"Half of them are your enemies anyway and the other half are the sort of friends that make you perfect for your enemies." Love it. Politics summed up in one sentence.
Great Comedy requires two things: great writing and great performance. The writing here is superb, but the brilliant actors took those words and made them something incredible. This quality is so rare. Rare now and rare then too. Love it.
22:36 she called him Humpy! That is hilarious. A lot of people in the comments are almost surprised at how clever this show is - that's because it's a timeless example of brilliant writing, acting and of Britishness
Theyre surprised because most of them are probably your typical arrogant Yanks who can't conceive of any other nation producing high quality entertainment.
I live in Poland. I watch politicians in medias, I have friends who work in public service and I'm shocked how accurate this series is. Different age, different geopolitical reality, different cultural circle, different country... but the mechanisms are exactly the same. This show never gets old! I got all seasons on DVD!
Government, regardless of the ideology, politics, beaurocracy, geography, demographics & economoc structure, will always be the same. The more people you have involved in the decision making, the more inefficient it becomes.
@@MAGJ86no, the slower it becomes. Everyone compromises in the end without wanting to kill one other, which makes it more effective. The problem is that it makes it so that it becomes slower to get anything done. Sometimes, not doing anything to avoid breaking something is the right solution, and other times making a quick decision can be a better one.
@@LordDaret that kind of thing only happens in a country where everyone is after the same thing. Unfortunately, in the real world, every person has their own agenda. Also, "not wanting to kill"? Only someone who grew up in a sheltered environment can speak of such things. Sure not everyone "wants" to kill, but not everyone has the luxury to not to.
@@karamjitdedyal752Sadly, the elitism of the only two universities doesn’t even extend to graduate studies and definitely not to honorary doctorates. It’s only undergrad/ first degrees that confer the necessary social status. 😢
underrated? the series got three baftas and Hawthorne four for his role. But perhaps it ought to have gotten more, or do you mean it should be more popular among your social group?
@@TeronEtrius I mean it’s not shown regularly like other comedies around that same era that’s what I meant. It’s underrated by the media, as you always see Dads Army, Only Fools, Blackadder, Fawlty Towers constantly repeated
@@DJ_ASH_B Possibly because it requires people to attempt to understand the political process within Government and the competing use of resources so they can draw parallel's between what the writers created and the modern day political landscape. Cerebral comedy always works better but some people will never get the joke or will be offended by what they perceive within the joke. In fact YM and YPM also had a negative effect in that the Government of Tony Blair contained ministers who had been brought up on the programmes and who were reluctant to engage with the Civil Service for fear of what the programmes depicted happening to their departments and careers.
It's NEVER been underrated, it's always near the top of favourite comedy polls and won several awards. The critics loved it as did the public. I don't know what you're trying to say,but underrated is definitely the wrong word. This comedy was and is highly rated by all who've watched it
When Hacker has Humphrey and the director of the National Theatre by the short and curlies is one of the best scenes in the series! Not often it ends up Hacker: 1 Humphrey: 0 !!!
This is British democracy bernard. British democracy recognises that you need a system to protect the important things of life and keep them out of the hands of the barbarians. Things like Opera, Radio3, Countryside, the law, the universities (both of them) and We are that system.
@@LHRTWWe don't want to, thanks. Not every country has to have the same kind of government. And it's not like Charles III or Prince William have less claim to the throne than their mother and grandmother; it would be just as rude to them to abolish the monarchy; I don't understand people who think it would have been wrong to Elizabeth II but not her heirs?
The piece about the content of the school curriculum seems particularly insightful for the time, given what many young people are like when they leave university now... Satire to reality in 25 years!
Each year, the scripts seem for the present year, I always watch the series like it's my first time. It never ceases to amaze me. Actually, I've learned a great deal of how governments around the world function and that what we read or hear is not what is really happening. I can't thank you enough for this both entertaining and educational series.
I truly hope that everyone realizes that this show is not just relevant to the United Kingdom. I've never even landed on Great Britain, nor Ireland, but I find the dialogue hilarious.
