Wednesday, January 05, 2011

beware of greeks baring gifts

My present from Santa was a boxset of Yes, Minister/ Yes, Primeminister, which is a BBC comedy from the 1980s. I remember seeing it as a child, but obviously didn't get it. it's great to have the chance to watch it again, because it's very funny. It juxtaposes the popularity hungry politician with the inertia hungry civil servant. The two leads are superb, particularly Nigel Hawthorne's Sir Humphrey Appleby, the amazingly obfuscating civil servant. I also enjoy Bernard's pedantry, which is marvelously displayed in the clip below. A side effect of this is my brain has been reading the more dense and contradictory exam scripts I've had to mark using the voice of Sir Humphrey. This makes a terribly worrying amount of sense

3 comments:

Terra Shield said...

I've had this show recommended by a friend of mine... but have never actually sat down and watched it. Maybe I should try to look for it.

Happy 2011! :)

Aunty Helpful Dictator said...

Oh I'd totally recommend it. Happy new year to you too

Josie said...

Oh, it's the most fun show! After watching it all politics soon begins to make total sense.
I love Bernard's little explanations and the looks Sir Humphrey gives him at the end.