Jim Goes AWOL, Humphrey Is Apoplectic | Yes Minister | BBC Comedy Greats

Jim has gone to speak to a member of his staff which, as Humphrey reminds Bernard, is completely and utterly unacceptable. Subscribe: bit.ly/BBCComedyGreats
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#Comedy #YesMinister

[@humbleopinion1499]

This show will be timeless. I drove taxis during my university years and I would carry passengers from our state Parliament House. I asked one regular passenger what he did, and he asked me if I knew who Sir Humphrey Appleby was. Of course - I love the show. He confessed he had a similar job overseeing a Minister. When I asked him if he watched the show, he said, rarely, because he didn't like to see himself portrayed on television. I said it's just a satire, but he told me it was far more real than anyone could imagine.

[@jeremiah2780]

How Magnificent really is it not.

[@humbleopinion1499]

@@jeremiah2780 oh, but I think it is.!

[@mdhofstee]

It helps that on occasions stories were direct from Number 10.

[@KPW2137]

Somehow, and sadly, I'm not surprised. On the other hand, this is why this show will likely be all relevant in a century or two from now just the same as it is today.

[@dennish300]

"Do you mean he's loose in the building?" OMG, just hysterical. This is one of the few shows I automatically hit thumbs up as soon as I'm able.

[@Aimencreates]

“Bernard, I’m in the middle of writing your annual report…” 😂

[@3gor73]

Hacker: Bernard, how did Sir Humphrey know I was with Dr Cartwright? Bernard: God moves in a mysterious way. Hacker: Let me make one thing perfectly clear: Humphrey is not God, OK? Bernard: Will you tell him or shall I?

[@beachbum4691]

"Will you tell him or shall I?"., That line cracked me up when I first heard it decades ago, and it still does. "Immortal-stuff" :)

[@t.wcharles2171]

Bernard: oh my god Humphrey: no Bernard it's just your boss

[@yourmum69_420]

@@beachbum4691 is that clip on youtube?

[@jthweatt]

@@yourmum69_420 Yes, both of the clips that involve Sir Humphrey losing his access to Number 10 are here somewhere.

[@jthweatt]

@@yourmum69_420 "Civil Service VS The Treasury" on the BBC Comedy Greats Channel.

[@jonathanfraser321]

When your boss smiles at u the way humphrey smiles at bernard, you know you are in very deep trouble.

[@sampuatisamuel9785]

Love it

[@koenven7012]

Or when he calls you a sound man, like Sir Arnold did to Sir Humphrey in another episode.

[@quintuscrinis8032]

The symmetry in this episode is exquisite. The speed with which "Mr Appleby" comes back into the room here and then leaves, even after Bernard tries to delay him slightly, mirrored by Bernard's later attempts to delay Humphrey and Hacker's meeting "within the next 60 seconds" at the end this time to try and save Humphrey.

[@DarkPriestess1]

"If the minister is restless Bernard, he can feed the ducks in St James' Park!"

[@JJVernig]

Yes, and dumping files in the trash!

[@janesmith9024]

Yes, the lines are brilliant.

[@thomasmills339]

Sir Humphrey asks If the minister is " loose" as if he were a disobedient animal.

[@howardcroft3748]

The social worker gag was just too good 😂😅

[@telemachus53]

I was a wee disappointed that we couldn't see Humphrey storming into Cartwright's office as if by mistake.

[@jkolorath]

That's all? U mean he is loose in the building! Lol😅

[@jonathannelson103]

I've watched this probably a hundred times and only just now realized that it's Ian Lavender from 'Dad's Army' playing Dr. Cartwright. The very unique head movements gave it away.

[@TheRip72]

Yes but don't tell him, Pike.

[@stephaniemay792]

Not such a stupid boy after all, eh?

[@Joozt112]

Private secretary from The Netherlands here, still and till the end of times 100% accurate and true!

[@the_Giovanni_Jian]

I went to check up on the Parkinson's law, eerily accurate, in my university, we hire more and more admin so as to create more work, then evaluation, then feedback, more admin, more staff, the actual research or teaching faculties got worked to death by the admin people.

[@alexandrugheorghe5610]

😂

[@TheCaptScarlett]

It's the basis of the hospital episode - St George's - that's fully staffed with administrators, but no patients or medical staff - as that would upset the running of the hospital

[@binaway]

I had a boss who said the more draws you have the more things you'll find to put in them. I still filled mine with garbage I never looked at. When I left most of it went in the garbage.

