For Britons interested in politics, 25 February 1980 was a great night in. BBC One had a Panorama on the faltering White House bid of former film star Ronald Reagan, followed by a Nine O’Clock News bulletin with the latest on a gathering Tory party rebellion against Margaret Thatcher. And, opposite the news, BBC Two showed the first ever episode of the sitcom Yes Minister, about a weak cabinet minister, Jim Hacker, who is the puppet of his chief civil servant, Sir Humphrey Appleby.
Previews were lukewarm, mainly because the BBC had curiously not shown the programme to the press, possibly due to the Corporation’s historic and continuing terror of anything touching on the government. Most previewers felt that Paul Eddington as the politician and Nigel Hawthorne playing the permanent secretary were the main reasons to tune in. The first overnight review, in the Guardian, found the show “not the sharpest” but felt it “deserved nursing”. A few episodes in, the Observer noted that the comedy was causing “quite a stir” but gave a “false impression of the civil service”.
