What Do The Foreign Office Know? | Yes, Prime Minister | BBC Comedy Greats
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
- Jim opposes Foreign Office policy on Israel and the Marxist threat on St. George’s island. But do they know something he doesn’t?
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#Comedy #YesPrimeMinister
Hacker: Who knows Foreign Office secrets other than the Foreign Office?
Bernard: That's easy. The Kremlin.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
There's another episode where (I think) they talk about weapons-systems, and Bernard says something along the line of "The Kremlin knows before the information trickles down to us at Number 10".
I often wonder whether the series were broadcast in the Soviet Union. The programme was never insulting of the USSR, but acknowledged its much greater power. I reckon Brezhnev would have loved it.
The Foreign Office (and the US State Department) were always full of Commies and sympathizers.
@@vastariner no, it was never broadcast there until late 90’s when the Soviet Union was dead and gone.
@@vastariner Not sure about Russia, but the Series made at least partial runs in China until the chief translator died, so the rest of the series was delayed until 1990s. Fun fact, the first translator for the book series of Yes Minister to Chinese is by Cheng Hong. She is the wife of Li Keqiang, who is the current Premier of the People's Republic of China.
The yes minister series is considered one of the most popular British series in China, potentially even beating out 007.
Delivery on that "The Russians are too strong" line is just perfect
A true word spoken in jest.
The afghans are too strong
Quite the contrast to the Russo-Japanese War, where the Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron almost had to fight a British fleet many times it size.
@@alexbraun2243 to paraphrase a historical saying the real issue is that the afghans are too poor
Only the Kremlin knows ..
only the kremlin was the most perfect line in anything ever
Haha, "Who knows foreign office secrets, apart from the foreign office? Oh that's easy; only the Kremlin".
Absolute gold.
Slightly inaccurate though, there’s also Lubyanka
"We must defend democracy, its freedoms and the people who hold them, wherever they may be found...assuming we can actually find them in the first place."
People love Big Brother
@@seanmoran6510 Big Brother...at that level of competence...is loved by ALL the people they can't even find on a map!
or more precisely “assuming we want to find them”
Hacker: "Now look Humphrey, just who does the Foreign Office work for?"
Humphrey: "Themselves"
RIP such intelligent and well-written comedy.
And also to the wonderful 3 actors who delivered it so perfectly.
*2022*
"We should defend the weak against the strong!"
"Then why don't we send troops to Ukraine to fight the Russians?"
"...The Russians are too strong."
Or they have nukes
@@johoreanperson8396 Yeah, it's literally the end of the world lol
I have always been saddened by how short this series was. I can only rewatch so many times and I keep wanting more! Such a classic
While I agree with you in principal. Creative energy is hard to keep up. I would rather have a short banger of a show than a show that starts strong but trails off in quality :)
@@andyhannon255 I very reluctantly agree, brilliance that tapers off to mediocrity is worse than frustration at too few episodes :(
@@andyhannon255 guys, 3 seasons is very respectable already 😊
Yep. But that's true of a lot of classic British shows. Fawlty towers. Monty python. The trend today seems to be to keep going indefinitely long after the premise is mined out. I like the approach breaking bad took - told the story, ended it and did spin offs with new characters.
@@Rapscallion2009 Babylon 5 did something similar : wrapped up nicely at a conclusion that was written before they started filming season 1. The spin-off didn't pan out, unfortunately.
the actors who played Sir Humphrey, Jim Hacker and Sir Bernard are all gone now. this was a much love, well acted and well written comedy of the 1980s. Margaret Thatcher's favourite tv show, apparently
John Nettleton is still going strong at 92.
Somehow it's not surprising to see Sir Arnold out-living everyone.
@@lomax343 He must certainly have outsmarted the god of death to still be going strong.
she probably declared it so to make it all looks like nothing but a mere jokes that doesn't reflect reality
At least she is also gone, to there is some silver lining
Bernard was given a knighthood??
Nothing has changed! This series was very well researched and stands scrutiny today!
in the doccumentry on the dvd, they said how they actually had 3 leaks from number 10 feeding them files on things that happened. The episodes are based off actual things. Theres also a awards clip on youtube where they interview two of the MP's who leaked things and they compare Hacker and Humphrey to other PM's and ministers in the late 80s and 90's and its terrifying how close to real it is. Complete with the whole "avoiding the question by playing for time, talking nonesense and rewording the question etc"
Yes - it’s scary how little has changed.
The plants are much Greener now than then, and less subtle (the one No10 having recently born fruit).
