American Reacts Yes, Minister S1E1
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- Опубліковано 16 кві 2023
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The genius of this show is they never tell us which party Hacker is from. That's the point of the show, it doesn't matter which party is in power because it's the Civil Service who really hold the power.
I always just assumed Conservative. Not sure why.
@@Steve-gc5nt there are other episodes where he comes across as more Labour.
@@Steve-gc5nt It was the Conservative at the time, they have moved rightwards since
@@Steve-gc5nt He has a blue rosette on in one episode
He has a white rosette in this episode so it’s meant to be neither main party, and presumably a centrist one to enable them to satirise both. Don’t recall him ever having a blue rosette, that’s very much a New Statesman thing
As Margaret Thatcher pointed out in an interview: "It was closer to reality than anyone in Parliament would care to admit".
It was her favourite show.
When she was in No 10, the Chief Mouser was a hefty black and white cat named Humphrey ( named after Sir Humphrey Appleton).
The policeman stationed outside had instructions to ring the doorbell if Humphrey wanted back inside No 10.
The present cat is 'Larry'....
...one of the gestures that civilization is built on. (Does the Czar have a cat? Winston did.)
I just wrote the same thing, sort of! Your wording was better than mine, though!
@@FSMDog Larry wasn't alive when Maggy and her Tories were in.
What I love is she petitioned to be on the show multiple times, but was always rejected.
During a charity event with the show's cast, she was invited to take part in a skit.
She's a terrible actress and I don't much care for her, but I respect her fangirling of the show.
One other thing to bear on mind is that Sir Arnold, the Cabinet Secretary, is the overall head of the entire Civil Service and is Sir Humphrey's immediate boss so Sir Humphrey is continually needing to impress him, in exactly the same way as Bernard's boss is Sir Humphrey ( *not* the Minister).
Sir Humphrey is the Permanent Secretary of the fictional Ministry of Administrative Affairs. High level civil servants are (or were) always called "secretaries" of some sort. There were Under Secretaries and, beneath them, Assistant Secretaries, usually managing sub-departments of the Ministry.
In the follow-up series, "Yes, Prime Minister", Sir Arnold chooses Sir Humphrey as his successor in the role of Cabinet Secretary.
Top level civil servants were almost always graduates from either Oxford or Cambridge universities and often, like Sir Humphrey, read for degrees in the Humanities such as classics (hence his ability to quote classical writers in latin), rarely in physical or social sciences and definitely nothing vocational. Hence, they regarded themselves as generalists of high intellectual calibre, the creme de la creme, capable of objective thought, unclouded by everyday minutiae, and able to move easily from one government department to another without the need for detailed knowledge relevant to any specific subject area of government.
Politicians on the other hand came from a mixture of backgrounds. Jim Hacker was a graduate of the London School of Economics, regarded by Sir Humphrey as a lesser institution (along with all other universities and colleges apart from Oxford and Cambridge) where he will have studied politics and economics, areas of study derided by Sir Humphrey.
Ah yes, remember Humphrey's line from a later episode: "The universities... both of them" 😃
"If people don't know what you are doing, people don't know what you are doing wrong"
I'm in my 50's, and without realising it till now, I have lived my whole life by these words!
I mean, that works great for first dates and parties, but if your therapist and doctor doesn't know what you are doing wrong, that's on you. Instead of treating the common people as a confidant that might be a bit slow but has their heart in the right place, Humphrey treats the common person as a huckster, willing to screw over anybody at a moments notice. But then again, that's how they treat themselves, so if course they would think that of others.
It's all a game of smoke and mirrors, in a world were smoking is banned and were running out of sand.
How it's still here is a testament to people's reluctance to upset the people with big sticks, regardless of that stick actually being necessary!