And John Nettleton who memorably played Sir Humphrey's mentor, Sir Arnold, has just passed away aged 94 (on 12 July 2023). He really was the last regular in both series to shuffle off. Any of those club scenes where Humphrey dines with Sir Arnold are absolute gold with Arnold's anecdotes about the foibles of past politicians and civil servants surprising even a jaded Sir Humphrey.
@@RickDorianDiana Hoddinott who played Annie Hacker is still with us, as is Peter Cellier, born in 1927, who played Sir Frank Gordon of the Treasury in a few episodes.
Absolutely brilliant, like everything about all episodes for all series. Also, very refreshing to hear 'patronised' pronounced as we Britons used to, instead of the excerable 'paytronized' that seems to the norm these days, even amongst those who ought to know better.
"We're supposed to be preparing children for a working life, three quarters of the time they're bored stiff" "Well I should have thought that being bored stiff for three quarters of the time was an excellent preparation for working life"
Boldly, one might imagine that no BBC type comedy show was so prescient, so advanced, so aware, so balanced, so bloody good as to be worth serious watching after nearly a half century of bathing in preposterous pungent poo of preposterous puerile pathetic profiteering pretensions to the public.
Timeless TV. 😂😂😂Hilarious at first then you realize the chicanery and buffoonery in governments in many places are even worse. Great scripts; even greater delivery.
This show is so funny yes prime minister 🎉 🇬🇧 so funny with such great lines With great questions. About the privileged and wealthy and successful families 🎉 🇬🇧 so much about the poor and needy🎉
Two reasons...One, politicians these days are not as thick skinned as they used to be in the 80s. Two, politicians these days are so much committed to speaking for freedom of expression in Russia and China to such an extent that the media (under their indirect control) is totally preoccupied with promoting their noble mission at the expense of those dumbfounded critics who want to use the same freedom of expression to ridicule them till kingdom come. The death of freedom of expression in Britain twenty one years ago when Tony Blair emptied his bowels to reveal the 'September Dossier' (aka evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction).
0:28 'you can call me _Agnes_ .' poor Humpy, that was 40yrs ago for him. even today, I wouldn't feel comfortable calling her on a first name basis as an employee in a government ministry when we barely know each other. otoh, it would still be very unusual if anyone would call me by my first name outside very familiar or informal settings - and I'm certainly not the cabinet secretary.
It is great that designers have gone for a Georgian look. Reminds me of Cheltenham Spa. However in the centre, I would have a park, a lake and a Church modelled on 12th or 13th Century. The pebble dash exterior renderings are going need to be repainted frequently and we could have some wonderful Tobermory colours.
Wonderful how relevant this satire still is. Only a few strong homogenic societies in the world would allow something like this to be aired at the time, very few would allow it even today. Brilliant
What makes this even more funny 😂 is know days he would be fact checked . This is how Boris eventually went down , you just can’t do this anymore. If you quote one of your speeches from three months ago it had better be accurate
It isn't a comedy. It is a satire of the highest quality. Never tired to watch it again and again. It was relevant for the the eighties and it is relevant for today. The only difference is that the governments became less accountable and more corrupt. Since the release of the series governments have concentrated even more power in the hands of politicians and bureaucrats who became a new class in our society. It is becoming even worse as more people accepting socialist agenda. America is moving towards fascism as a branch of socialism. Democratic socialism is an oxymoron. Socialism exists only in two forms: communism (government ownership of production and distribution control) and fascism (government control of production). Fascism is a preferable system as long as it is free from extreme nationalism. Both systems eventually lead to militarism. It isn't complicated and even poorly educated people can understand it if they put a little effort to think about it. Those who try to complicate those systems are liars brainwashing people with utopian ideas without any basis in reality.
Speaking as a Canadian, I envy all the commentators who point out that the issues the languages brought up in the show our reflections of real life in their own countries… I wish I could say the same for Canada… But I am quite sure that our politicians are not intelligent or articulate enough to play these games.
