Yes, Prime Minister - The Key

[brontewcat]

one has to admire Nigel Hawthorne giving that protest of SIr Humphrey - brillant. How did he learn it

[spottywolf]

Watch with the transcribed audio, it's a real laugh!

[GuitarKat5612]

@spottywolf Talk about obfuscation and so called coherence! lol!

[leftcoast67]

Best of all, they had a cat at Number 10 named Humphrey who was the chief mouser.

Perfect that a cat was probably the most cost efficient way of dealing with mice, yet was named after Sir Humphrey. LOL

[MissCharlotte75]

Ohhhhhh how I love these guys, such class and great acting.

[Reichenback09]

My favorite episode - Hacker's revenge!

[Zaquarta]

That´s one of the best series ever released.

[CalyxAsgard]

One thing I loved about this series is that you didn't know who would end up being the winner (The one that gets his way) from show to show, sometimes Humphrey wins, sometimes they tean up and they both win, sometimes they both forced to compromise and in THIS EPISODE, the winner is clearlt JIM.

[feliciter84]

I love the episodes where Hacker gets the better of Sir Humphrey.

[CorvusCorone68]

@monoceros4 practice makes perfect hehehe

[MtheGate]

I love it when the alarm goes off. XD!

[globbo100]

This was one of the rare instances where Sir Humphrey (played wonderfully by the late Nigel Hawthorne) got his comeupance.

[CalyxAsgard]

When Sir Humphrey says "Yes Prime Minister" at the end, his tone sounded like someone who was contemplating murder.

[Bond8789]

Love this episode, it belongs to Hawthorne. I love the quiver for the hand at the end of that epic speech. Sir Humphrey nearing a total meltdown?

[DaniMajor]

Nigel Hawthorne once said that it was in this episode that Humphrey gone, actually, mad. He said that Humphrey´s obsession with his work was very very noticeble in this one!

[schizoidboy]

No wonder this guy got nominated for an academy award for The Madness of King George.

[Irishphantom]

Love this! Sir Humphrey is such a legend!!

[oldstuff]

Sir Nigel, if not using cue-cards, said he learnt the speeches as mini-chunks that were strung together. Still very difficult to do these and this one, in particular, sums up Humpy's character in saying a 1000 words when 4 would do.

[EBursey]

And I gather that so effective was his method for learning these passages that he could still recall them a full fifteen years after Yes PM had finished (including all the long bits from Yes Minister).

[Leathurkatt]

One of my favourite bits from the show, along with the bit about "Who Reads the Papers"... **snickers**

[edwatom]

snigger~

[2Emile]

...and culminate in a condition of organizational atrophy and administrative paralysis, which will render effectively impossible the coherent and co-ordinated discharge of the function of government within Her Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

[Medeasbiggestfan]

You mean you've lost your key?

[ScholarsInk]

@2Emile God bless Sir Humphrey Appleby.

[2Emile]

Great lines.

1. Sir Humphrey! To what do we owe this pleasure?

2.Prime Minister, I must protest in the strongest possible terms, my profound opposition to a newly instituted practice which imposes severe and intolerable restrictions upon the ingress and egress of senior members of the hierarchy and which will in all probability, should the current deplorable innovation be perpetuated, precipitate a constriction of the channels of communication...

[amanc09uk]

How come the first window didnt set alarm off haha

[Medeasbiggestfan]

The first window was in the Cabinet Office, the second was in Downing Street. Different levels of security.

[amritanshu]

@Medeasbiggestfan or perhaps alarms are not set when you open them from inside ?

[amanc09uk]

Thankyou haha I thought he only ran that far

[vineethkuruvath]

@amanc09uk you can open windows from inside. opening from outside sets off the alarm

[NZtegmen]

the only thing I didn't like about it, was how it always ended on the line "Yes Prime Minister". I always thought that to be a bit naff and stagey, would have been better to just go out on a good line which fitted the episode.

[Boyyie1]

Actually, they don't do it every single time, but when they do I find it quite a charming little feature, and think that it generally fits quite well.

[UnitedBritannia]

My favourite scene of all 'Yes, Minister' and 'Yes, Prime Minister' episodes! This show really was marvelous - such exquisite writing and that ensemble cast is quite outstanding. This is the BBC at it's finest - just a shame they have completely lost thier way as a broadcaster over the past few years.