Lovely sitcom 🤣 I served as a "Bernard" in a regional government during some years in the 2010's. I can truly say that this is a documentary 😉
@@bmofano Probably. At least about how it worked in West Sweden back in the 2010's 🌞
@@Tejiknasten 😂 👍
They were allowed to film in front of Number 10 because one of the show's political consultants was Bernard Donaghue, who was a senior figure in the government at the time. It only came out that he was involved years later!
It was relatively easy to film outside of 10 Downing Street for many years. I walked up there with my dad in the early 1980s and we took photos. It wasn’t until the IRA bombing increase in the UK that the street was cordoned off
Sadly, it was probably the right decision because, when an IRA bomb did explode round the corner at the far end of the street in Whitehall in John Major's time as PM, the windows of the Cabinet Room were blown in. One can hardly imagine what would have happened had it exploded within the confines of a narrow thoroughfare like Downing Street itself: the blast would have ricocheted across from the other side of the street and demolished the walls and roof of nos. 10-12.
I went to have a look in 2007. And both ends of the Street were behind security gates
There are two other London houses virtually identical to 10 Downing Street which are now used for filming external shots for drama shows.
That was something I had always wondered about; why the US president had such strict security but the PM doesn't / didn't; it was never really an issue till the Troubles... 😅
Even after that jogger ran into Cameron, he was pinned by 2 people and the PM was just ushered into the car. There was no full-on lockdown of the area.
@@safebox36 Only one prime minister has ever been assassinated (1812) and the assassin wasn't too fussy about which government figure his target was: anyone important would have done!
There was an unsuccessful attempt to murder Sir Robert Peel in 1843. His personal secretary Edward Drummond was inadvertently killed instead. Was he Peel's Bernard?
Two of our prime ministers have fought duels, however: George Canning (against Viscount Castlereagh at Putney Heath in 1807) and the Duke of Wellington (against the Earl of Winchilsea at Battersea Fields in 1829). Castlereagh was saved by a button on his coat which deflected Canning's shot but Canning was wounded in the thigh. The Duke of Wellington missed and Winchilsea fired into the air.
Please...do continue watching this entire series..It is just too good..
Yes! Legendary show. The dialogue lasts for ages and all brilliantly delivered by amazing actors
Yes!! Definitely watch the entire series, and the follow up " Yes Prine Minister". One of the best sitcoms ever written. As you've noticed, the genius of it is how close to reality it is, and how ridiculous our Government procedures and Political mationations really are. Sir Humphrey is possibly the greatest character in any sitcom. His long, confusing to others speeches are pure genius and Nigel Hawthorne was an incredibly great actor to be able to deliver them so perfectly. Finally, I loved your reaction to the final line in the show, "Yes Minister", you'll see as you work through these episodes that EVERY one ends with that line.
Watched this on 21 April 2023 (that’s 20 April to Americans). This morning I had a good chuckle when I heard Space X call the explosion of their rocket a rapid unscheduled disassembly,” which I thought was worthy of Sir Humphrey.
So glad you are watching full episodes. I watch these often and consider them some of the best TV shows made.
The credits change after this episode to the more familiar Scarfe ones
Do you just call him Burnit now to wind us up 😂
😅😅
Lol.
In the UK, "Bernard" rhymes with the two-syllable pronunciation of the word "learned", meaning someone who knows a lot: learn-ed. "As a biblical scholar, he appears to be very learned".
@@MrBulky992 I know, Connor has been told this on every one of the many, many videos he’s done reacting to Yes, (Prime) Minister but insists on calling him Burnit
My wife was in a Westminster Ministry. She couldnt watch this " it's too like being at work, and I have to keep a straight face when taking notes from the fools". She was firmly of the " if voting changed anything, they wouldn't let us do it" her utter contempt for the Ruling Families of the Westminster Cartel as she terms them is real and hatred of them ingrained .
4:53 Miss - George Gershwin
"I got rhythm
I got music
I got my man
Who could ask for anything more?"...
Watching a whole episode, Sir Humphrey would be proud of you!!!