Very few British satirical comedies have been written as well as this one was. Your vocabulary improves with each episode as swiftly as your opinion of the political class deteriorates.
@leondarcy7367 I've got them all on dvd already but switching between me favourite episodes is a ballache. Since it was paid for by the BBC I don't see why I can't access the full catalogue online
I love how Hacker evolves during this series from an idealistic, but clueless former editor, to a wily, seasoned, effective politician.
I think that's a contradiction if he's effective can he be a politician?
Yes but a more realistic trajectory might have been from an idealistic ineffective novice to a cynical politician effective at lining his own pocket
Shame most politicians are plain lazy and rely on perm beaurocrats
@@89Keiththat's the thing, he's not effective, he's an effective politician
@Wolf36181 ah we're moving onto oxymorons
"Half of them are your enemies anyway and the other half are the sort of friends that make you perfect for your enemies." Love it. Politics summed up in one sentence.
Prefer your enemies
I absolutely watching Hacker gain the advantage every so often. It feels like a real victory every time it happens.
Who is Hacker?
Who is Hacker?
@@travelfreak2 Jim Hacker. The titular Prime Minister.
Great Comedy requires two things: great writing and great performance. The writing here is superb, but the brilliant actors took those words and made them something incredible. This quality is so rare. Rare now and rare then too. Love it.
Its not rare now , its non existent. Sitcoms these days are trivial , irrelevant and , worst of all , not funny
I believe the best comedy expresses the truth with irony.
Th important things. The Opera, Radio 3, the universities. Both of them. 😂
We gave the architect a knighthood so no one would ever say that🤣
“Shall I be mother?” Always cracks me up 😂
22:36 she called him Humpy! That is hilarious.
A lot of people in the comments are almost surprised at how clever this show is - that's because it's a timeless example of brilliant writing, acting and of Britishness
🇬🇧
Exactly! 😂🥃
Theyre surprised because most of them are probably your typical arrogant Yanks who can't conceive of any other nation producing high quality entertainment.
That's a little pet name he's had throughout the series, usually only used by close friends.
I like to think he was quite the ladies man during his time at Oxford. Hence the nickname.
This masterpiece’s longevity was that it emphasizes the real-world corruption with fictional solutions. 😂
I live in Poland. I watch politicians in medias, I have friends who work in public service and I'm shocked how accurate this series is. Different age, different geopolitical reality, different cultural circle, different country... but the mechanisms are exactly the same. This show never gets old! I got all seasons on DVD!
Government, regardless of the ideology, politics, beaurocracy, geography, demographics & economoc structure, will always be the same. The more people you have involved in the decision making, the more inefficient it becomes.
@@MAGJ86 : That's why we need a dictator, like Stalin or Hitler, quite efficient.
@@MAGJ86no, the slower it becomes. Everyone compromises in the end without wanting to kill one other, which makes it more effective. The problem is that it makes it so that it becomes slower to get anything done. Sometimes, not doing anything to avoid breaking something is the right solution, and other times making a quick decision can be a better one.
@@LordDaret that kind of thing only happens in a country where everyone is after the same thing. Unfortunately, in the real world, every person has their own agenda.
Also, "not wanting to kill"? Only someone who grew up in a sheltered environment can speak of such things. Sure not everyone "wants" to kill, but not everyone has the luxury to not to.
"The universities...both of them" 😂😂 The PM will be upset to know his LSE wasn't included haha
Sir Humphrey to Jim, "Glad to know that even the LSE is not totally opposed to education".
Oh, he knows 😁
Well the PM has an honoree Doctor of Law from Oxford University. So the PM, Sir Humphrey and Bernard are from the universities.....both of them
@@karamjitdedyal752Sadly, the elitism of the only two universities doesn’t even extend to graduate studies and definitely not to honorary doctorates. It’s only undergrad/ first degrees that confer the necessary social status. 😢
25:31: Honesty always gives you the advantage of surprise in the House of Commons. So true and it still cracks me up every time I hear it.
