Yes Real Prime Minister AKA The Thatcher Sketch (1984) (optional subs)
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- Опубликовано: 16 авг 2012
- With optional English subtitles. The real prime minister has tried to write a sketch... performed on the National Viewers and Listeners Awards in 1984. So unfunny it's painfully funny!
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that what means to be a fangirl and write a fanfiction when you're real Prime Minister!
Weirdest Mary Sue ever.
@@peterfireflylund Disappointed to see Northampton lost again
Just a reminder:
- she is responsible for giving a knighthood to Jimmy Savile ... in her FIFTH ATTEMPT
- she is responsible for the Public Order Act 1986, which made it a crime to insult politicians on the street [Tony Blair expanded this to electronic communications in 2003, which is why censorship and "the right NOT to be offended" exists nowadays]
- she is responsible for killing off industry ... and replacing it with NOTHING / a dependence upon welfare in many regions of Britain
@@Muck006 ~Yawn~
Savile wasn't known as a sex offender back then and had raised £40M for charity. I'm not in any way condoning his actions, but to blame Thacther is nonsense. The BBC were continually providing him with the opportunities to prey on children. Your criticism would be much more accurately placed at their door. If they couldn't see what he was up to how could Thatcher?
Also, it is a common myth that manufacturing and industry died at the hands of Thatcher, when in reality manufacturing has seen steady growth throughout the last 75 years. The fact that other industry sectors also grew up along side it thereby adding more diversity to our revenue streams is often used to propogate this false premise. In other words, manufaturing has grown and we are now less reliant on it. The true picture:
www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/output/timeseries/k22a/diop
Note from the above link that Industry declined during Thatcher's first 18 months in office, while she sorted out the union mess. It then grew and was higher when she left office in 1990 than it had been when she took office in 1979.
@RYG Ever heard of Winston?
It's kind of funny how much this feels like fan fiction. Thatcher just happened to be important enough for the actors to obligate her wish to play a side role.
Maybe she was just testing the water for a future plan?
They didn't do so with great enthusiasm. Particularly Nigel Hawthorne was difficult to persuade.
The sketch was fanfiction, it was written by Thatcher herself 😂
None of them wanted to do it, they basically got threatened into it and Derek Fowlds just didn’t turn up 😂
Given Paul Eddington’s Quaker beliefs and deeply held personal views, this would have been totally cringe for him, goes to show what a true professional he was. A man that did no harm…..God bless him.
What has quaker beliefs got to do with this?
Apparently Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne were desperate to get out of doing this and asked one of the writers to get them out of it but he had no power to do so, this just shows what true professionals they were!
Absolutely - they took it on and properly acted it in their roles. Not just the actors reading the lines like they were bored, we got Jim Hacker and Sir Humphrey.
It was apparently not really Thatcher that annoyed the two of them; She was not the reason, although she could have been.
The woman sitting behind Thatcher, though, is the infamous Mary Whitehouse, a conservative woman who wanted to censor and ban anything not upperclass restrained fun on TV and had a serious impact on the allowance of humor back then. Think of the worst Christian Karen you can, as a British person, and this is her; She had intellect enough to gather people for her cause and nearly killed off many classics forms/shapes of humor that we have today.
@@hadorstapa How were they forced to do it? It's not part of the show, it wouldn't be part of their contracts, they were popular enough they would hardly be axed if they refused...
@@barath4545 a really nasty piece of work. She'd have enjoyed Gilead.
@@anonleft it’s the unspoken contract and future career threat. Acting is unpredictable enough as it is, and especially back then when there was an awful lot less lucrative independent production around. Don’t mistake their popularity then and since for financial stability, let alone riches. It’s a very changeable industry.
Sir Humphrey had a 1st from Oxford in classics, not a double first in politics and economics!
But the lack of humor is even more offensive than inconsistencies.
Yes, I had always thought Humphrey's degree was in the classics. To be sure, though, perhaps we find out now that he has additional degrees!
Humphrey Appleby
Look, it was a favour given to Mrs.Tatcher because she send a scripts....
