Political satire

[essayel]

They don't make 'em like this any more. The British equivalent of The West Wing,

The Grand Design -

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4



And the rest is worth watching too. It's part of the human psyche to make fun of the scary things. I bet there were Black Death jokes in the 14th century!

Comments

[metallumai.livejournal.com]

excellent! reminds me of my Wallsend pals whom everyone but me accuses of having a "sick" sense of humour. I imagine they grew up with stuff like this...?

[essayel.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. Definitely. This is one of the better ones but British humour, even the gentle stuff, usually has this little uncomfortable edge of truth to it - unless it's the really daft stuff that relies on face-making, or belittling minorities, and that's not funny, just embarrassing.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

LOVELOVELOVE YM & YPM to bits. Have the DVDs, which frankly are better quality and cheap at the price. So sharp that half the issues discussed are still valid. You know it was Mrs T's favourite TV programme, yes? And that on the occasion of their getting an award, she wrote a short episode in which she acted herself?

[essayel.livejournal.com]

Oh lord I remember that! Maggie doing her bit, I mean. Kudos to her for giving it a shot but good job she went into politics.

I started watching this because I was feeling grim and within a minute I was chuckling and had forgotten all about it. Brilliant show, brilliantly acted. I haven't got the DVDs but I have the books with the little samples of correspondence in Sir Humphrey's and Hacker's and dear Bernard's own hands. Even the hand writing is right! And it's a joy to see that Bernard became SIR Bernard and was head of the Civil Service by the time he retired.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Oooooo, books??? PLZ 2 BE POINTIN ME?

[essayel.livejournal.com]

Yes, Minister (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Yes-Minister-Diaries-Cabinet/dp/0563203234/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220214947&sr=1-4) and Yes, Prime Minister (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yes-Prime-Minister-Diaries-Hacker/dp/0563205849/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220214947&sr=1-9).

They do them in paperback too but hard backs are so nice!

[yakalskovich]

OMG I used to watch that when I was living in East Wittering, ages and ages ago...

[essayel.livejournal.com]

It never gets stale and, as shezan said, a lot of the issues are still current, which is a bit scary.

[cweb.livejournal.com]

We used to get it here in Canada, and I loved it. The DVDs are on my wish list...

[katbeseroc.livejournal.com]

Ahhh. I remember yes minister and Yes Prime Minister. It is simply amazing what you can create when you budget for crack writers and actors instead of set design and exotic locale. My favorite episode has to be where Bernard is talking to the Minister and the Minister asks, "You mean to tell me when the chips are down you are on my side?!" and Benard replies, "Sir, it's my job to make sure the chips stay up."

That and when Sir Humphrey is explaining how getting into the EU means that the UK can make a real pigs breakfast of the place.