[@TheCaptScarlett]

@@binaway have to say that after numerous desk moves between 2005 and 2015, I got fed up packing and unpacking moving crates of paper files and made a conscious effort to be paperless. By the time it got to 2012 or so my team didn't need the eight or so filing drawers we got allocated So we got them removed and had our own breakout area

[@dandy-lions5788]

"The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy."

[@svavarkjarrval8757]

I have wondered why Bernard notified Sir Humphrey of Mr. Hacker being loose in the building and then downplay it immediately upon Sir Humphrey's arrival.

[@viperswhip]

Because they are both his boss.

[@viperswhip]

@C3P0 And R2D2 Have Gay Sex The Sir Humphrey explanation for what I said.

[@perperson199]

@C3P0 And R2D2 Have Gay Sex I think it's a brilliant dynamic. Bernard is loyal to his minister, but also the civil service. Sir Humphrey controls his career, while he is supposed to serve Hacker.

[@stephenphillip5656]

@@perperson199 As a "High-flyer", Bernard would be put in the position of the Minister's PPS to test whether he could handle the split loyalties of working for 2 bosses. If he succeeded in this (& he did, witness this deft "hypothetical question" move) he would be recommended for promotion, possibly even the position of PPS to the Prime Minister....

[@dizzyology7514]

@Dave A totally brilliant dynamic, and the way Bernard handles this and similar entanglements is the reason I consider Derek Fowlds to have been the most skillful actor among this trio of brilliant performers. Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne each portrayed their character with exquisite style. Derek Fowlds consistently played two characters, integrating them perfectly and adding his own deadpan literalism as if it were a toy he didn't really need but liked to play with. And show me another TV actor who could have gotten away with that hairdo?

[@sxxxxxlxxx]

Lol and this is exactly WHY Humphrey doesn’t want Hacker talking to people

[@cmm5542]

Exactly. 😁

[@mickbryan7716]

best script writing there is with bloody good acting

[@annatamparow4917]

Please, please, please upload the segments with Sir Humphrey having made a mess of a Scottish military installation thirty years ago!

[@thethirdman225]

The one about “the perpendicular pronoun”...!

[@beneddu]

@@thethirdman225 "someone to whom I am in the habit of referring by use of the perpendicular pronoun" 😂

[@howardcroft3748]

It's here ... Three times Sir Humphrey mesed up

[@monarchist1838]

I see Private Pike really did well for himself after the war.

[@telemachus53]

He wasn't such a stupid boy afer all!

[@josephinebennington7247]

There was a facial tic, a nuance that made me think...That’s Pike. But the wig changed him too much and I decided Naaaah. But you’re correct. Confirms the suave Sgt Wilson had family connections in higher places that Warmington on Sea.

[@Helen-qi2cr]

Omg that explains the weird familiar feeling I have watching Dr Cartwright! Thank you

[@ragerancher]

I thought it was Pike, it's the delivery and the way he bobs his head about.

[@silverstrike6048]

He looks so much like his uncle now.

[@summushieremiasclarkson4700]

"Social problems increase to occupy the total number of social workers available to deal with them" This is some witchcraft, a perfect representation of the modern day.

[@handris99]

The writers of this show were geniuses.

[@leftcoaster67]

Given the number of social problems and homelessness since the 1980's. And the budget cuts to those departments, I would completely disagree. Basically National, and State governments are pushing everything to the local governments.

[@summushieremiasclarkson4700]

@@leftcoaster67 those are economic issues. Besides, even if one were to consider the overlap (the socio-economic domain), there are any number of mundane and irrelevant "issues" occupying sociologists (ie, upper middle class urban women with sociology degrees and no understanding of the real world) that, if abandoned, would make no difference. Scratch that, it would result in massive improvements to society, because their solutions are anything but mundane or harmless, and governments, for whatever reason, despite their consistent and immaculate levels of failure to predict or achieve anything at all, continue to listen to these screeching harpies. It's the Midas touch of societal destruction, an annihilation of tradition and convention just for the sake of it, only to be replaced with a system (I'm feeling generous, it's a shitshow, not a system, in reality), markedly worse in every quantitative and qualitative way.

[@Willaev]

The bureaucracy must expand to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.

[@TheTurnipKing]

@@leftcoaster67 It has a number of things to say about Local Governemt also

[@robertboekee8733]

Even though they have had a progressive education 😂

[@notthebeaver1532]

Yeah 30 years ago they were joking about it...today we're living it...