It's her sketch, her ideas, just a curiosity. It was the nice thing to do (not necesarly the right thing to do, although there is no real wrong done here), even if her sketch is not entirely consistent within itself (ask an economist to ban economists, while saying that his knowledge is so good that he know where to start - well, that paradox should be the joke?), that it was not consistent with the narrative of the show, and that it does bring question about conflict of interest (meh, not so big questions, but still it's there).
therrydicule
So what are you saying? That is wasn't, or wasn't exclusively, a feeble attempt to cash in on the show's popularity? It is generally treated as such by the writers (the actors are all dead now).
She did the dead parrot sketch from monty python as well.
Humphrey Appleby
I think that she genuinely enjoyed the show, but that it was an attempt to cash in on the show's popularity, and it was also an attempt to send a message to the British bureaucrats
For one I like the fact Mrs Thatcher wanted to be involved, wrote a script for the three of them. It doesn't matter with the accuracy. It's funny.
Bernard Ingram wrote the script but on orders of Thatcher, yes.
There is exactly one joke, and it's not very good. It's not funny at all
I found it quite amusing, Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne did a stand up job humouring the PM.
Hawthorne and Eddington really showed their chops here. The script was nothing much at all and they somehow made it work. Well they made it punch way above its weight anyway.
It was written by Bernard Ingham, Thatcher's PR adviser and Thatcher herself, not the main writers Anthony Jay and Jonathan Lynn.
I'm stunned! Obviously to be a member of parliament you need to be a good speaker, but I'm blown back by Baroness Thatcher's acting chops. She definitely knew her character inside and out.
Except for several details, yes.
Maggie enjoyed it, at any rate....doubt if the other 2 did. It got a few laughs. Helped that she was a fan.
The Prime Minister went all fangirl here.
Humor is subjective. And I found this hilarious!
Look, all you critics. What's the difference between this sketch and the Tony Blair/Lauren Cooper one for Comedy Relief? Well, the writing was better by Catherine; and the delivery was better by Blair; and it was professionally directed. But the principle of pollies having fun with actors is no great crime. Anything which helps them not to take themselves seriously is a bonus.
Agreed. Sir Anthony, the co-writer was a Conservative, so I'm sure He enjoyed this opportunity. Catapulted show nationally to fame.
I want to know more about the jewel thief
Same here!
lol me to
The Brink's- Mat robbery. I think they got the year wrong this was recorded in 1983 not 1984;
Hah! The cartoon for Thatcher is more monstrous than I thought possible!
Actually I did find it funny! Well done Mrs T! She had the good sense to keep it short and to the point.
You can see Eddington is in a bit of "why are we doing this mode", but Hawthorne goes directly into Sir Humphrey mode...
I'm American and loved everything Paul Eddington did , I'm sorry he wasn't more widely known here.
He died early too. A superb actor.
I come here to watch an interesting piece of TV from the 1980's and instead, within the first second, you upset me by reminding me that my beloved Cobblers lost to Stockport County on a grim Friday evening in January 1984?!?!?! You swine!!
This is weird and unusual. The source of material that the show was based on was now writing and acting it's own fan fiction. It would be like aliens coming to earth and getting William Shatner to act in their own fan-fiction script of Star Trek, Conan Doyle rising from the grave to appear in "Sherlock", or Hitler being a guest on "Top Gear".
Evan Lilley: _"aliens coming to earth and getting William Shatner to act in their own fan-fiction script of Star Trek"_
That's pretty much the premise of Galaxy Quest.
there was also an episode in futurama =D
Can we get Hitler on top gear, I'd love to see him get rekt by the Stig
@@ThePrimeMinisterOfTheBlock Top Gear is rubbish without Clarkson, Hammond and May.
@@banjopink4409 The historical documents!
Props to Sir Nigel and Sir Paul for their utmost professionalism and devotion to their characters even in the face of .. that
Allegedly Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorne, neither of whom were fans of the Conservative government, were appalled when they learned only the day before that they were required to participate in this "command performance", but neither of them felt they could refuse. They both look decidedly uncomfortable and appear to be taking part through gritted teeth. One reason for this was that the "Yes Minister" had jumped through hoops so that it was not clear what Hacker's political party was, and here they were being associated with a Tory Prime Minister. Both actors look as if they wished they were elsewhere.
