• Air date: 25 Feb '80 7 episodes
      Set principally in the private office of a British Cabinet minister in the Department of Administrative Affairs in Whitehall, Yes Minister follows the ministerial career of The Rt Hon Jim Hacker MP, played by Paul Eddington. His various struggles to formulate and enact legislation or effect departmental changes are opposed by the British Civil Service, in particular his Permanent Secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby, played by Nigel Hawthorne. His Principal Private Secretary Bernard Woolley, played by Derek Fowlds, is usually caught between the two. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, continued with the same cast and followed the events of the premiership of Jim Hacker after his unexpected elevation to Number 10 upon the resignation of the previous PM.
  • List of Episodes (7)
    • 1. Open Government

      25 Feb '80
      Jim Hacker wins a seat in the election and is given a cabinet post in the new government He meets the permanent secretary for his department Sir Humphrey Appleby but Jim decides to change the way things are done in the civil service so Sir Humphrey starts a plan to stop him
    • 2. The Official Visit

      03 Mar '80
      When the leader of an African country is killed in a coup, his successor, who is an old friend of Jim's, comes in his place. They negotiate a £50 million deal to help buy oil exploration equipment.
    • 3. The Economy Drive

      10 Mar '80
      Jim Hacker is determined to reduce the Civil Service, but he is frustrated by Sir Humphrey, and the only numbers he can alter are the numbers of tea ladies.
    • 4. Big Brother

      17 Mar '80
      When the Government is planning to introduce a national database, Jim wants to bring in safe guards, but Sir Humphrey stalls until with some help from the opposition, Jim gets his way.
    • 5. The Writing on the Wall

      24 Mar '80
      A rumour starts that Jim's department is about to be axed. So with help from Sir Humphrey, they try and defeat the Prime Minister's plans.
    • 6. The Right to Know

      31 Mar '80
      Jim faces rebellion at home and in the office over the removal of protected status from a badger habitat, while he tries to circumvent Sir Humphrey's efforts to keep him ignorant of things.
    • 7. Jobs for the Boys

      07 Apr '80
      Jim goes on radio to support the Solihull project a Government, union and private enterprise building scheme, that he has inherited from the last administration, but unknown to him the project is close to bankruptcy, Sir Humphrey hopes to save the deal by offering a Quango to the director of the bank involved