[@perperson199]

I had a progressive education. It is a terrible fate to suffer.

[@cheguevara7478]

The military will give them a comprehensive education, to make up for there comprehensive education!

[@roc7880]

it was just good education. solid and unsentimental based on logic facts and pragmatism. well, those days are gone

[@kakapofan6542]

@@notthebeaver1532 This was a show commenting on what happened 20 years before it was made. They also knew people in Parliament who said nothing has changed. There is hope but England's Parliament needs a restart

[@joachimschmidt7662]

these sitcoms are so attractively framed, acted and filmed.

[@TheCaptScarlett]

Humphrey: Don't tell him Pike!

[@minimumeffort4948]

Damn, I just put that further up, thought I was being original

[@martys9041]

Your name vill be put on zee list

[@Akeshavjee1]

Would you be able to upload "Yes, Prime Minister: The Key"? Absolutely BRILLIANT!! Thank you!

[@MurrayJoe]

The Key & A Victory for Democracy are two of the shows where Jim Hacker triumphs over Sir Humphrey & the civil service.

[@jonathanfraser321]

If you can get access to the BbC iplayer its on here now-but if you dont live in Britain you may not be able.

[@Vikotnick]

This is a show that should be obligatory for all people in their early 20s to watch. God knows it helped me understand and I am 40+. Besides being a comedy classic, it is a lesson in how history repeats itself.

[@Smd3580]

Not sure those in their 20s will appreciate this. You need to be a little jaded to appreciate the truth in this. I watched this as a teenager and didn't understand any of the jokes. In my twenties I would probably have found it very frustrating. Now in my 40s I really appreciate it.

[@cmm5542]

@@Smd3580 That shows a real appreciation for how our practical life intelligence grows over the years. I was talking to a friend about this just the other day. Teens are naive only because they don't know yet how the world works; university age twenty-somethings are naive in quite another sense in that they know how the world works, but still think they can change it. Once we hit our thirties and beyond, and settle down to reality, we start to realize that the very notion that we can change anything is the biggest joke there is. It's only when you're young and idealistic and still think you can change things, that it bothers you that things are the way they are. Now it simply amuses me to no end, in reality as well as these shows - a sort of vaguely exasperated amusement at how people never do learn.

[@Smd3580]

@@cmm5542 I wouldn't say that it's impossible to change the world. Maybe one in a thousand can bring about real change, but all thousand need to believe they can & attempt it, for us to get that one person. By your thirties, you may begin to realise that you are not that one. And that's the real Great Resignation :)

[@cmm5542]

@@Smd3580 Oh yes, sorry, I quite agree change can happen. Just that, as you say, not everyone is the one who can! Didn't mean to come off like a complete cynic 😄.

[@Smd3580]

@@cmm5542 got it. :)

[@babaganalawandalorima9609]

The count down.hilarious!!

[@grantbernes2468]

Bernard: "Well, it is understood if ministers want to know anything it will be brought to their notice. If they go out looking for information, they might...well, they might..." Jim: "Find it?" LOL!!!

[@cmm5542]

Yes.

[@georgebuller1914]

You tell Him Pike! LOL

[@Hesitatedeye]

Humphrey when he hears the minister talking to Dr Cartwright "Stupid Boy"

[@crazydavec3861]

Your name will go on the list.... what is your name?

[@Hesitatedeye]

@@crazydavec3861 Don't tell him Humpy

[@crazydavec3861]

@@Hesitatedeye Haha! - Excellent! 😁

[@theabbottabadprepschool9435]

My favourite comedy of all time

[@cradle652]

Nothing like this can or will ever be made again.

[@beachbum4691]

It's a very real tragedy :( "That nothing like this can or will ever be made again."........... :(

[@Marian_Rusnak]

@@beachbum4691 I hope you are wrong. Fear you might be right for a while ...

[@cliffhulcoopofficial8075]

What about "The Thick of It" in the more recent past?

[@markfox1545]

Rather sweeping statement. I suspect you may be an idiot.

[@cradle652]

@@markfox1545 getting personal at the drop of a hat might be a subconsciously triggered response to an embarrassing disorder, like premature ejaculation. Completely understand, fella:)

[@273]

Masterpiece

[@slouhend]

Rest in peace, Ian Lavender.

[@SuperAna1954]

Brilliant! 😀 😀 😀

[@davidnash8208]

Anybody elese recognise Private Pike from Dad's Army?