People see what they want to see.
Paul Eddington was in real life a total opposite to Thatcher. He was a SDP (Social Democratic Party) supporter, he believed the nuclear deterrent should be scrapped. He was a conscientious objector. Nigel Hawthorne was a gay man, with very centrist politics, so both complete opposites to Mrs Thatcher.
To Phyllis Davison:
Having just seen the sketch, I saw nothing whatsoever to suggest that the two actors were in any way uncomfortable. As professionals, and talented ones at that, they took their impromptu performance seriously and performed it well - of course.
I wonder whether you are 'anti-Thatcher' on principle, in the same way in which many are now, 'anti-Trump.' (See the recent video put out, in which students are interviewed on campus, being asked what they think of a number of presidential initiatives. They all say they disapprove. Later, it is revealed that these were *Obama* initiatives, not Trump's, and, of course, they are left looking pretty silly.
Moral of the story: Learn to *think for yourself* instead of being led by the nose.)
There is an interview on RUclips where Paul Eddington was interviewed by Felicity Kendell (guest hosting Wogan) from 1986 where this sketch is discussed. He made it perfectly clear there was never any "requirement" on himself or Nigel Hawthorn to participate and that the BBC had made it clear to both of them they were free to decline.
Wow! Thank you for sharing! Good to see this special sketch put in action!
This is far more funny in the light of history, in that one of the show’s writers was once employed by Mrs Thatcher . 🤣🤣🤣
It was Jim Hacker who graduated from the LSE. Presumably in economics.
He had a B.Sc. in Economics.
its great to see that pervious PMs would even go to have a good fun in tv shows where nowadays PMs avoid it as much as possible as the public cant take a joke anymore.
I bet it was also Maggie who stole the jewels
I'm a big fan of both series and I think Lady Thatcher did a very commendable job writing her very amusing script.
There is no way Humphry would not have responded in a 2 page verbal dissection about his study having been focussed on the distribution of material and immaterial goods and services between party's of various degrees of willingness and, not to put to fine a point on it, competence and the various broad systems by wich that distribution tends to operate on a macro and indeed even meso scale.
I'm not sure what's funnier: Nigel Hawthorne momentarily corpsing, or the fact that John Humphries just hasn't changed since 1984!
M.Thatcher, the luckist fan of !!!!!! i am soooooo jls
You appear to have a serious problem with your vowels.
I'd see a doctor!
1Million pounds worth of Jewels in 1 minute, now that's efficient
Ah, what great fun. It was her idea, of course, and the actors were given the possibility of declining. The script was obtained the day before from #10. I can't watch it without thinking about the ravages of time on the body and mind.
What fun, someone taking total advantage of the whole thing... No they could not decline - actors can't risk becoming unemployed.
@@YesMinisterMuseum True, esp. on that side of the pond.
@steve gale Yeah right. It's only the Prime Minister, no pressure (!)... FYI It's got nothing to do with contracts, it's the fact that actors can't afford to offend if they want a future.
@steve gale So why did they all later claim it was forced upon them then? Watch the interviews.
@steve gale Oh you worked in the industry, did you? As a bin man I suppose?
The IRON LADY!
Not encountered this before - enjoyable!
Love it! God Bless you Margaret Thatcher....wish our politicians today were like you...
That's a bit unkind
Dead?
Sir Humphrey's degree was in Classics. I don't know what kind of garbage fan fiction she was writing but she couldn't even stick to the show's canon.
+harry I'm told that her "Are You Being Served?" slashfic is what sent David Blunkett blind.
The skit made me laugh!
Mmmm, not *very* funny comedy.
Plus, I'm sure she had more important things on her mind rather than remembering continuity, what with running the country and all.
This is discussed in "Yes Minister - the View from Whitehall". youtube v=KcQB__qHpY4#t=1m30s
It was the idea of Lord Butler and Bernard Ingham, her press secretary. Butler and Thatcher wrote it together (from the documentary it's unclear if Ingham also contributed). However, Butler and Ingham had a very tough time persuading her to do it. Even at the last minute she had misgivings.
I think it's okay, not awful. I think the main problem with it is that Thatcher isn't an actress. She was okay, but a pro would've made a big difference.
yeah but it's funny because it's her - real life PM with the fictional characters. For goodness sake.
