Paul Eddington must have wondered whether he had a fairy godmother when he finished the top-rated comedy series of the 70's to walk into...well...the top-rated comedy series of the 80's. Talent will out, that's all I can say.
First-class observations of civil service practise and government double-speak, coupled with a stonking cast, made this tale of a newly-elected government minister who is led a merry dance by his Machiavellian chief of staff, the thinking man's comedy of the early Thatcher years.
The idea of a Ministry for Administrative Affairs isn't as ridiculous as it sounds, and its remit to cut government expenditure is on practically every party manifesto; but no minister ever had to deal with Sir Humphrey Appleby, who became a by-word for a decade, who sees it as his sworn duty to maintain that paragon of civil service states: the status quo.
As with many series, it went on just a tad too long; it's tough, even for the best writers, to come up with red-tape jokes forever - and 'Yes Prime Minister' was definitely a white paper too far - but, for the first 2 years or so, it was a great show: witty, incisive; and, above all, *intelligent*.
First-class observations of civil service practise and government double-speak, coupled with a stonking cast, made this tale of a newly-elected government minister who is led a merry dance by his Machiavellian chief of staff, the thinking man's comedy of the early Thatcher years.
The idea of a Ministry for Administrative Affairs isn't as ridiculous as it sounds, and its remit to cut government expenditure is on practically every party manifesto; but no minister ever had to deal with Sir Humphrey Appleby, who became a by-word for a decade, who sees it as his sworn duty to maintain that paragon of civil service states: the status quo.
As with many series, it went on just a tad too long; it's tough, even for the best writers, to come up with red-tape jokes forever - and 'Yes Prime Minister' was definitely a white paper too far - but, for the first 2 years or so, it was a great show: witty, incisive; and, above all, *intelligent*.