[@alloydog613]

Dr Cartwright is Pike from Dad's Army! :D

[@humbleopinion1499]

For those in the comments section talking about meaningless and overblown bureaucracies, I can heartily (and depressingly) recommend a book called "Bullshit Jobs". Originally written as an article for a magazine, it prompted a flood of emails from people confessing the guilt of having jobs that generate activity, but also fail to create any achievement. Many confessed huge guilt over the fact that their jobs were pointless - and they knew it. We are awash with admin positions that for most of the time are concerned with creating work for themselves and others to justify their positions, by administering themselves, by engaging employees in more and more paperwork, forms, procedures and so on. People like corporate lawyers, middle management, "strategic" network coordinators, PR consultants and HR people and often IT people. It's a fascinating, comprehensively researched and an enlightening read. And the author presents a solution. It's also very funny reading some of the contributors' (anonymous) emails and confessions. Oh, as an aside, I think Yes Minister and Yes PM are the two most brilliant comedies ever written.

[@simonengland6448]

After 30 years of watching this, I only just noticed Bernard wearing my old school tie! Edit: more like 40, 45 years. He was probably quare anyway, he was on television.

[@tara5047]

ahh ian lavender!

[@bruceauld7797]

Don't tell him Pike!

[@Sunlight70]

Thank you! I was just wondering that.

[@sarahjones8396]

I just wondered if that was him too!

[@stephenphillip5656]

Yes indeed. Ian Lavender appears in another YM episode when he says "sadly I shall be promoted no further" to which Hacker says " why ever not?" "Because I am an expert" is the reply...

[@cloudsparrow7729]

Don't tell him, Pike!

[@ProperLogicalDebate]

How about a countdown? LoL

[@synthonaplinth5980]

Sounds like 'ten' was the cue for Humphrey to enter....

[@heiveldboy]

It was. Easiest way for Nigel to know.

[@malcolmmcleod6020]

If you read the books, Bernard explains that so well he knew the distance between Sir Humphreys office, and the Ministers, that he could count it out exactly.

[@cloudsparrow7729]

I wonder if having Ian Lavender doing the Thing He Must Not Do was a little joke by the writers?

[@hannelarsen4918]

The closest I have experienced a minister went AWOL was after taking office and meeting all the departments 😂

[@sylvester-jb3lj]

dont tell him Pike

[@zyc8198]

0:39 Admitting this is Humpy's department not the minister's and nobody finds it inappropriate.

[@ashleycollinge4491]

department

[@stephenphillip5656]

In reality, it *is* Sir Humphrey's department because as Permanent Secretary to the DAA, he is head of the Civil Service there. Hacker is more of a "figurehead", dealing with the political side of things. Politicians will be moved to other departments, but departments stay put (unless merged/abolished by the politicians!)

[@cmm5542]

@@stephenphillip5656 Quite so.

[@Your.Uncle.AngMoh]

Is that bloke "Pike" from "Dad's Army" with a grey wig on?

[@sarahjones8396]

I was wondering exactly the same thing! Ian Lavender is the actor’s name.

[@georgestannard49]

I don't think he needed a grey wig by this time....

[@victormorris3680]

I know why he got the job, he was promoted from being a stupid boy,, simple!

[@johnking5174]

That is Ian Lavender who did play Frank Pike in Dad's Army from 1968 to 1977. Even though Ian was born in 1946, he started to go grey when he was 17. By the time he started on Dad's Army in 1968 he was starting to dye his hair, and he was totally grey by the end of Dad's Army in 1977.

[@indefatigable8193]

Ladies and gentlemen I give you the Heath government

[@someonefar5600]

The exchange between Sir Humphrey and Bernhard. Lose the laugh track, maybe throw in a sinister background music and you'll feel the scene in an entirely different light.

[@haiqal5333]

Proof how great and horrifying this show is

[@amanofmanyparts9120]

The theme from Jaws would perfectly suit any entrance by Sir Humphrey!

[@stephenphillip5656]

No "laugh track". It was filmed before a live audience as the BBC at the time were cautious of Governmental disapproval. They were guarding against the accusation of "No one finds this funny, take it off the air". With a live audience laughing, no government could make that accusation.

[@hkchan1339]

Much of the show has a live audience, so the laughs are real

[@kellypaws]

Don’t tell him... never mind.

[@fleurpeffer5212]

10 seconds😂😂😂😂

[@bournemouthisshit]

Was that Ian Lavender?

