Watch Order
0 / 2 watchedOriginal ministry run, handover special, then Number 10 years.
About Yes Minister
Written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn for BBC2, Yes Minister ran for three series of seven episodes from February 1980 to December 1982. Paul Eddington plays Jim Hacker, minister for Administrative Affairs, blocked at every turn by permanent secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne) while private secretary Bernard Woolley (Derek Fowlds) sits between them. Episodes run 30 minutes and each ends on a variation of the title line.
The hour-long Party Games special in December 1984 promotes Hacker to prime minister and sets up Yes, Prime Minister, which ran for two series of eight episodes from January 1986 to January 1988. The same trio returns with Hacker in Number 10 facing defence, finance and church rows. Watch Yes Minister, then Party Games, then Yes, Prime Minister.
Good to know
Story order follows release order with one bridge to respect. Party Games is the handover episode, so do not skip it or the promotion feels abrupt. The radio adaptations and the 2013 Gold revival with a new cast sit outside this guide and count as optional extras. There is no separate chronological cut worth listing beyond this sequence.