It's said that Thatcher was an avid viewer and wanted to write an episode herself - there are photos somewhere but I'm not sure if they were doctored
@@AzguardMike Well if they are based on leaks from No 10, then of course it's very close to the truth
2:06 - “The Indian Ocean…” Luke’s contempt for their naivety and ignorance 😂😂
“The Russians are too strong” resonates with me today (the day russia invaded ukraine)
And yet they’re not actually that good at fighting. Their logistics has failed, their command and control is a joke, and they’re only succeeding at indiscriminately shelling and bombarding civilian populations that can’t fight back. Their only hope to stop NATO rolling up all their conventional forces is to wave tactical nukes around to de-escalate their losses, i.e. a big man being beaten up by a smaller boxer threatening to pull the pin out on a grenade.
@@georgemorley1029 You've just perfectly described the US military for the past 20 years. By this measure the Russians must be incredibly powerful indeed.
@@andrewsuryali8540 The US military was extremely effective in the actual invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan; they just failed miserably at building a replacement government. American (and NATO) air power is simply overwhelming and they would have easily achieved complete air superiority by now. Civilian deaths are pretty much unavoidable in any sort of urban combat, but the US also has much more precise munitions and consequently there's less collateral damage. Russian artillery is incredibly powerful but can't be effective without also hitting high numbers of civilians.
Russia's already lost about as many men as the US did over the past 20 years (~6,000), and the actual invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan combine to less than 200 American deaths. Russia hasn't even defeated Ukrainian regular forces, let alone destroyed an insurgency and installed a viable puppet government.
@@user-ym9rv4ur3i the US military is like the kid at the beach who is skilled at getting past people to kick down their sand castles, but the sand castle they make is so unstable it falls apart from the gust of wind made by another kid who was planning on kicking it down.
@@user-ym9rv4ur3i Hundred of thousands of Iraqis has been killed in a span of one month during Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL), the Russians have more soldiers killed by Ukranians than civilian casualties. That alone means that the US does not care about civilian casualties no matter how accurate their munitions are.
One of the finest documentaries ever!
Humphrey, are you saying that Britain should not support law and justice?
No prime minister, we shouldn't let it affect our foreign policy.
That's Glasgow COP summit in a nutshell.
Not only for Britain
Probably one of the greatest comedies ever. Well written, brilliantly acted and so true then and now. It was said to be Mrs Thatchers favourite TV show. They can’t do anything this good now.
God forbid the BBC doing a Yes, Prime Minister now! I think we can all guess who/what the characters would be. I just watched Mrs Wilson on Netflix, and saw the BBC's agenda on display - and it's set in 1960!
They did do something this good. The Thick of It (and the movie In the Loop). As well written, brilliantly acted and true.
@@barryfoster453 God forbid indeed, such a series with Boris in charge would be a worry indeed.......
@@barryfoster453 It could be done. just get peter capaldi and basically do a version of "The Thick of It"
Nothing like it these days.... If there was anything half as good it would be cancelled for being offensively good.
Surely one of the most finely-scripted TV shows of all time..
Unquestionably, and widely recognised as such.
I absolutely adore this show,its a shame that comedy is no longer this amazing.
Once you realise it's real, it's not as funny anymore
@@Terrorrai1 Well, it's only funny because it's true.
St George's Island is a parody of Grenada who's capital is St George's.
Oh…..(goes to fetch a globe)
Huh. Cool. I always thought St. Georges was a metaphor for The Falklands
@@randomactpg57 the Soviets had nothing to do with the Falklands. The democratically elected government of Grenada was overthrown by a Cuban/Soviet backed communist regime in 1979.
@@roadwarrior144 @Robert Mintun 1:28 when they start their search the part of the globe facing the camera is the Caribbean. St George's Island is in the Arabian Sea, Grenada is in the Caribbean Sea. Soviet Controlled Afghanistan is north of St George's Island and Soviet controlled Cuba is north of Grenada. They both are believed to be geo-strategic objectives for Soviet control. Finally, 2:00 the camera is again pointing on the Caribbean on the globe. If you follow the details of St George's Island in this episode there are striking similarities with the Grenada revolution not the least is the name of St George's which is the capital of Grenada. That's the clincher for me. Some believe that it is referring to the Maldives which does have a similar history but Grenada is a former British colony and although attained independence in 1974 from Britain, the queen is still it's head of state as it is a constitutional monarchy and member of the Commonwealth. So the foreign office would have a keen interest in Grenada as it did in St George's Island. As a matter of fact, the Governor General of Grenada, the queen's representative, was placed under house arrest during the Grenada revolution.
Never heard of Grenada.
I just love "the enemy knows our secrets better than we do" jokes.
I love how frantic they were spinning that globe trying to find the island 😅
“Shall we look at the globe 🌏 “ how wonderfully old-fashioned. Missing globes 😁
One of the episodes where Hacker gets one over on everyone, thanks to a little intelligence from Israel.
Writing and delivery make or break any show. Yes, minister has both in heaps of quality!
