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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #161 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-10-16
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 7
• Running time: 1140 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Yes Minister series 1:
The first series of the elegant sitcom-cum-farce-cum-sophisticated political satire Yes Minister, sets off Paul Eddington's Jim Hacker, Minister for Administrative Affairs, against Nigel Hawthorne's discreetly obstructive civil servant Sir Humphrey. It features the pilot episode, 'Open Government', curious in that it contains different and distinctly inferior opening and closing credits to the rest of the series. You also sense that Mrs Hacker was originally intended to have a larger role, with comedy focussing on the clash between political and domestic commitments, until the writers wisely decided to focus on the stand-off between Jim and Sir Humphrey, with Derek Fowlds' mousy private secretary Bernard making occasional interjections. While Sir Humphrey is at times a little too sinister for sitcom consumption, all the classic features quickly show up. Hacker's occasional Churchillian bombast, followed by panicky blank double-takes when flummoxed, Sir Humphrey's unflappable verbosity as he brings the dead weight of civil service bureaucracy to bear against Hacker's naively optimistic schemes for open government, Quangos and slashing red tape in episodes like 'The Economy Drive'. Ironic, that when this was first screened in the 80s, it was during the rampages of early Thatcherism in which Government had never been less like the ineffectual politicking satirised here. --David Stubbs

Yes Prime Minister series 2:
Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn's superb sitcom Yes Prime Minister entered 10 Downing Street with Jim Hacker now Prime Minister of Britain, following a campaign to 'Save the British Sausage'. Whether tackling defence ('The Grand Design'), local government ('Power to the People') or the National Education Service, all of Jim Hacker's bold plans for reform generally come to nothing, thanks to the machinations of Nigel Hawthorne's complacent Cabinet Secretary Sir Humphrey (Jeeves to Hacker's Wooster) who opposes any action of any sort on the part of the PM altogether. This is usually achieved by discreet horse-trading. In 'One of Us', for instance, Hacker relents from implementing defence cuts when he is presented with the embarrassingly large bill he ran up in a vote-catching mission to rescue a stray dog on an army firing range. Only in 'The Tangled Web', the final episode of Series 2, does the PM at last turn the tables on Sir Humphrey. Paul Eddington is a joy as Hacker, whether in mock-Churchillian mode or visibly cowering whenever he is congratulated on a "courageous" idea. Jay and Lynn's script, meanwhile, is a dazzlingly Byzantine exercise in wordplay, wittily reflecting the verbiage-to-substance ratio of politics. Ironically, Yes Prime Minister is an accurate depiction of practically all political eras except its own, the 1980s, when Thatcher successfully carried out a radical programme regardless of harrumphing senior civil servants. --David Stubbs

DVD Description
This complete collection includes every episode of the hugely popular political satire Yes Minister series 1 – 3 (which first aired in 1980 on BBC 2) along with each episode in the subsequent two series of Yes Prime Minister (which aired from 1986).

Meet the bewildered Rt Hon James Hacker, his scheming and equivocating Permanent Secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby and of course, Bernard, the piggy-in-the middle, on their fraught journey through the corridors of power. Easily the sharpest political comedy every written, with clandestine help from real civil servants, and satire that bites so close to home it sometimes seems more like a documentary. This does the impossible: it makes politics not just fun but hilariously funny.

Synopsis
Featuring the every episode from both Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister , which ran for five and two series, respectively.

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Customer Reviews

Political satire at its very best
Yes Minister was a satirical British sitcom that was first transmitted by BBC television and radio between 1980 and 1984. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 to 1988. Together, the two series comprise 38 episodes, all but one of which last half an hour.

Set in the private office in Whitehall of a British government cabinet minister (and, in the second series, in 10 Downing Street), the series follows the ministerial career of James Hacker MP, played by Paul Eddington, and his various struggles to bring in legislation or departmental changes, opposed by the will of the British Civil Service, in particular his Permanent Secretary (senior civil servant), Sir Humphrey Appleby, played by Nigel Hawthorne and his more helpful Principal Private Secretary played by Derek Fowlds. Almost every programme ends with the eponymous line, "Yes, Minister" (or "Yes, Prime Minister"), uttered by Sir Humhprey as he quietly relishes his victory over his "political master" (or, occasionally, acknowledges defeat).

A huge critical and popular success, the series was the recipient of a number of awards, including several BAFTAs and in 2004 came sixth in Britain's Best Sitcom. It also gained notoriety as being the favourite television programme of the then British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

Our nearest modern equivalent is the excellent The Thick of It - but it is much more hardcore and may not appeal to those who originally like Yes Minister.The series have been cited by political scientists for their accurate and sophisticated portrayal of the relationships between civil servants and politicians - I guess that says it all really. I doubt anyone reading this has not heard of the series - a great gift.

Timeless, top notch comedy
I can't add much more than other reviewers apart from a hearty recommendation to buy this DVD pack. It's very good value given how much material you get (even better value at Amazon prices of course). The comedy is intelligent and timeless, and it's amazing just how many current day issues are covered by a series that was made over 20 years ago (banking crisis, dodgy arms deals, big brother/identity cards etc. etc.). The episode where Sir Humphrey Applebey has dinner with the bumbling CEO of "Bartlets Bank" is a case in point, where the CEO points out that "..if a chap's giving you a good return on your money then you don't ask too many questions....and besides, you'd be pretty foolish if you had a load of money at 12% not to lend it to someone else at 15%"). Wonderful stuff, and with lots of re-watch value. Buy it.

Television of the very highest order
The Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister series are some of the finest television ever to have come out of the BBC. Gently satirical comedy of the very highest order and, while some of the material might now be considered a little dated, this will remain a classic for decades to come. Armando Iannucci's too-clever-by-half The Thick of It attempts to cover similar territory from a 21st-century perspective and is nowhere near as successful (in this reviewer's opinion).

What a shame, therefore, that this long-awaited complete boxset is such a feeble offering. Not only are there NO extras - and no literature - but this is just a new box around the original five series' DVDs and, for some unfathomable reason, Yes Prime Minister Series 1 is presented as one double-sided DVD, so that the whole doesn't have a coherent feel to it.

Frankly, one would be better off buying Yes Minister and the two individual YPM boxes from HMV online, without worrying about the so-called "Collector's Boxset" packaging. HMV have the individual components of the boxset retailing at a considerable discount on their own or even the cheapest Amazon boxset price.

None of which criticisms reflect on the brilliance of the scripts or performances. A classic for as long as television lasts.