Episode Data

Yes Minister

update

Season 0

• _{Monday, December 27th, 1982}

  1: Christmas at the Ministry

  This sketch was aired at December 27,1982 as a part of "The funny side of Christmas" at BBC1.

• _{Friday, January 20th, 1984}

  3: The Thatcher Sketch

  Margaret Thatcher wrote the sketch in honor of the show being presented with an award from Mary Whitehouse’s National Viewers’ And Listeners’ Association at an event commemorated on the cover of the satirical magazine Private Eye. Being the PM at the time and writing the sketch, of course she made sure that it co-starred herself…as herself.

• _{Monday, December 17th, 1984}

  2: Christmas Special: Party Games

  Sir Humphrey Appleby receives his just reward when he's told by Sir Arnold Robinson that he is to be his successor as Cabinet Secretary. Jim Hacker has mixed feelings about the whole thing and while he appreciates all of the advice he's received from Sir Humphrey over the years, they have also had their fair share of disagreements. When the Prime Minister suddenly announces his resignation, Hacker decides to take a run at the party leadership. His primary campaign issue is new regulations from Brussels on the content of sausages which point to the demise of the British banger.

Season 1

• _{Monday, February 25th, 1980}

  1: Open Government

  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

• _{Monday, March 3rd, 1980}

  2: The Official Visit

  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.

• _{Monday, March 10th, 1980}

  3: The Economy Drive

  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.

• _{Monday, March 17th, 1980}

  4: Big Brother

  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.

• _{Monday, March 24th, 1980}

  5: The Writing on the Wall

  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.

• _{Monday, March 31st, 1980}

  6: The Right to Know

  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.

• _{Monday, April 7th, 1980}

  7: Jobs for the Boys

  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

Season 2

• _{Monday, February 23rd, 1981}

  1: The Compassionate Society

  When Jim learns that a brand new hospital still has no medical staff, but hundreds of civil servants working there, he proposes that half of the civil servants be sacked and use the money saved to open wards with medical staff.

• _{Monday, March 2nd, 1981}

  2: Doing the Honours

  When Jim learns that he can block civil servant's honours, he blackmails them into cutting their budgets, but when he hears that he might be in line for an honorary degree, he has to back down.

• _{Monday, March 9th, 1981}

  3: The Death List

  When Jim learns that when in opposition he was bugged by the secret service, he decides to bring in legislation to kerb the bugging. only to find out that he is on the death list of a group of terrorist's, and the best way to find them, is by bugging phone lines

• _{Monday, March 16th, 1981}

  4: The Greasy Pole

  Jim has the chance of creating jobs,and saving a chemical company, when they are offered the chance to manufacture a highly dangerous chemical, but when the news gets out that it might be too dangerous, he has to back down.

• _{Monday, March 23rd, 1981}

  5: The Devil You Know

  When Jim is betrayed by a Cabinet colleague over his plans to bring in jobs for British workers, he thinks about leaving Westminster and becoming a European Commissioner, But when Sir Humphrey learns who his replacement will be, he tries to change Jim's Mind.

• _{Monday, March 30th, 1981}

  6: The Quality of Life

  Sir Humphrey uses Jim's promise to keep a popular city farm project open to get special permission for an additional nine floors on a proposed skyscraper.

• _{Monday, April 6th, 1981}

  7: A Question of Loyalty

  Jim and Sir Humphrey pass the buck to protect each other when they appear before a select committee investigating charges of waste in Hacker's ministry, until Jim's higher loyalties are called upon.

Season 3

• _{Thursday, November 11th, 1982}

  1: Equal Opportunities

  Jim decides to promote more women to high civil service positions despite Sir Humphrey's opposition.

• _{Thursday, November 18th, 1982}

  2: The Challenge

  When Jim tackles local council administration and civil defense, he runs afoul of a BBC interviewer.

• _{Thursday, November 25th, 1982}

  3: The Skeleton in the Cupboard

  Jim uses a costly mistake from Sir Humphrey's past to escape chastising an efficient local council for being late with their paperwork.

• _{Thursday, December 2nd, 1982}

  4: The Moral Dimension

  Jim is forced to back down about exposing bribery used to obtain a lucrative foreign contract when Bernard allows a valuable vase from a foreign government to be undervalued so that Mrs. Hacker can keep it.

• _{Thursday, December 9th, 1982}

  5: The Bed of Nails

  Jim accepts an unpopular position pushing a transportation bill desired by No 10, but opposed by everyone else.

• _{Thursday, December 16th, 1982}

  6: The Whisky Priest

  Jim faces opposition from all sides when he learns that British munitions have been sold to terrorist groups and he decides to start an inquiry into how it happened.

• _{Thursday, December 23rd, 1982}

  7: The Middle-Class Rip-Off

  Jim and Sir Humphrey collide when Jim acts as an MP to sell an art gallery and museum in his district to support a popular local football club.

• _{Monday, December 17th, 1984}

  8: Party Games

  Sir Humphrey Appleby receives his just reward when he's told by Sir Arnold Robinson that he is to be his successor as Cabinet Secretary. Jim Hacker has mixed feelings about the whole thing and while he appreciates all of the advice he's received from Sir Humphrey over the years, they have also had their fair share of disagreements. When the Prime Minister suddenly announces his resignation, Hacker decides to take a run at the party leadership. His primary campaign issue is new regulations from Brussels on the content of sausages which point to the demise of the British banger.