Timeless, clever, unmatchable
I love this show. JIM HACKER should be Prime Minister now!! We need him, Humphrey and Bernard.
Genius. Absolute genius.
Ironically so many things are relevant still to this day! A brilliant comedy which was so underrated
underrated? the series got three baftas and Hawthorne four for his role. But perhaps it ought to have gotten more, or do you mean it should be more popular among your social group?
@@TeronEtrius I mean it’s not shown regularly like other comedies around that same era that’s what I meant. It’s underrated by the media, as you always see Dads Army, Only Fools, Blackadder, Fawlty Towers constantly repeated
@@DJ_ASH_B Possibly because it requires people to attempt to understand the political process within Government and the competing use of resources so they can draw parallel's between what the writers created and the modern day political landscape.
Cerebral comedy always works better but some people will never get the joke or will be offended by what they perceive within the joke.
In fact YM and YPM also had a negative effect in that the Government of Tony Blair contained ministers who had been brought up on the programmes and who were reluctant to engage with the Civil Service for fear of what the programmes depicted happening to their departments and careers.
@@darreng745 Worried with good cause I would say.
It's NEVER been underrated, it's always near the top of favourite comedy polls and won several awards. The critics loved it as did the public. I don't know what you're trying to say,but underrated is definitely the wrong word. This comedy was and is highly rated by all who've watched it
This series was Brilliant in every way
Honesty is a surprise in the house of commons.Brilliant.
A global timeless comedy, tragedy, reality…and I can’t get enough of it 😂 😂😂😂😂…🧐
Universities........both of them!! 🤣🤣
I presume he meant the ones now ranked 2 and 3 in the UK, behind St Andrews.
😂😂😂
It’s scary how even today after decades this show is still relevant to politics not only in the UK but the world. This show was ahead of its time.
Masterful writing and acting and hilarious
When Hacker has Humphrey and the director of the National Theatre by the short and curlies is one of the best scenes in the series! Not often it ends up Hacker: 1 Humphrey: 0 !!!
How did they ever learn to memorize those long sentences with so many convulusions.
Brilliant, just brilliant!
The late Sir Nigel Hawthorne (playing Humphrey) was one of the finest actors of our era.
I believe you meant convolutions !
Thank you for still uploading clips from my favourite series.
This is British democracy bernard. British democracy recognises that you need a system to protect the important things of life and keep them out of the hands of the barbarians. Things like Opera, Radio3, Countryside, the law, the universities (both of them) and We are that system.
It's actually a constitutional monarchy. One of the very few that really functions.
@@Rapscallion2009it can be just constitutional now that old Liz has hit the bucket .. it can be annulled
@@LHRTW Look around the globe mate . You’ll find a constitutional monarchy works better.
So accurate of today!
@@LHRTWWe don't want to, thanks. Not every country has to have the same kind of government.
And it's not like Charles III or Prince William have less claim to the throne than their mother and grandmother; it would be just as rude to them to abolish the monarchy; I don't understand people who think it would have been wrong to Elizabeth II but not her heirs?
The piece about the content of the school curriculum seems particularly insightful for the time, given what many young people are like when they leave university now... Satire to reality in 25 years!
it makes my stomach churn that after all these years nothing has changed.
It has it's become much worse.
Well if you keep voting for tories labour greens LD SNP , nothing will change,
Each year, the scripts seem for the present year, I always watch the series like it's my first time. It never ceases to amaze me. Actually, I've learned a great deal of how governments around the world function and that what we read or hear is not what is really happening. I can't thank you enough for this both entertaining and educational series.
I truly hope that everyone realizes that this show is not just relevant to the United Kingdom. I've never even landed on Great Britain, nor Ireland, but I find the dialogue hilarious.
In china, this show is often quoted.
^I'm surprised it's allowed to be run in China, truthfully.
@@Delightfully_Witchy it could demonstrate the weakness of western democracy lol
@@youngc0930 ah, that makes sense.
We understand that Americans tend to not leave America
It actually was margret thatchers favorite program in the 80s . She admited that in an interview . The only time i ever agreed with anything she said
"We gave the architect a knighthood" - Absolute gold.
