton) to provide Hacker & Weisel with some
information about an Anglo-American trade agreement that on the surface seems
like political dynamite, underneath though builds the basis for a bulk of
Anglo-American trade-relations. & when Hacker tries to make these facts
public, the PM fumes & is on the brink of sacking Hacker ... who - much to
Humphrey's satisfaction - has to turn to Humphrey to "hush it up".
Derek Fowlds plays Bernard, Hacker's private secretary torn between
allegiances to his minister & his department (that is Sir Humphrey).
Yes Minister proves to be a very intelligent & extremely
funny satire on the traps & hurdles of the world of politics, & one
that can easily stand the test of time, being as relevant today as it was upon
its release. & what's more the dialogues & the actors are impeccable.
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