At The BFI - Yes Minister At 40

A hospital that has five hundred administrative staff but no money left for doctors, nurses or patients. A national identity database causing concerns about what the government could do with that information. Plot lines from a political comedy which is forty years old but still feel as if they are relevant today.

Last night, in honour of the fortieth anniversary of Yes Minister and it’s follow up Yes Prime Minister, the BFI screened Party Games, the hour long special that serves as the bridge between the two series, followed by a Q&A with co-writer Jonathan Lynn.* The show holds up really well and still has some good laughs in it even forty years on. That’s a testament to two things - the strength of the writing and the strength of the performances.

In terms of the writing, it’s about politics without being specifically topical. In a move that Armando Iannucci would later emulate with the Thick Of It, the political parties are never named (always just the government and the opposition), making it easier to focus on the machination of governing itself. Lynn pointed out in his Q&A that the programme isn’t about Parliament - to Lynn’s mind, Parliament is just the theatre, the spectacle, the show. The real business of governing happens within the civil service, in the corridors of Whitehall and that hasn’t really altered. This focus on the bureaucracy and the unchanging nature of the civil service (and it’s fervent desire to remain unchanging in the face of constant ministerial shuffling in order to actually get anything done) is what makes it feel just as relevant today.

Performance-wise, the trio of Paul Eddington as principled but fearful minister/prime minister Jim Hacker, Nigel Hawthorne as the unbendable bureaucratic face of the civil service, Sir Humphrey Appleby and Derek Fowlds as middleman and private secretary Bernard Woolley are all at the top of their game in this. They hold every scene and provide a masterclass in comedy acting with a proper dramatic impact (which Lynn believes comes from their theatrical training). Lynn revealed that Hawthorne was happy to perform Sir Humphrey tongue-twisting linguistic gymnastics as long as the writers would guarantee that the scripts were locked down three weeks in advance whereas Eddington often had a moment in the script where he would act out Hacker’s response rather than use the dialogue (so they would give him a line that could be optional in each script).

Casting-wise, Lynn and fellow co-writer Antony Jay were both set on Eddington and Hawthorne from the start. They then met with the series producer who proceeded to tell them that his choice for the main roles was Eddington and Hawthorne - a rare case of complete agreement. Fowlds came on board through a chance meeting at a meal with the governor of a prison (a long story apparently) at which Lynn decided he’d found their Bernard.

The BFI does a great job of putting on events celebrating classic UK TV and this was no exception. If you’ve never seen Yes, Minister / Yes, Prime Minister before, I heartily recommend it.


*Small sad note - the BFI had been talking to Derek Fowlds about him attending as well prior to his death in January.