The most illuminating documentaries about privilege ever produced... as relevant today as they ever were.
I remember Watching this back in the 80s , it's so Sad that all Three have past on, .but it is a long time ago, Still So So Funny 🤣
Yes, they have passed on in the past. :)
And John Nettleton who memorably played Sir Humphrey's mentor, Sir Arnold, has just passed away aged 94 (on 12 July 2023). He really was the last regular in both series to shuffle off. Any of those club scenes where Humphrey dines with Sir Arnold are absolute gold with Arnold's anecdotes about the foibles of past politicians and civil servants surprising even a jaded Sir Humphrey.
@@RickDorianDiana Hoddinott who played Annie Hacker is still with us, as is Peter Cellier, born in 1927, who played Sir Frank Gordon of the Treasury in a few episodes.
As always, written and cast on the top shelf, and we are blessed by the confluence of it all,,,,,,
Brilliantly written, directed and acted.
Great series
5:10
Fruitful indeed, Sir Humphrey, fruitful indeed.
This is so currently appropriate even when years old. Never sure if politics never moved or we have circled back to these issues.
Never moved certainly
The universities - both of them 😅
Best of all Political Comedic paradies
Not a comedy more of a documentary. It will never get old.
Reaaaaallly? 😂😂😂
Superb 😂👍
Brilliant show.
I was born about the time this was made. I thought politics had changed since I got older. This is as relevant now as it was then.
The perfect script combined with the perfect cast.
brilliant comedy!
Agnes is so bloody cool 😂
She's just as two faced as the rest of them, merely wearing a mask of concern in order to flatter her own ego.
Absolutely brilliant, like everything about all episodes for all series. Also, very refreshing to hear 'patronised' pronounced as we Britons used to, instead of the excerable 'paytronized' that seems to the norm these days, even amongst those who ought to know better.
That guy with glasses appeared in Doc Martin as a singer who lost his voice. What Humphrey said about unemployment is SO TRUE in Australia!
"We're supposed to be preparing children for a working life, three quarters of the time they're bored stiff"
"Well I should have thought that being bored stiff for three quarters of the time was an excellent preparation for working life"
Boldly, one might imagine that no BBC type comedy show was so prescient, so advanced, so aware, so balanced, so bloody good as to be worth serious watching after nearly a half century of bathing in preposterous pungent poo of preposterous puerile pathetic profiteering pretensions to the public.
Timeless TV. 😂😂😂Hilarious at first then you realize the chicanery and buffoonery in governments in many places are even worse. Great scripts; even greater delivery.
So true for Indian intellectuals who wanted to keep power in their own hands
This was Thatcher’s favourite show.
This show is so funny yes prime minister 🎉 🇬🇧 so funny with such great lines
With great questions. About the privileged and wealthy and successful families 🎉 🇬🇧 so much about the poor and needy🎉
This is a British democracy!
Shame the BBC can’t make any programmes like this any more .
Two reasons...One, politicians these days are not as thick skinned as they used to be in the 80s. Two, politicians these days are so much committed to speaking for freedom of expression in Russia and China to such an extent that the media (under their indirect control) is totally preoccupied with promoting their noble mission at the expense of those dumbfounded critics who want to use the same freedom of expression to ridicule them till kingdom come. The death of freedom of expression in Britain twenty one years ago when Tony Blair emptied his bowels to reveal the 'September Dossier' (aka evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction).
14:16
Hacker wins, game set and match
love the battery hens and parliment joke..lol
Comedy magic, !
"parents are the worst people to bring up children" as a teacher, truer words have never been spoken
If you genuinely believe that, then I hope you won't be a teacher for much longer.
Half a pound of margarine probably costs about £2.40 these days.
And 81k pounds in 1982 = about 390000 pounds today
Almost bang on, I looked it up! - 1986 - Flora Margarine 500g £0.61. 2024 - Flora Original 450g £2.50.
