Yes Minister

http://www.yesprimeminister.co.uk/Yes Minister is one of my favourite sitcoms, in some ways it doesn't fit the general sitcom format but on closer inspection it is fairly similar to many standard ones. At the heart of the show are the interconnecting relationships between 3 men, the comedy generally stems from the shifting status between them.
We begin shortly before Jim Hacker (paul Eddington) takes up the role of Minister for Administrative Affairs. His Permanent Secretary is the Civil Service grandee Sir Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne) and his Permanent Private Secretary is Bernard Woolley (Derek Fowlds).
Yes Minister had 3 series between 1980 and 1982, each of 7 episodes. A special in 1984, entitled "Party Games" led to the sequel series Yes, Prime Minister.
Throughout the 37 episodes there never appears to be a word written (by Anthony Jay and Jonathan Lynn) out of place or a fault in the delivery.
The amazing thing is that 30 years after they were first aired they don't date, in fact some episodes remain pertinent to modern events, off the record interviews with the press being made public, allowing parents to choose their childrens' school, government cuts whilst civil servants and ministers' pay increases, European interference, government waste, openness, etc all feature. Whilst some things may change the machinations, (or at least people's perceptions thereof) of government do not.
Here's Jim Hacker giving an almost (or at least soon to be) Prime Ministerial speech on sausages!




Yes Minister has been recreated in many countries and continues to this day. The series inspired then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to write a sketch with her press secretary Bernard Ingham, that was performed with Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorn, with Thatcher playing herself as PM with an idea to abolish economists.
Yes Prime Minister has recently been made as a play touring UK theatres.