A Very Courageous Decision: The Inside Story of Yes Minister by Graham McCann

A Very Courageous Decision: The Inside Story of Yes Minister by Graham McCann This book is USED (not new) Condition: - dj chipped & worn, Format: Publisher: Aurum Press : , 2014, ISBN: 9781781311899 / 1781311897 Dimensions: 15.88cm x 3.18cm x 24.13cm, 384 pages SKU: 5605ao - We use NZ Post overnight for delivery so please allow 1-5 days for delivery - If you would like to see more photos of the book, ask a question and we'll add them Book Description: The behind-the-scenes storyA of one of the most successful and admired sitcoms of the 1980s In 1977 the BBC commissionedA a new satiricalA sitcom set in Whitehall. Production ofA its firstA series was stalled, however, by theA death throesA ofA Jim Callaghan's Labour government andA the 'Winter of Discontent';A AuntieA being unwilling to broadcast such an overtly politicalA comedy until after the general electionA of 1979. That Yes Minister should have been delayed by theA veryA events that helped bring Margaret Thatcher to power is, perhaps, fitting. OverA three series from 1980 - and two more as Yes, Prime Minister until 1988 -A theA showA mercilesslyA lampoonedA theA vanity, self-interest and incompetenceA of our so-called public servants, makingA itsA hapless minister Jim Hacker andA his scheming Permanent Secretary Sir Humphrey two of the most memorableA characters British comedy has ever produced. The new prime minister professed it her favouriteA television programme - a 'textbook' on the StateA in inactionA - and millions of British viewers agreed.A In the years sinceA Yes MinisterA hasA become aA national treasure: SirA Humphrey'sA slippery circumlocutionsA haveA enteredA the lexicon,A regularly quoted by political commentators, andA the series'A cynical vision ofA government seems as credible now as it did thirty years ago. Much of this success can be credited to its writers, Antony JayA and Jonathan Lynn, whoA drew on their contacts in Westminster toA reworkA genuine political folly as s...