Hacker really outplayed the National Theatre guy
What was once a comedy show became an instruction manual...
I just noticed that Agnes is wearing a man’s shirt.
This isn’t a comedy; it’s a documentary.
0:28 'you can call me _Agnes_ .' poor Humpy, that was 40yrs ago for him. even today, I wouldn't feel comfortable calling her on a first name basis as an employee in a government ministry when we barely know each other. otoh, it would still be very unusual if anyone would call me by my first name outside very familiar or informal settings - and I'm certainly not the cabinet secretary.
It is great that designers have gone for a Georgian look. Reminds me of Cheltenham Spa. However in the centre, I would have a park, a lake and a Church modelled on 12th or 13th Century. The pebble dash exterior renderings are going need to be repainted frequently and we could have some wonderful Tobermory colours.
Mrs Thatcher’s favourite TV programme!
Brillant the best english comedy very good actors
Top Episode
Favourite One
Holds true for 21st century India
3:35 😂😂😂🎉🎉🎉🎉
He said it wasn't him but even if it was he's prepared to pay it back
Calculator and brainculator should work along as to check per calculation accuracy indeed.
Yes, (prime) minister, the Ronnie O'Sullivan of British comedy.
"Agnes" is talented...and not bad looking.
Wonderful how relevant this satire still is. Only a few strong homogenic societies in the world would allow something like this to be aired at the time, very few would allow it even today. Brilliant
21mins 55 secs onwards is something I would like to see happen
What makes this even more funny 😂 is know days he would be fact checked . This is how Boris eventually went down , you just can’t do this anymore. If you quote one of your speeches from three months ago it had better be accurate
Watch Dogs Legion in a nutshell, but with a laugh-track. 😆
Fantastic
"Ordinary voters".
"But aren't they supposed to in a democracy".
"This is a British democracy Bernard".
Yes, nothing has changed!
It isn't a comedy. It is a satire of the highest quality. Never tired to watch it again and again. It was relevant for the the eighties and it is relevant for today. The only difference is that the governments became less accountable and more corrupt. Since the release of the series governments have concentrated even more power in the hands of politicians and bureaucrats who became a new class in our society. It is becoming even worse as more people accepting socialist agenda. America is moving towards fascism as a branch of socialism. Democratic socialism is an oxymoron. Socialism exists only in two forms: communism (government ownership of production and distribution control) and fascism (government control of production). Fascism is a preferable system as long as it is free from extreme nationalism. Both systems eventually lead to militarism. It isn't complicated and even poorly educated people can understand it if they put a little effort to think about it. Those who try to complicate those systems are liars brainwashing people with utopian ideas without any basis in reality.
Fascism is not a branch of socialism. It's fundamentally anti-socialist.
Isn't that democracy ? Its a British democracy
At 27.49, is that the great Aussie comedian Jim Jeffreys playing a BBC sound guy, maybe in an 'early career' non-speaking part?
I can't tell if the places he said could be offices, were real or made up😂
Fly on the wall documentary. But more interesting
Funny
漢弗萊翻車了w
Agnes would be a hero in modern times haha
❤
Speaking as a Canadian, I envy all the commentators who point out that the issues the languages brought up in the show our reflections of real life in their own countries… I wish I could say the same for Canada… But I am quite sure that our politicians are not intelligent or articulate enough to play these games.
Very few British satirical comedies have been written as well as this one was. Your vocabulary improves with each episode as swiftly as your opinion of the political class deteriorates.
A Docudrama
Gwen Taylor was a good looking woman in the 1980s
Really...
Why cant we just have the full episodes man?
buy the dvd
@leondarcy7367 I've got them all on dvd already but switching between me favourite episodes is a ballache. Since it was paid for by the BBC I don't see why I can't access the full catalogue online
3:19 Humphrey has many estimable qualities, but he can't make cup of tea It's like pee
Why is screen half a picture
Labour cut backs.
I think that even today asking anyong what the price of something at the supermarket is just stupid. Most people anywhere couldnt asnwer that question
Wow! You really don’t get it , do you?