5 Lessons from Sir Humphrey | Yes, Prime Minister | BBC Comedy Greats 

Those are great! Mine is “a mistake can only be seen as such, at the time, without the benefit of hindsight”.

“Minister, I don’t know what you don’t know, it could be almost anything” “The ship of state is the only ship that leaks from the top” “The Official Secrets Act isn’t there to protect secrets, it’s there to protect officials”

Favourite* Time for Americans to learn the English language.

@@bobbrewer5182 "Yes, the English speaking nations can be said to include the United States....With a certain generosity of spirit. " - Bernard

@@iandhr1 “two nations divided by a common language” Winston Churchill. Which just reminds me of when Hacker starts talking like Churchill lol

😂😂😂

😂😁🤣

😂😂😂😅

Sir Humphrey (Nigel Hawthorne) was phenomenal - the writing and Hawthorne's portrayal consistently excellent. But, "A clear conscience... when did you acquire this taste for luxuries?" is an absolute highlight. Hardest laugh I've had in the past month. I watched both series (YM and YPM) in their entirety some years ago, but didn't remember the details of this scene ... wasn't quite prepared for the level of perfection there. 🤣🤣🤣

@@apomekhanes297 There is another scence where Sir Humphrey is talking with Sir Arnold who having retired from the civil service was Chairman of the Freedom of Information Committie and Sir Humphrey ask him..How things were going at Freedom Of Information and Sir Arnold replies without missing a beat replies Sorry cannot say

Could you care to explain the joke to the non-English? Thanks

@@saradhiv3467 certainly, he is referring to Oxford and Cambridge. By implication he doesn’t regard anywhere else as a university.

@@johnwilliamson8110 I understood which two Unis. Over the course of time, its shown that he favours his own alum and I thought he preferred one over the other and when he said "both of them" he was making a one time concession.

@@saradhiv3467 Nah it’s what John said 😂

@@saradhiv3467 it was more than that even. He only really regarded another chap as being of sound standing if he was an alumni of the exact same college within Oxford Uni.

😁😆❤️

Yes... or, rather, exposes of what goes on behind closed doors.

according to the doccumentry, the episodes were based on leaks by three MP's close to the PM. So Humpy and Hacker saying Number 10 is the only ship that leaks from within, is very true

@@AzguardMike It was worse than that. There were apparently several senior members of the civil service that were sending the writers all the background information that they needed on a regular basis.

@@AzguardMike "The ship of state, Bernard, is the only ship that leaks from the top."

not just that, but also how to approach situations, that's the beauty, it works on any level of management as long as you can steer things

It was reality TV back then as well, the guy that Humphrey was based upon was cooperating with the writing staff and some of the events are based on actual ones, like getting drunk at the arabian reception for instance.

Best political sitcom that is

What? I thought it was a documentary!

After all these clips got recommended to me I finally started watching it in full, am almost done with series 2 of Yes, Minister now, and I fully agree. I think it’s certainly one of the finest comedies I’ve ever seen.

@@siriondil4739 what about only fools and horses

A great primer for politics on both sides of the Pond.

You mean how government STILL works.

It always was reality, governments have just gotten complacent in putting on a front.

That just goes to show the even-handed, far-sighted nature of the Civil Service.

You should also mention Bernard's reply to him...😂

Only British?

Yes, it really is universal but so well clothed in British-ness.

Intelligent media gives rise to intelligent patrons, intelligent patrons expects its government to be accountable to people. Now we can't have that can we Bernard.😉

When was that? People were always stupid. If anything, they are slightly less stupid now, but that isn't saying much.

@@amoral_minority true, just trying to be coy

@@abhaygsingh4405 not talking about your comment, yours was funny

I wonder if there's a site that has the number on how many people actually watched it back in the day.