... I guess it just FEELS like the real thing because we have the same actors saying the line.
Still, Mrs. Thatcher must be the luckiest fangirl in the world. :P I just get the feeling that she got a little carried away with talking to Sir Humphrey and forgot that it was actually Sir Nigel Hawthorne sitting there instead...
Assuming she did it as a fangirl, and not as a publicity stunt.
Humphrey Appleby My guess is a mixture of both. If you can pull off a publicity stunt AND meet your favourite actors of all time, why would you not? XD
The Clear Summer
Well, that's just not the feeling that the cast & writers had. Seems it wasn't even here idea but she was persuaded to do it. The story is told in "Yes Minister - The view from Whitehall".
Humphrey Appleby Oh, is it? I'm afraid I'm still rather new to Yes Minister, so I won't know as much as you. I do feel kinda sorry for SIr Nigel and Paul. That must have felt a little awkward. I think Paul Eddington said that their audience was 'very enthusiastic to laugh'. :P
The Clear Summer
Well I didn't actually listen to that thing, even though I uploaded it myself, but someone else commented about it below.
but Sir Humphrey read classics
This was brilliant!
thank you so much for sharing!
I think it's Mary Whitehouse - sitting behind Mrs. T - laughing at the word 'leaks'. Yes, I'm 10 years old.
You say that like it's just the mining strikes that caused that, but the absolute contempt she held for all poor that she held up in policy after policy (the infamous school milk, Care in the Community, the poll tax, etc.) and the total disregard she had for the consequences of her actions caused a great deal of damage to her country. You can't just shrug that off with "you're just angry because the government isn't your mommy"
eruption257 She saved the UK from the left and throw the country to be a pearl in Europe!
in less than a minute, awesome
We enjoy most what we can relate to ourselves. The fact that Yes, Minister was Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's favorite program implied a great deal about the upper levels of government. The weight of that grain of truth might be frighteningly large.
geez, all you that are so down on thatcher doing a skit. let her have a little fun for god sake. she isn't hurting anything, she's sincerely enjoying this
Getting the feeling you're just pretending not to see the problem - her jumping on the bandwagon for her own sake.
Oohhh, who doesn't jump on a bandwagon every now and then, right? Gotta look out for yourself because no one else will. I'm just saying let her have some fun..
Sure, but they're not, and they were somewhat awkwarded into this position. It was lame. Really needed work. "Abolish economists. Oh wait, you're an economist? Haha!" There is the framework of an idea that could be worked into a proper sketch, but this did make me cringe. And I actually like Thatcher on balance.
Thatcher is many things. And funny is one of them.
Dead, is another.
@@YesMinisterMuseum like everyone will be - you won't know you ever typed that. what a real little winner you are. you'll be joining her sooner or later.
I'm too young to have strong feelings about Maggie but I always appreciate politicians who enjoy political comedy. It shows a certain level of self-awareness we should *all* have.
Holy fuck a million pound of jewels taken in less than a minute.
Pure Class
I actually found that quite amusing :-)
You'd think they could have found a colour camera for this in 1984
Black and white VCR. Probably an old piece of kit from the 70s, so a VTR rather than a VCR.
Interesting. Any keen follower of the original series would know, of course, that Sir Humphrey's degree is actually in Classics. I gather Jay and Lynn were not expecting much from this sketch; surely Mrs Thatcher should have been occupied in other matters, such as running the country...
idiot - it didn't take much time and they don't 'run the country' 24/7.
Great nostalgia.
I'd forgotten just how attractive Margaret Thatcher was..
LOVED Yes Prime Minister - it is however a documentary NOT a comedy.
I know its the done thing to criticise this sketch, but it wasn't too bad actually. I've seen worse...
What a great moment, for someone
I loved this.
What 1 million pounds worth of jewels taken from Christie's? Appalling, most appalling indeed!
I agree!
genius, most genius indeed¡
in less than a minute to
Well that was adorable
To "round it out", she should have also done a sketch with Rik Mayal and Adrian Edmondson in 1992.
How is Thatcher keeping a straighter face than the two men who do this for a living?
