Jim, quietly distressed: "Humphrey... you're threatening me!" Humphrey, cheerfully soothing: "No, Minister, I'm helping you." Usually when I'm sleepy (and trying not to wait too anxiously for my vacation), I like to unwind at night with something I've seen a million times, in case I drop off before it ends (or begins). A serendipitous souvenir from my convalescing hotel stay, this series has brought my parents and I endless delight for ages: "Yes Minister" (1980-4). In the Christmas special and series finale 'Party Games,' Permanent Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne) becomes Cabinet Secretary, leaving his minister Jim Hacker (Paul Eddington) in a bit of a muddle just as the Prime Minister (party unknown) decides to retire early. And things are set in motion as quiet scene-setters figure out who will be the new Prime Minister. There's so much I love about this brilliant episode and show, the champagne-sparkling dialogue, the subtlest unsubtle expressions, the delightful tension between continuity and change.
This intelligent window, mirror, satire of public life allows us to witness masterful manipulation as the 'humble' civil servant (a manicured Bilko or Jeeves with less scruples) confuses and moulds his idealistic but opportunistic political master, on a stage so deftly set that Jim can hardly see the curtains: a perfect, frighteningly relevant, beautifully put-together plot. The (seasonal?) religious references in this one tickle me in particular, like when Humphrey announces his promotion: "There comes a time when one has to accept what fate has in store, when one passes on... to pastures new, perhaps greener... And places oneself finally in the service of one who is - greater than any of us" (glances upwards to heavenly Number 10 in the church of Whitehall). And from Private Secretary Bernard Woolley (Derek Fowlds), adorably mild owner of revelatory one-liners: when asked "What's it all for, Bernard? What are we all doing? What does it all mean?" he says, "I didn't read theology, Minister." And when asked whether the futility of bureaucracy depresses him, he helpfully explains, "Not really, Minister, I'm a civil servant". Hahaha Xo
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