Glad you're watching full episodes. This should give you context on a lot of the clips you've seen
Yes!!! We were so hoping you'd do full episodes! The first one sets the scene and introduces the main characters. From now on it's more 'Yes Minister' as we know it. 🙂 Accurate and funny at the same time! Grabs popcorn, sits back, enjoys Connor enjoying it! 😄
You've worked out the characters and the government set up really quickly. Looking forward to more episodes.
FINALLY someone is reacting to this yay! Don't worry about occasionally pausing.. unlike your reactions to clips, there are many more good spots to pause and comment. Also, beware in investigating too many terms Humphrey refers to.. he'll send you down the rabbit hole, as intended lol!!!
You definitely should watch the rest of the show, it was comedy gold all the way through the show and its followup, yes prime minister
Hope you continue and do all the episodes. This is one of the best series ever made.
Ripping Yarns is worth a watch.The First episode is "Tomkinson's Schooldays ."Watch out for the School Bully.
This program is brilliant :) thank you for the full episode. All peps should watch this to understand how politics works.
Yes yes continue to react to more full episodes, you love the show and it’s great to watch
Definately carry on with this great show. It's really odd to see this pilot, there were several changes in style when it want to series, not least the theme music and titles. I hope you will be carrying on with Blackadder series 1 though.
Pure genius isn't it? Really gets all government workings, the world over, the exposure they need.
So ahead of it's time and yet true time it's time. What brilliant performances!
It was a useful political tool, even back then.
Given the inside sources used for stories weren't just civil servants, but some were MPs from both benches.
Margareth Thatcher loved this series, she thought it gave a good satire over the continuing battle between politicians and the civil service. She helped BBC with all kind of stuff. Together with one of her speech writers she even wrote one episode (never aired, mind you). She made a comical stint with the cast if I remember correctly. This is for sure the only functional political sitcom ever produced.
One of the writers was a Conservative supporter and loved the idea of the actual Prime Minister being involved, the other writer and the cast hated the idea but the BBC had the final say and it was made. It might be on UA-cam somewhere but it is as expected completely awful.
@@Lones555 It was a total cringefest and did not even follow the canon of the series: the script made Sir Humphrey a graduate in economics when we know he had nothing but disdain for the subject and read classics, a much more prestigious field of knowledge, at Oxbridge.
I remember being able to walk down Downing St in the 1960's and 70's
26:35
Like the bloody principal's office. 😂
This is a pilot episode which you will notice from episode 2 onwards, it also shows how different life was without mobile phones and internet.
Hahahaaa😁 Your sheer delight in this programme is wonderful to see🤗✨ thanks for sharing it with us 👍
Faulty towers, blackadder and this! You’re in the masterclass!
'Civil servants' are government employees - employed on behalf of the country - they do the jobs they are told to do by their ministers, as employees they are expected to be politically neutral
"Expected"!
@@johnlocke6506 As individuals they are bound to have their own views, but should not behave according to them
Things have changed a lot recently. The senior government advisors are more likely to be privately contracted (like Weisel) than career civil servants like Humphrey.
@@InaMacallan Yes indeed. He was a "special advisor". These days, the spads virtually run departments - Dominic Cummings was Johnson's special advisor, and after he broke the lockdown rules with his infamous trip to Barnard's Castle, he ended up giving a public speech in the Rose Garden at number ten (I have my suspicions about why Johnson couldn't sack him). Spads are political appointments and are therefore allowed to be appointed by parties or individual MPs.
Walthamstow is an area of London but a 20 minute underground train journey away so miles away from his workplace
Margaret’s Thatcher loved this show
She did - she appreciated how accurate and how clever it was - but not as a comedy: she had no sense of humour.