Because she has no sense of humor?
Polyfilla!
Because she did it for a living. They have to act.
Brilliant :)
Thatcher and Whitehouse on the same stage - where are you providence, where are you giant 1 ton comedy weight?
this is quite clever, well done. say what you will about her political ways, but she clearly have a good comedic sense.
Wait, you actually find this funny? And intentionally funny too?!?
yeah, of course. the whole "abolish economists" is a clear joke about thatcher. and come on how the "i'd like you to announce it before it all leaks" like is not both funny and clever?
sure i never liked thatcher's policies, but i fail to see how my feeling about her should stop me from enjoying a fun sketch? and i'm willing to bet a lot (not all) of the people who doesn't like that sketch would feel differently if thatcher wouldn't be involved in it
Right, so if someone happens to think it's plot, dialogue, and delivery were all sh!te, and that this publicity stunt can't hold a candle to the carefully constructed real episodes, they MUST have some hidden motive? I don't think so. You don't sound like someone who's watched (m)any of the original episodes, because they're very different.
no, i'm sure a lot of people didn't like it because they simply didn't like it, which is fine. i also think some people might not like it simply because they don't like thatcher, which is silly. regardless i couldn't care less if it was a publicity stunt or not, i enjoyed it.
and i have watched every episode of both "yes, minister" and "yes, prime minister" british humor at it's fines.
the nature of this sketch is similar to the nature of the show, it's just not as good or as funny. does this sketch come even close to the show itself? obviously not. but so what? it's just a minute long sketch, i'm not expecting it to be as good as the show, none of the show writers were even involved in it, it's just a fun little sketch.
Possibly, but the second category did include the actors and one of the two writers - they had this forced upon them (so they tell in two or three documentaries). Conversely I have the feeling that some tory voters only come here to praise this sketch because they treasure the idea that she cared for some things, had a sense of humor, and therefore was a human being. Something they might after all feel defensive about.
They look so different wow 🤭
I LIKE IT! I LIKE IT!
My sides are splitting. 😬
It would have been a lot more fun if hacker played the prime minister and Thatcher his policy consultant just like in the series. It would have been a knock out.
Spot on, Lad.
A bit 'cheesey' true, but still has a few good laughs in it! :-)
All of them? Tomorrow.
anyone, can tell me where can I watch the full video?
She did a lot of crazy things, back in the days!
Not at all unrealistic or unreasonable prime munister ;) brilliant. Baroness was indeed the bedt woman for the job. Now look at Low energy Theresa even juncker can manhandle me May...and you may want to.....mumble mumble mumble.
Not only was it funny, but a grand idea! Abolish economists, as did John James Copperthwaite. (indirectly) Brilliant!
You have a right to make up your own mind. But I doubt whether you've seen (m)any of the original episodes which are a bit better written.
The Three are no more.
But Sir Humphrey is supposed to have read the Classics, is he not? In 'The Skeleton In The Cupboard' he says as much. He also doesn't have a degree in economics and he is surprised to find that he knows more about Keynes and Friedman than the banker Sir Desmond Glazebrook.
Mary Whitehouse... *spits*
Ye gods - that's Mary Whitehouse in the bg!
Very sorry for Paul and Nigel to have to sit down with a war criminal
The problem with the sketch was that in Yes Minister, the Prime Minister was never seen. We were told it was a man, but other than that, we have no idea of his name or what he looked like. It was all left vague. Also left vague was the political party Hacker belonged too. No party was ever mentioned, and the opposition party was just called the opposition. This sketch ruined the facade and made it all about THATCHER.
the skit had nothing to do with the show, itself. this was just a fun thing to do that the pm wanted to be involved in, so obviously it's going to be about her..
@@readithere2032you're right but there's so many idiots it's beyond their own idea of how everything should be. For John - in his world no-one should ever do a skit outside the TV series for a laugh. He can't see the novelty of the real PM taking part in a slightly altered version that takes a few liberties. He's a jobsworth, a bad lover, useless at sport, loves conformity and doing what he's told and sees the worst in everyone.
The only way she could've won the cynics over is by the skit ending with Humphrey getting one over on her, that would take some self-deprecation on her part. He needed a comeback to end up back on top.