I love it when Bernard sounds like Humphrey
He was learning from the master....
This series is never loses its relevancy or its talent to amuse. A razor sharp disection of
political pitfalls combined with brilliant casting. Sir Humphrey represents a timeless governmental position well portrayed by Charles Dickens (who began his career as a parliamentary reporter, as "The Circumlocution Office" whose only purpose is to explain why things cannot be done, or (in some remote reality) CAN be done but shouldnt be.!!
_Russia has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last 400 years: to acquire a warm water port. In that cause, they built St. Petersburg and Vladivostok, kept Kaliningrad and the Kurils after the war, attempted to fight through to the Persian Gulf, made friends with Iran, and have taken Sebastopol._
Bernard just proved he can be successor to Humphrey
When the BBC did programmes worth watching.
Yes - just imagine the BBC doing something like this now!
" He's A Plant !"
Should We Water Him ??
Their skill as actors is clearly shown in how they keep a straight face.
Hacker was a noble politician, he wanted what was best for democracy and British people while Humphrey is the establishment doing whats best for His high class chums and way of living. This is why I like the characters, Hacker is a man looking at politics with Rose tinted glasses whil Humphrey does everything in His power to take those glasses off and make Hacker step in line. Then we have Bernard the middle man agreeing with both sides but also giving great insight to the topic at hand. A great trio, the Good, the bad and the Bernard
@randomguy8196 I think any politician would have to be an opportunist. See also; Boris Johnson.
Question is: does Humphrey over step the mark.
In other words, prevents Hacker achieving his goals..
The big question in real life.
Who runs the country.
Politicans or civil servants ?
@@stuartd9741
They will each both tell you that the other does.
@randomguy8196 That's the problem with democracy. An elected politician will genuinely believe that simply by getting in power and stopping the opposition enacting their policies, he is serving the country. That will always be the first priority. Enacting his policies is secondary - the most important thing is to stop the opposition from damaging the country.
@@GoldenSunAlex This seems more prevalent in the US than the UK but everytime a President from the other party is elected the first thing they want to do is to reverse all the policies of the previous administration rather than coming up with new ideas of their own.
That's easy, only the Kremlin
Pissed myself
I believe that scene about the prime minster searching for an small country on the globe is a reenactment of something that either happened in No. 10, or was rumored to have happened.
Much of the series was. Certainly the "communications room" at the Qimrani Embassy and the hospital that was full of administrators but had no medical staff were absolutely true - except that in the case of the latter, it was actually six hospitals!
Bernard’s long & winded sentence here are resembling Sir Humphrey’s long winded ones. Brilliant.
I was expection Hacker to say something along the lines of - You sound more like Sir Humprey than he does!
I wonder how Jim Hacker would have handled the current crisis in the Ukraine?
"The Russians are too strong."
🤣🤣🤣
amazing how relevant this old satire is in 2022. I need to buy the whole series!
Available on DVD.
One of the best documentaries ever made.
Line "Russian are too strong" has aged too well. 🙏
Aged like milk. Russia has shown itself to be a joke--far cry from its SU days.
Luke lingering in the background is perfect lol
I wonder how many times they had to rehearse and/or film that little sequence to get him in the right place. He isn't able to even glance up as he moves into the scene to check he's in the right place.
>Hesitance towards taking on Russia
>Foreign office wanting to attack Zionism
How topical
abosolutly topqualety intertainent wirh fantastic dialog. Bedst serie ever with the brdst actors ever !!!
Such an incredibly well written show... Excellent ensemble, brilliant acting, etc. Nothing on TV even today even compares....
"Only the Kremlin" - underrated line.
Would you add the CIA and Tianenmen Gate to that list as of 2023?
The writers of this series were soooooooo far ahead of the time, yet here we are on 2022 and nothing has changed, well other than the Politicians who have now been for some time what I refer to as Pondlifeticians.
what does it say about hoomans that the truth always must be hidden in "comedy"!?
The novelization had Hacker say some fairly nasty things about Luke. He called him an Aryan that Hitler would be proud of! XD
What else do they say about Luke ? Why is he so sure the Russians would not have invaded Pakistan?
@@Ghurshah Mostly just what he is, a slimy little spy for the Foreign Office. As for the Pakistan situation, the Soviets were having trouble holding Afghanistan; Pakistan is much larger and has a bigger population that would do much of the same; plus the US would probably intervene.
Luke creeps up like a panther on its prey…
Obviously Bernard was Rumsfeld’s private tutor.
Brilliant!
Only the Kremlin had me laughing for ages.
So THAT'S who decided the Russians were too strong!
Somewhere in Russia, Brezhnev is having the exact same conversation with one of his secretaries.
Brilliant. From those long distant days when the BBC had the balls to speak the truth!