[@TheRealMichaelH]

In a bad wig, yes.

[@ToolsAreToys]

OMG, is that Ian Lavender??

[@TheRealMichaelH]

In a bad wig, yes.

[@Leonf123]

Bernard

[@johnnyboy62parker39]

Don’t tell him Pike

[@MonsieurPhilippe1]

A lost opportunity: Bernard should have made a countdown 10-0, Sir Humphrey storming in by 0.

[@greebo6549]

And if Sir Humphrey had rushed in on two

[@MonsieurPhilippe1]

@@greebo6549: That would have been a failure in script.

[@0ceanicify]

Bad move: You don't want to break the 4th wall by implying perfect accuracy. Bernard's counting is just off, which keeps the immersion.

[@m.anandacharyulu4271]

3.13 Truancy MEANING is any intentional, unjustified, unauthorized, or illegal absence from compulsory education. It is a deliberate absence by a student's own free will and usually does not refer to legitimate excused absences, such as ones related to medical conditions.

[@simongleaden2864]

And that's the truancy they were referring to.

[@jermainerace4156]

@@simongleaden2864 Presumably, but it might also be truancy of public officials. IE: the senate is meeting today but 10 of them didn't show up because it was the Friday before labor day.

[@coach1336]

So sad that all the actors have now gone.

[@harishnunkoo509]

Don’t know whether Sir Humphrey is a bully or a blackmailer.

[@Roger_Stenning]

What, he can't be both? 😂

[@kapelachris9095]

3:26 What are environmental health officers????

[@MrSniperfox29]

Rat catchers

[@busayog.6105]

is sir humphrey married?

[@RhiannonFan]

Yes - his wife is Lady Appleby

[@jonamore2102]

2:14 I know he's probably scratching his leg, but...

[@davidgillies620]

Unfortunately when you realise this was 40 years ago it veers more towards tragedy than comedy.

[@cheguevara7478]

Doctor Cartwright looks RIDICULOUS

[@mirkomeyerhoff2700]

Parkinson's law of social work, you see. It's well known that social problems increase to occupy the total number of social workers available.

[@jesseberg3271]

Ah, if only that were true.

[@Ozzy_2014]

@@jesseberg3271 it applies to many things. Its from 1953 humkurous essay. But its true that the more people imvolved the more priblems they need to find to justify their existdnce. And natutally solvimg the problem, negates their purpose. Its quite litterally against their interests to solve problems.

[@jesseberg3271]

@@Ozzy_2014 granted, but as long as there are so many adult men (and it is mostly men) are invested in there not being enough resources to protect children, social workers will never reach that kind of critical mass.

[@gordonmills7798]

It would not surprise me if the program "Yes Minister" took lessons from the Scottish SNP.

[@nkt1]

It would certainly surprise me, given that Yes, Minister ended over 20 years prior to the SNP entering government. Also, why “Scottish SNP”? Do you refer to British BP, or British BT?

[@gordonmills7798]

@@nkt1 Nicola Sturgeon & Alex Salmond

[@gordonmills7798]

@@nkt1 The question, as well as the answer, is academic, but you already know that.

[@nkt1]

@@gordonmills7798 Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn took lessons from a 9 year old girl and a junior Scottish Office official?

[@gordonmills7798]

@@nkt1 Your reply is meaningless.

[@fuccasound3897]

a genteel version of The Thick of It?

[@perperson199]

No. The Thick of it is a vulgar degenerated version of Yes Minister. They both reflect their time however. And the utter degeneration of an already corrupted society and politics

[@fuccasound3897]

@@perperson199 i think both shows are intended to be funny, you know just a bit of entertainment....., the world is run by idiots, it always has been and always will be.... but thats ok, it's the way humans are, gotta live with it mate.

[@blackbird5634]

Good gawd I loath Humphrey. He's deplorable.

[@BillinHungary]

And yet Humphrey was totally convinced in his mind that the only way to run Britain was for the civil service to run it, not the politicians.

[@TenOrbital]

While very funny this program did as much to destroy the independent apolitical civil service as anything.

[@MonaMarMag]

As joke to watch in the theater is quite funny but surly is nothing funny to live that kind of reality .

[@rantdmc]

Dr Cartwright was played by Ian Lavender (Pike is Dad's army) in what must have been one of his last ever roles. he died very young

[@Ribbo]

lol Ian Lavender is still alive...

[@MrSniperfox29]

Still alive a year later