I want to know more about the jewellery heist
Losing a million pounds in less than a minute? Kwasi Kwarteng and Truss saw that as a challenge surely
It’s so awkward. You can tell Eddington and Hawthorne absolutely hated this unfunny bit.
Really? You mean they never noticed that Yes, Minister/Primer Minister scripts were ringing endorsements of Thatcher. Incredible!
I thought the script idea was very clever but Maggie's acting very hammy ... as to be expected. Overall, good on the old witch for showing a human side to herself and for Paul and Nigel to play along so excellently.
Either that, or it was calculated and your response is exactly the effect she was aiming for.
@@YesMinisterMuseum
Of course it was calculated. I am not stupid. It hardly happened by accident did it? I subsequently found out that it was in fact not written and conceived by Maggie but by some other staff member and that she needed much convincing to do it. And of course, any PM who wilfully plays the fool for the cameras is doing it for self promotion, but, the bottom line is that they must have at least SOME amount of self-deprecation to step outside of their normal persona and presentation. There are many pollies who could not/would not ever do such a thing.
Take for example BoJo on HIGNFY. No matter what one thinks of his politics/education/upbringing, etc, his basal nature includes enough self awareness to both give and take a joke. Methinks you have some kind of agenda and are unable to appreciate comedy for comedy's sake, in its own right.
@@thedolphin5428 It's called being a hater.
Jay was a Tory, Lynn was a Labour man. Similar to the mutual 'best of enemies' relationship that Richard Ingrams (Tory) and Paul Foot (Labour), founders of Private Eye, took to greatness. I have to say that, even as a liberal myself, British political comedy suffers now from having no right-wing voice. I mean Ian Hislop is taken as a conservative, but in reality he's bang on the centre.
I think he was a Clegg fan, back in the day.
Wait...Mary Whitehouse gave someone an award?!?
I think the first part was reasonably funny. But the double first thing (knowing that he got a 1st in Classics) was a disappointment :(
Double first in Politics and Economics :)
Humphrey shouldve said it was a legislative matter, pm shouldve clarified to remove economists from the government, then it would spiral about what is an economist and then that they canr stop funding them because of some scheme, and the unions wont like this
With proper writers here, that's what would have happened more or less, right?
yeah she does know how to right for these scenes she made it to simple and the whole joke is its needlessly complicated, this shouldve been a first draft and they should've spent the whole day improving off of it with the general premise of stay on economists. she'd of been afflicted by humphrey, and thats really what youd want if you put a politician in the show. it also should been alowed to be a longer scene of 5-6 minutes, for some elongated explainly and confused circling
What was that robbery news at the end?
This could be an actual episode the end was bad news
was tv still in black n white in 1984?? I'm amazed I thought colour had been around since the 60s
+Robert Creighton No, no, there's something wrong with the video tape. In some documentaries they show colour clips.
+Humphrey Appleby ok cool
It's a black and white TV set with a VCR recorder.
thanks
does amyone know the name of the presenter/ reporter please¿
cool as cucumber while reporting on a million pounds robbery in 1984¡
*+David ji* wikipedia.org/wiki/-ji
thank you _ /|\ _ soooo much for those insights :)
indeed he did recently quit his radio show after DECADES
and seeing of much junior presentors from the job (competition😛😶)
as also his views or not inconsistencies over Brexit did get flak.
however I couldn't find anything on him getting Knighted.
but them I did just a basic search and only looked up at the initial 3-4 stories in the search results.
maybe his clout within NBC and his large paycheque too makes people edgy😛
...besides.. he has himself confessed to some of his fiercely competitive or brattish ways (if i may call it so) www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1182450/bbc-news-john-humphrys-latest-politics-bbc-confession-wicked-terrible-thing-youth-spt
·-·-·-·-·
thanks again🙇🏽 for taking the time David bhai :) 🙇🏽 wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhai
It was a minor scandal when one of the writers of Yes, Minister - Anthony Jay - was revealed to be a speechwriter for (and supporter of) Mrs. Thatcher, so I think it's safe to say this was all his fault.
……and they hated having to do it.
ha ha ha
There is no excuse, is there? I must apologize! Are you feeling better now?