@@MrBulky992 yer I think it was her way of saying to the people who didn’t know, what she was up against
@@josephcash218 I think that's right. Also she had a lot of political advisors and PR people around her e.g. Saatchi and Saatchi, Tim Bell etc. who would have been advising her on how best to appeal to the electorate, how to show she had "the common touch". She and her husband also went to see the satire "Anyone for Dennis?" at the Whitehall Theatre: she absolutely hated it but had to put on a forced smile and pretend otherwise. She cuddled a calf unconvincingly one time too.
The team from "Yes, Minister!" weren't happy taking part in the skit but knew that it was good publicity for the programme.
Glad you found and enjoyed this, it is wonderful. Good show old boy.
That is why people should watch every series.
The best comedy in the U.K.
It's good to share watching this programme with someone else on UA-cam, as I hardly watch telly now and I haven't seen these episodes since they first appeared. This trend of watching people 'react', can be quite entertaining. It's like watching a good film with someone who also appreciates it. Thank you.
"We have some space in Walthamstow." That's a none too salubrious place in outer London. It's like saying someone can have an office East of the Anacostia River, Washington D.C.
You do well and completely grasp the basis of the whole series. The odd arcane reference will always crop up here and there.
Fawlty towers, black adder and this as series to watch, can't do much better mate. Please carry on.
Interesting that you noted the final line "Yes Minister" is the name of the show. If you watch any more full episodes, you will see that they all end with that line.
Almost all, there were one or two exceptions when there was another closing line that worked better. 'Big Brother', for example, ends on, 'Humphrey, my lips are sealed.'
@@alexrogan6563 And of course the Christmas Special, where it changes to "Yes *Prime* Minister".
Yeessssss! This is the stuff!
Glad you enjoyed it, I can remember watching the series when it first aired, it is so brilliantly written, every episode is a gem, I never tire of seeing it. Looking forward to sharing more with you, no problem with the screen.
Delighted to see you do the full episodes. I can assure you this is just a warm up. It gets better!
I stand by the position that this is not a comedy show but rather a documentary
Loving the full episode reactions Connor, keep it up. Yes (+Prime) Minister are just genius TV. I have the scripts and they are amazingly funny in printed form as well :)
It's delightful to see you so excited about seeing Sir Humphrey!
It’s so long ago I’d forgotten you’d watched this, you need to do more
So glad you have decided to start watching the whole series. Will be happy to tag along for a brilliant ride. One of the best BBC series ever.
One of the best comedy shows ever.
Hi Connor! Walthamstow is an area of NE London, quite a distance from Westminster and Whitehall where the government department buildings and offices are.
My grandmother absolutely loved this show (and the Two Ronnie's)! 😄
Classic gentleman's lounge
You: "is he dead?" 😂
The Civil Service in the UK is the equivalent of the United States federal civil service which is the civilian workforce (i.e., non-elected and non-military public sector employees) of the United States federal government's departments and agencies.
Loved it! Thanks for the full episode, Conor.
Creator/writer Jonathan Lynn also directed Oscar winning "My Cousin Vinny".
There are several big changes after this pilot episode.
Sir Arnold is Sir Humphrey's boss. Cabinet Secretary. It's the job Humphrey will eventually get in Yes Prime Minister.
Connor, I think you've finally got the hang of the civil service 🙂
Nigel Hawthorne (Sir Humphrey) had a prominent role in one of my favorite action movie, Demolition Man (1993) starring Silvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes.
Every episode ends with "Yes, Minister"
...until Hacker is promoted....
A couple don't... and it's really weird when that happens!
Margret Thatcher love the program and asked in Parliament " who has been telling tales".
Thankfully they changed the intro. New music (much better) and animated visuals by Gerald Scarfe, very famous British cartoonist who did political caricatures for the newspapers. He also provided visuals for Pink Floyd's film of "The Wall".
They do have a No 10 exterior set as well.
Loving this - always been one of my favourite comedies - keep it up and I'm so glad they canged the theme in future eps - something a bit more ministerial ;)
Finally! Cant wait for the rest of the next episodes and season!
