Paul Eddington portrays Jim Hacker, a new cabinet minister – who lacks… should I say… intelligence Somehow Hacker occupies a cabinet office, and he seems… quite befuddled. Eddington is fantastic in this role. He is very credible as the cabinet minister who really doesn’t seem to know what is going on, or what is expected of him.
As wonderful as many of the actors are in Yes, Minister, the true stand-out performance (for me) is by Nigel Hawthorne – as Sir Humphrey Appleby. Hawthorne plays the aide of the minister, who happens to be more savvy, smarter, and informed than the minister. He is also a schemer and a conniver and no one can do “it” like Hawthorne! Hawthorne brings a level of aristocracy that is perhaps even more upper-crust than the queen herself!
My husband and I watched this BBC series alone, and then again with our adult children. Obviously, we enjoyed it or we wouldn’t have watched it twice! (And, we plan to watch it again.) Both our son and daughter have shared the Yes, Minister shows with their friends. Well, at least those of them who enjoy intelligent comedy shows!
While this is not a mystery series, it is terrific British fun! I strongly recommend Yes, Minister. I also recommend its sequel: Yes, Prime Minister
If you would like to see more TV and Movies suggestions, click here.
Kath says
Thanks! Both are available on amazon prime and I added them to my list!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
That’s great, Kath.
Patti S. says
I love British shows, they are so good. I can’t wait to check this one out. Thanks for the info.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
This show is a classic, Patti S.
Carly says
Thank you!!! We are always looking for new, to us, British shows. Can’t wait to check this out! Please post any others you come across.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Carly, every once in a while I hear from someone who reminds me of a show I saw years ago. It looks like this entry has done the same for some of the people who read the entry.
Ann Philipp says
Thanks for the recommendation! There is a funky video store in our town – yes, a little family owned place that still stands – that carries tons of British films and TV shows. My husband and I have been watching Midsomer Murders, from your suggestion, and have been thoroughly enjoying it. I can’t wait to see if they have this!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Ann, how neat that there is still a Mom and Pop video store in your town. First we lost Hollywood Video, then our Blockbusters.
Ann Philipp says
Yes, same here, first Hollywood, then Blockbuster. Now it’s the Red Box (ugh) or Netflix. I feel a correlation between loosing our video stores and your frustration with big box stores. Less choice, more homogenization. I keep forgetting that our library carries videos, I really need to look into that.
So, our little store does have Yes, Prime Minister, only a few from the series., but enough to get me hooked!
Thanks again for the suggestion.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Ann, I just never thought I would EVER think “back in the old days” the way I seem to be these days!
Susan* says
Oh, yes! This is Classic British television! Funny, intelligent, and whilst there are usually plenty of double entendres, there’s never anything outright crude. (Personal hobby-horse: How can you call yourself funny, if the only way you can get a laugh is to use a 4-letter word?)
Sir Humphrey is my favourite, I must admit, and you have described him so well. Savvy, and well-informed (Far better, usually, than the minister!), and not above a little discreet blackmail, on occasion – the words ‘Schemer’ and ‘Conniver’ could almost have been coined for Humphrey and ‘somehow’, things always seem to work out in his favour… Absolutely brilliant!
As for the minister ‘lacking intelligence’… well, he is a politician, isn’t he? 😛
Cheers!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Susan*, I totally agree about comedy that relies on 4-letter words. And, lest I sound like an old fogey >>> I have always felt this way – regardless of my age!
Susan* says
I’m in my late ’30’s, so if not liking too much overt profanity makes you a ‘fogey’ – well, I must be a Young Fogey, then! Lol!
Cheers!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Susan*, you sound like a young, old fogey!
Arlie says
Thank you for the recommendation. I am almost done watching the British series “As Time Goes By”, per your suggestion, and I love it (and I agree about Alistair, he has become my favorite character)!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Arlie, Alistair really grows on you, doesn’t he? I am so glad I decided to give the show a chance – after seeing it out of sequence and taking a total dislike to his character.
Arlie says
Danna, you are so right about Alistair! After the first episode, I remember thinking “Hmmm, Danna said he grows on you but I’ll never like that guy!” but after a few seasons, I think he is such a sweetheart that I wish I could give him a hug.
