Saturday, February 05, 2011

Best "Yes Minister" Episodes

I first saw the Yes Minister series as a child. Although one would imagine that the mature satire of this famous series would be beyond comprehension of a young kid, I was somehow hooked to it completely. Perhaps it was the influence of my dad who loved the show as it reflected the frustrations he had endured by being a part of the Indian bureaucratic system all his life, that drew me to the series. I simply loved the fabulous interplay between the Minister James Hacker and his Permanent Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby, the amazingly convoluted ways in which the characters uttered the simplest of phrases and the brutal satire on the state of the civil service and politics.

Over the last few days, I have had the opportunity to catch all episodes of this epic series again on YouTube. Although each and every episode is stuff of sheer genius, here is my list of 5 favorite Yes Minister / Yes Prime Minister episodes (Not in any particular order).
  1. "The Death List" (on YouTube - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
  2. "The Skeleton in the Cupboard" (on YouTube - Part 1Part 2Part 3)
  3. "Party Games" (on Tudou)
  4. "The Key" (on YouTube - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
  5. "The Tangled Web" (on YouTube - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
And here are the episode ratings given on IMDB.

Readers are requested to share their favorite episodes as comments.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't forget about the Moral Dimension (Ep.5, Season 3). Absolutely hilarious as the Minister rallies in the last few minutes and Bernard gets to play a bigger role.

That Armchair Philosopher said...

Wow I came across this in 2018 and had a sense of Deja Vu. I have a hunch we've met in real life haha. Do you still maintain this account?