No it couldn't according to the woke agenda you would have to have half if them black,some black woman in it,a man in a wheelchair,a transgender arsehole for the LGBT+ mob a asian person,just to get pass the planning stage,so your not accuse of racism against minority people,this why tv is shit today

So clever it would not be allowed to be made today particularly criticizing progressive liberal Marxist governments in Western civilizations

There are no writers around today let alone actors that could make a series of such subtlety

@@michaelmeredith9470 Not true. It's a studio exec problem.

It’s a documentary performed as satire - and satire, as we all know, is sarcasm’s more truthful alter-ego.

As a far away observer, I cannot keep thinking of how sir Humprey’s words would apply to nowadays reality in th UK, just when the labor party won the government, and the tories have been defenestrated after 14 years in it.

Not just civil private companies.

Better than an American laugh track

Or “promotion” or elevation to the “house of Lords”Where they can be ignored.

then you will have to learn how to*be*everything - which is imaginary as all universals are imaginary - can only possibly be imaginary.

Erich Mielke, head of east Germanys security service STASI, said just that, and he meant it! and he darn near did!!

"What do you mean, a lie?"

Brilliant

rather the mantra of all those that follow that form of religion that is politics.socialism or its various watered-down forms has developed backstabbing into a fine art.

....as opposed to whom lol

True of all politicians

Well - you are accurate - Armando Ianucci was on record as saying that it was a version of Yes Minister updated for the 21st century. It also was based on some true stories (yes - Yes Minster/Prime Minister -- many of the plot points were based on true stories that were leaked to the writers)

"A Conflict of Interest" (1987).

yes the term embraces both, which are pretty much exclusive to one tribe alone, because you cannot make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

@@vhawk1951kl Huh? I know the idioms, the portmanteau, and English, but fail to see what point you are making.

That is indeed the general idea, which is eminently sensible, if you have any experience of particular instances of your imaginary " the people", which is no more than some vague sentimental generalisation, as opposed to a discrete entity with a single controlling mind The lower classes are little more than imbecile children, and the wise do not give power to imbecile children any more than you would give a loaded gun to a ten-year-old child. Democracy was the fool invention of a psychopath

No, they show the west wing- to demonstrate why whatever the president says must be done and not discussed or commented on, especially by the press and televesion commentators

Being Dutch I was about seventeen when this was first broadcast. Cable TV was already well established here and BBC 1 and BBC 2 were a main staple of my television diet. I loved it's documentaries, its news and current affairs programming, - News Night, Question Time, and the Nine o'Clock News being regular fixtures to watch - Sports programming with Grand Prix racing - loved the Fleetwood Mac's guitar solo from "the Chain" used in the intro - WTCC, cricket, rugby, snooker, even bowls, and of course Football (darts never was my thing). Then there was the entertainment; fantastic (historical) drama, SciFi like 'Dr. Who', 'Blake's seven', 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the galaxy', and even 'Star Trek TNG' which was technically American but dominated by Sir Patrick Stewart in the lead role. And then there was comedy which almost all stood head and shoulders above anything produced elsewhere; there were the sketch variants with 'And Now For Some Completely Different', 'Not The Nine O'Clock News', 'A Bit of Fry and Laurie', and possibly 'Spitting Image', certainly 'Have I got News For You', and I think 'QI ' fits into this group too. There were also comedy series like 'Dad's Army', 'Allo Allo', 'The Good Life' , 'To the Manor Born', 'Keeping up Appearances', 'The Vicar of Dimbleby', 'Absolutely Fabulous', ''Red Dwarf', 'Only Fools and Horses', The Young Ones', and probably quite a few more I right now can't recall, but there was one series that for me stood head and shoulders above any others; 'Yes, Minister' and it's sequel 'Yes, Prime Minister'; It was so witty and intelligently written I really was in awe of this show. To say I was a fan of the BBC is putting it mildly, but somehow they managed to lose me with their slow but certain introduction of left-wing woke intersectional bias into their reporting and even entertainment. It survives nowadays on the reputation of honesty they built previously, but it's not even a shadow of its former self ....... pity.

This show in its entirety is freely available on Bilibili with excellent subtitles