THE COMPLETE YES MINISTER

Ah! Why aren't more radio dramas like this? Perhaps because it's hard to write comedy as polished as Jonathan Lynn's and Antony Jay's in this classic British satire following a new government minister as he butts up against the entrenched civil service and the realities of political life. It's hard to tell who is being most severely critiqued. Is it complacent civil servants? Shallow, ignorant elected officials? The British public, who allow all this to go on? Thankfully, listeners don't have to decide. Instead, they can enjoy Paul Eddington's wonderful timing as Jim Hacker, Nigel Hawthorne's supercilious characterization of Sir Humphrey Appleby, and Derek Fowlds's precise portrait of Bernard Wooley. G.T.B. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/NOV 05]