The Civil Service is essentially the machinery of government, while the Cabinet Ministers sit in the driver's seats. They dictate where their particular bit of the machine goes and what it does, and the machine does the rest - subject to all the other bits of the machine (especially the Treasury, which decides where government money goes).
Walthamstow town is about 13 miles from Downing St, and it takes about an hour to drive there.
The smartest comedy ever. Just a brutal insight into the mechanics of what goes on behind the scenes....
Every episode ends with the line “yes, minister” (or “yes, prime minister” when Jim gets the top job).
👏👏👏 more!
keep watching Connor, love your enthusiasm for the show as it's always been one of favourite comedies
Your question about how did they film it outside number 10 - very interesting answer. It seems only to have been possible because the BBC were very much permanent civil servants themselves at the time! I'm pretty sure it would have required the personal blessing of the actual prime minister, when you consider that, at the time of broadcasting, there were only 3 different TV channels on air and the scene would be shown at prime time to more than half the people in the country who had their television on.
Your synopsis of the civil service was 100% accurate.
That's the pilot. They remade this episode with a different theme tune and they got rid of some of the secondary characters. It's a fake Downing Street at Elstree Studios
Excellent Connor. And it gets better. Might even have to re-open my Yes Minister/Prime Minister box set for the 'umpteenth' time?
Im no american but I think that there was in the 1990s an american sitcom that was a satire on the american politics , a sort of Yes Minister of USA. The tv series was called "The Powers that be" staring John Forsythe. It was about the exploits of a clueless American senator and the eccentric, morally corrupt people who are closest to him.
Walthamstow - East 17 - is to the north east of London in the borough of Waltham Forest. About 8 miles from Whitehall
I believe that the character of Hacker’s advisor was dropped quite early on because he could well be interpreted as quite left-wing, and it was important that Hacker was not identified with either side of the political divide. BBC impartiality and all that.
Sir Humphry is actually the perfect Civil Servant, Hacker is the Politician.
Thank you for doing this show. It’s one of my absolute favorites! I find the pilot a wee slow as they have to set up the infrastructure of the show. If my memory serves me correctly, this Intro credits only lasted for the pilot. The rest of the shows have the traditional opening and theme, which is variations upon the Big Ben chime.
Keep going love your reaction
Regarding why they got to film outside no 10, there are lots of houses that look like it so they would have used one of them.
Awesome show! Enjoy man, enjoy. 😗
From the UK. Watch yes primister. You'll love Humphre.😂😂 🇬🇧
The best satire because it was so true.
Got to love this, I remember watching it as a child and not really understanding it, but now it hits so hard, the truth is out there.
Thank you that was great
As you rightly say. Not satire but a documentary.
My favourite all time sitcom. Utterly brilliant.
Keep doing what you are doing👍
Great sitcom. My mum was friends with Paul Eddington (Jim Hacker)'s wife Patricia - it was wonderful when he got a starring role in such a plum part. And very show ended with the line "Yes Minister".
I think it helps explain how a lot of large organisations work, I often describe my job as a sort of cross between yes minister and the IT crowd.
As was said below about filming outside of No.10, but Granada Studios in Manchester have a replica set of the outside of No.10 that was also used for filming such scenes.
Binge it baby 🙂
When humphrey, Nigel hawthorne moved nr me many thought him a pompous actor but I use to speak to him on the train from London and found him very pleasant to talk to, shame he moved away before he died
29:36 He's not a gosh darn politician.
Parliament is all the elected people like your senate and house. Some of parliament is chosen to be a minister (secretary of defence or whatever) by the prime minister (most like your president). The civil service is the management arm of government like all the white house staff, local city management police, fire etc etc. Permanent secretaries and under secretaries and all the other jobs Humpy mentioned are all just ranks in the civil service as are directors and deputy directors in the white house staff.
I have over simplified this but it hopefully gives you a better frame of reference to the US.