Yes, Minister

Yes, Minister and its sequel Yes, Prime Minister are British sitcoms that were transmitted by the BBC between 1980 and 1988. The setting was, at first, the private office of a government minister and, in the sequel, 10 Downing Street. All 38 episodes were written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn and all but one are 30 minutes in length.

Quotes

Bernard - "It used to be said that there were two kinds of chair for two kinds of minister; one folds up right away, the other goes round and round in circles."

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Sir Humphrey - "Yes, but even though they probably certainly know that you probably wouldn't, they can't certainly know that although you probably wouldn't there's no probability that you certainly would!"

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Sir Humphrey - "So, how are things at the Campaign for the Freedom of Information?"

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Sir Arnold - "I'm sorry, I can't talk about that."

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Bernard - "'Under consideration' means we've lost the file. 'Under active consideration' means we're trying to find it."

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Agnes Moorhouse - "A battery chicken's life isn't worth living. Would you want to spend your life packed in with six hundred other desperate, squawking, smelly creatures, unable to breathe fresh air, unable to move, unable to stretch, unable to think?"

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Sir Humphrey - "Certainly not, that's why I never stood for Parliament."

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Sir Humphrey - "And with respect, Prime Minister, I think that the DES will react with some caution to your rather novel proposal."

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Jim Hacker - "You mean they'll block it?"

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Sir Humphrey - "I mean they will give it the most serious and urgent consideration and insist on a thorough and rigorous examination of all the proposals, allied to a detailed feasibility study and budget analysis, before producing a consultative document for consideration by all interested bodies and seeking comments and recommendations to be included in a brief, for a series of working parties who will produce individual studies which will provide the background for a more wide ranging document, considering whether or not the proposal should be taken forward to the next stage."

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Jim Hacker - "You mean they'll block it?"

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Sir Humphrey - "Yup."

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