By the way, for anyone who is interested in As Time Goes By and other British TV shows that aren’t on Netflix, Amazon Prime is a great deal! So many of the shows are free to instantly download with a Prime membership.
Barbara says
I totally agree. If you like British comedy you have to see these. Bob and I have watched this show and Yes, Prime Minister several times. Nigel Hawthorne makes the show though we also like Paul Eddington. Both are excellent British actors.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Barbara, you’re right: Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne are excellent British actors. Hawthorne is good in everything I have seen him in. (He was phenomenal in the 1994 The Madness of King George.)
Ann says
I love this series and I agree Nigel Hawthorne is great in this role. I see it occasionally still running on PBS (very late in the evening) By the way, it looks like Call the Midwife is being shown this week on PBS too. Having grown up in London in the 1950s I can relate to the setting.
Ann
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Ann, I wonder if our PBS station ever aired Yes, Minister…
Sheila UK says
My family and I loved this show when it 1st came out, it was required viewing! At the time, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister and was in a battle with the Civil Service (Sir Humphrey is a member of this) as most ministers have been since! So, at times, this show is not far off the truth! It was and is a very popular show in the UK and people still refer to it when discussing idiotic happenings in government!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Sheila UK, you all have such clever and intelligent shows across the pond.
Sheila UK says
Not all are as clever as this one was! It is definitely one of the very best. We don’t have much good stuff at the moment unfortunately and there has been some real rubbish too – fortunately, you’ve probably not imported it!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
I totally agree with you, Sheila UK, about this show (Yes, Minister) being “one of the very best.”
marilyn says
this is a great series
Sheila says
OMG! I haven’t seen Yes, Prime Minister in ages. I’ll have to keep my eyes open to see if it comes back to the Connecticut area TV. Sure hope it does. Another British comedy I liked was “Man About the House” (American version: Three’s Company).
Sheila UK says
Man about the House is going back a long way! I don’t think its been shown in the UK for ages and I’m not sure how well it will have stood up, it was very 70’s! I loved it when it was 1st on though!
Sheila says
In the States Man About the House was shown on PBS after the American version “Three’s Company” came out. Three’s Company was on US TV from 1977 to 1984 and can still be seen on TV-Land.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Sheila and Sheila UK, I don’t think I have ever heard anything about Man about the House.
Sheila UK says
From Wikipedia but this is how I remember it!
“Man About the House is a British sitcom starring Richard O’Sullivan, Paula Wilcox and Sally Thomsett that was broadcast for six series on ITV from 15 August 1973 to 7 April 1976. It was created and written by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke. The series was considered daring at the time due to its subject matter of a man sharing a flat with two single women. It was made by Thames Television and recorded at their Teddington studios.
Two spin-off series were later made: George and Mildred and Robin’s Nest. In 2004, it came 69th in a poll to find Britain’s Best Sitcom. The series was remade in the United States as Three’s Company in 1977. A film version of Man About the House was released in 1974.
Young flatmates Chrissy and Jo find a stranger, student chef Robin Tripp, asleep in their bath the morning after the farewell party for their departed flatmate Eleanor. They are taken with Robin when they realise his culinary skills are far superior to their own. Apparently “Eleanor didn’t leave the recipe for toast.”
Chrissy and Jo are both from regional England and moved out on their own to live in London. They both work for the same firm. When he meets the two women, Robin has been in London two days, having moved from Southampton to attend college. The women are unimpressed with Gabrielle (Helen Fraser), a pushy young woman who arrives hoping to move in to Eleanor’s room. Learning that Robin has been staying at the YMCA they easily convince him to move in.
Robin moves in on a platonic basis, and Chrissy tells the landlord George Roper that Robin is gay to pre-empt objections to the mixed-sex living arrangement. In the second episode, Robin’s true sexuality becomes known to Mildred. Mildred openly flirts with Robin at every opportunity. Robin frequently acts in a flirtatious manner toward Chrissy and Jo. The women have no romantic interest and spurn his mild advances, and adapt to his presence in the flat.”
A lot of the comedy was because they were all, except Robin, pretty inept! There was also comedy around the differences between the sexes and a sort of reversal of roles as Robin was the cook and ‘housekeeper’ while one of the girls was keen on DIY! The second girl was totally ditsy! The spin off ‘George and Mildred’ was probably even more popular than this show though Robin’s Nest (which was set in a restaurant opened by Robin) was less successful.