[AMRPK]

@UnitedBritannia the beeb has indeed lost the plot in recent times, however look what has happened to Channel 4 since the late 1990's and TV in general. I mark the decline in TV to when Big Brother along with other "reality" & consumer shows appeared. Channel 4 used to be a station that would make you think, give a different perspective on things. It says quite a lot about "culture" and how dumbed down and low brow it all has become.

[arwenae]

@UnitedBritannia one of my faves too, although I think I may prefer the bit in the same episode:

Bernard:Don't worry, he can't get in, I've...

Humphrey appears, v. cross.

Bernard: My God!

Humphrey: No, Bernard, it's just your boss!

I just loved the brilliant timing in that one...

[TimBrewin]

@arwenae The timing was brilliant in that scene.

[fleetwoodX]

we miss u sir humphrey

[sugarcaine79]

LMAO This is one of the funniest tv moments ever!!!!

[CalumK1982]

Sir Nigel's face is brilliant - how they managed not to laugh is amazing!

[DrCraigMacLean]

THIS is THE funniest episode of the entire two!

[exterke11]

"You mean you've lost your key?"

best scene in the show, which is the best political comedy ever :D

[eskinol1]

to what do we owe this pleasure?

[theopapadop]

For me this is hands down absolutely the best scene/episode in YPM. Sir Nigel Hawthorne, an absolute master of his craft.

[Irisrose06]

The best comedy in the history of the BBC, and it's made so by one person - the excellent Sir Nigel Hawthorne, may he rest in piece. But it wouldn't have worked had Paul Eddington and Derek Fowlds not been great actors to. I often wonder how Nigel Hawthorne managed to spout all that semantic gobbledygook in front of a live audience and not miss a beat :D Brilliant!

[zekretzpy]

out-of-sight cue cards!

[Irisrose06]

You're probably right but I still think it's wonderful! :D

[Versipelles]

Actually, in the extras on the DVD, Derek Fowlds mentioned that Sir Nigel was able, even after the passage of years, to remember every word of Sir Humphrey's prolix circumlocutions. He WAS wonderful.

[DomWeasel]

The whole great thing about the man is that he learnt all those great speeches. A true actor.

[CurtHowland]

You didn't notice he's reading off of cue cards, almost constantly?

They're placed off-camera, and it's only really noticable when he's in a tight talk with another character and HE DOESN'T LOOK AT THEM while giving the talk.

Even Marlin Brando used cue cards, it's no shame, there just isn't time to learn lines like that.

[HelleDelta]

Of course it's no shame, it's the usual practice... the amazing thing was that Sir Nigel frequently did without and rattled the speeches off by heart.

[sofiankrt]

D'you think Sir Nigel used them in this particular instance?

[DaniMajor]

I love Humphrey truly, but I just love when Jim takes the best upon him...and this episode it´s probably one of the best ever!

[DaniMajor]

I love Humphrey truly, but I just love when Jim takes the best upon him...and this episode it´s probably one of the best ever!

[DaniMajor]

I love Humphrey truly, but I just love when Jim takes the best upon him...and this episode it´s probably one of the best ever!

[Flowbee79]

It's good to see Humphrey harried every now and again, take him down a peg every now and again. He's not an bad guy, just a lifetime, over-conservative political survivor.

[Flowbee79]

I respect Paul Eddington (Jim Hacker), of course, but Nigel was such an excellent actor. Watching these episodes and his exceptional performance in Madness of King George and then how he plays such a snoob as Martin Van Buren in Amistad can only illustrate how truly gifted an actor he was. And then in Mapp and Lucia, another quirky British satire with Geraldine McEwan and Prunella Scales, he is just adorably odd.

[neoncherry]

I think the magic is from the interaction between Eddington and Hawthorne, it wouldn't have worked with just one or the other. The actor playing Bernard is very good as well, though his role was slightly more minor.

[theopapadop]

His King Lear at Stratford upon Avon (2000?) was jaw-droppingly outstanding.

[EggFriedSpam]

This is such an excellent scene, it's always nice to see Jim get one over on Humphrey!

[Progressive75]

It doesn't happen often enough...but that's the way the world is.

[EggFriedSpam]

IMO the fact that it doesn't happen often simply makes it all the better when it actually does!

[Flowbee79]

Yeah, plus it shows that through his own trials and errors, Hacker is becoming a savvier politician. While he isn't perfect or brilliant, he is a decent guy, and he's able to spar with Humphrey more and more, bit by bit. Of course, this isn't the West Wing, this is a satire on how real politics happens and hardly anything gets done or how change is so gradual.