Fortunately have box set of both Yes Minister and Prime Minister
American produces The West Wing: see noble character of Big Chief, Mr. President, and his team fighting for justice.
Britain produces Yes Prime Minister: see a bunch of fools.
Russians are still too strong for brits and Yankees
The technology may have moved on in 4 decades……but the mindset hasn’t!
Back then, it was assumed that the Prime Minister was ineffective but basically honest and trying to do the best thing for the country.
That's changed.
As time goes by , this became more and more real...
Bernard had such terrific lines. I wonder how many takes that one took.
Bernard did not know the location of Upper Volta as well
Ouagadougou to you too 😎
@@io4439 I see your Ouagadougou and raise you an N'Djamena
Nor did he know the capital of Chad
Before Google Maps!! LOL!!
Nothing changes, just the names and situations. 😆❤️
At last something is made clear, if any senior minister in the British government needs to know something of consequence with regard the British foreign policy he can go through the usual channels which could take months, or he could contact any British spies operating within the Kremlin who would sensibly be able to supply the real answer in a matter of hours. Most helpful. (You know I'm right) and you're quite correct, I don't drink enough of the modern world either................ ;)
I'm 43 and I have the entire series on Audiobook. I've listened to it dozens of times and quote this series regularly... much to the ignorance of my friends. Such brilliant writing and political satirisation... it is all still relevant to government today (2024).
I do wonder if the Russian government personnel enjoys this programme as much as we do!
These guys could barely keep a straight face
0:36 - 0:45
I LOVE this part.
Priceless!!!
Do you understand - Yes. No!
😆😆😆
Got to be the most cleverest,funniest and intelligent comedy in tv history without doubt..an absolute masterclass of a show..
...which is why we'll never see its like again. The "Race To The Bottom" in "comedy" (& many other facets of TV output) has seen to that.
"Love Island".....I rest my case.🙄
Such brilliant acting - every one of them gone now: you really don't know what you've got till it's gone. Brilliant writing, too - not to mention highly topical.
The writers wrote timeless dialogues, "Russians are too strong", is going to happen soon for Ukraine...poor Ukrainians...
I am so glad that the fake laughter cue has gone away, imagine if Dr Who had the laughter cue, it would ruin the entire series
Couple things:
1. The UN was designed to be the forum for expression of international hatred. Better that nations air their grievances there than in the field of battle
2. England TOTALLY sent troops to fight the Russians. Like the US, they helped arm and train guerilla fighters (since someone is going to mention it, yeah, many of them went on to form Al-Qaeda. We get it, we know. But I'm betting you didn't know many of them also went on to become resistance fighters against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, did you, ya smartass?)
Sending some special forces and MI6 men to train and advise and very rarely engage soviet units undercover is not the same thing as an official deployment. The UK sent only a handful of unacknowledged men in the 80s. That is definitely not the equivalent of sending troops on formal missions announced on tv.
And that is why you have a red phone to your enemy.
That's easy - only the Kremlin 😁😁
The Russians are too strong, even in 2022😂
Is the episode title and number somewhere in the details?
So basically: we don't know what we don't know....??
Yes, but at least we know that, I believe.
Clive Francis is brilliant as ever 😂
still relevant today
Babara Castle wrote in her book about the civil service..this program was spot on
If that is a serious question BBC, the serious reply has to be ~ pay attention
Seems the current Foreign Sec is living up to that depiction
A comedy like this couldn’t exist today
Days before Google! 😀
We now know there have always been known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns.
Rumsfeld probably liked this show. But we don't know for sure. It might be an unknown known.
We may never know, unless we do, in which case we will have known all along.
But for now we must resign to our knowing that we don't know if we'll ever know if we will have known now that we have known after all, whether we will have known or not.
@@davidwuhrer6704 Roland Kirk who was a fabulous multi-instrumentalist (he could play 3 saxophones simultaneously) AND blind said: The Nose Knows.
I think that solves the riddle. But Rumsfeld didn’t know that.
@@benzen1904 A classic case of an unknown known.
@@davidwuhrer6704 Yet, modern cases will have it that it is all a matter of know how and know when or as Charles Mingus put it: New Now Know How
Is that unbeknownst to you?
@@benzen1904 And how.
"the Indian....Ocean"...
The more the things change more they stay same
The plants are much Greener now than then, and less subtle (the one at No.10 having recently born fruit).
MONICA GELLER: They don't know that we know!! LOL!!
After all this time, what has changed? 😆
"We should defend the weak against the strong!"
-Britain, after 500 years of being the strong
Clive Francis has an amazing voice.
BRILLIANT!!!!
Sitcom pure gold end of
How the hell did I not think this was brilliant then?
One cannot conclude business by appeasement