Yes Minister celebrates 25 years

One of my favourite BBC comedies ever celebrated 25 years of existence last month, and 25 years of (along with its follow-up, 'Yes, Prime Minister') not-so-gently and humorously dissecting the British political system. To quote the referenced BBCNews article about it:

It is "one of the best political textbooks about the British system", according to the former cabinet secretary Lord Butler. He is not referring to some complex academic analysis of the workings of Whitehall. Rather strangely, he is actually talking about a sitcom.

But one of the secrets of Yes, Minister was that as well as making people laugh, it did reflect the way that British officialdom actually functioned - at least sometimes, anyway.

The twists and turns of the complex machinations between the Machiavellian permanent secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby and the dogged but bumbling minister Jim Hacker have become part of our political folklore.

And here's the BBC Comedy Guide to 'Yes Minister'.