I have an indistinct memory of watching Three’s Company at some time.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Sheila UK, I didn’t watch Three’s Company either.
Jane says
Discovered the British comedy Doc Martin which I love to watch…thank for this suggestion
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Jane, it’s a really terrific show. I don’t understand why the USA can’t come up with shows that are this good. Go figure!
Anne says
Just an opinion: the foundation of British television was public service television, whereas, as I understand it, the foundation of American t.v. was commercial. Also, as regards acting, there is a 1000 yr tradition of performance in England.
No shortage of talent in America,but the pressures of the money men?
Sadly, those pressures are are at work in the U.K. today.
We must all resist, even if only by voicing our opinion.
Mary Joy W says
Loved this show as well as Yes, Prime Minister. We watched them on PBS in the 80’s and they were some of the best. There were (and still are) so many wonderful Britcoms. We always wonder why the US cannot put out this caliber of shows. Some other 80″s shows were Ever Decreasing Circles, Butterflies, and another one with Felicity Kendall, where she played a single girl with a boyfriend. Does anyone remember the name of that? Of course, Good Neighbors with Felicity Kendall, Penelope Keith , Paul Eddington and Richard Briers was another wonderful one and To the Manor Born was in a class of it’s own.
Not a comedy, kind of mysterious, have you ever mentioned House of Cards on this Blog, Danna?
I’m rambling, it’s been a long day, but Penelope Wilton from Ever Decreasing Circles plays Mrs. Crawley (Matthew’s mother, on Downtown Abbey). She been on several good series.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Mary Joy, I didn’t know Yes, Minister was ever on PBS.
As for House of Cards, it’s on my TV and Movies page on the site. (I understand they are making a USA version of this wonderful series. I’m not too interested, though, in seeing it. If I want to watch House of Cards again >>> it will be this (original) British version.
Sheila UK says
I think the Felicity Kendal show is called The Mistress – she was single and having an affair with a married man – it was very risque for the time! By Good Neighbours do you mean the Good Life? (with Felicity Kendall, Penelope Keith , Paul Eddington and Richard Briers)(a truly brilliant and timeless show still loved in the UK). Was it called Good Neighbours in the US? There were some excellent sitcoms in the 80’s especially, but not everything we had was good! I would imagine that the US only picked up the best, as the UK does with US shows. Sadly, there aren’t many good sitcoms being done now in the UK, there aren’t many full stop. There were good US comedy shows – Golden Girls, Frasier, Cheers, Friends, Seinfeld. Again, perhaps not so many now!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Sheila UK, I remember Felicity Kendal from when she played Princess Vicky in Edward the King. She was delightful as the young princess, and terrific as the older version. Thanks for telling us about The Mistress. I’ll watch for it.
Maybe both countries are in a sitcom slump!
Sheila UK says
Felicity Kendal is one of our best actresses and is very well liked in the UK. She also always seems a really nice person when she’s interviewed on TV. I liked the Mistress because it was a little more edgy! But, I’ve just remembered also that before she did that show (two UK seasons ie 12 episodes), she also did a show called ‘Solo’, which was sort of the reverse as she played a woman who left her boyfriend after finding out he was having an affair! That was also two UK seasons – 13 episodes. Solo might be the one Mary Joy W meant! Anyway – anything Ms Kendal does is usually worth watching – comedy or drama.
Kim says
I loved watching BBC shows on PBS growing up. I’m currently rewatching “As Time Goes By” and will be following it up with “The Vicar of Dibley”. Dawn French is hilarious in that one 🙂
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Kim, anything with Dawn French is worth trying. I became a fan of her work when I by-chance saw her in some of the Murder, Most Horrid television shows.
Anne says
Just having a mooch through the site and yr last comment, Danna,on this page reminded me of the first time I saw Dawn French on t.v. It was in a series called “The Comic Strip Presents…” with the late Rik Mayall and Jennifer Saunders and others and was hilarious. The first episode was “Five go Mad in Dorset,” a take off of Enid Blyton. Then there was “Five go Mad on Mescalin,” “Consuela” and others I can’t remember. Great fun. I believe there is a DVD set, “The best of…” but whether it’s still published I don’t know.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Anne, Dawn French is such a versatile actress. I’ll go see if I can dig that up.