3 ms·

This show and its predecessor “Yes Minister” are excellent. And as we see, just as relevant today as ever.

mrtksn 3y ago
I wonder if people in politics or civil service feel the same about this show as the people in tech feel about Silicon Valley series. These series are also scary because they somehow managed to remain relevant. Maybe the way the world works hasn't changed that much after all.
- LaundroMat 3y ago
  Us humans make the (human) world work and we haven't changed a lot in a very long time indeed.
- tomatocracy 3y ago
  If you like the series then this article[0] which was published in the LRB early in its run is well worth a read - it gives you a good idea of how the series came about and why it feels very closely observed. Reportedly many politicians at the time, including Margaret Thatcher, felt it to be very closely observed. But the really clever thing about the writing is that you never know which party Jim Hacker is a member of and it is equally believable regardless of which one - it's so remarkable that it's a series about politics which manages to be really quite apolitical in that sense. 0. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v02/n10/antony-jay/informed-sources https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v02/n10/antony-jay/informed-...
- arp242 3y ago
  And/or people have started behaving according to the standards set in the show because they assume that everyone is that cynical. This is kind of what worries be about these extremely cynical satires and depictions. On the other hand, it's not like politics is better in the US which had The West Wing, which is very aspirational and not cynical at all so idk...
  - bobthepanda 3y ago
    I mean if you want to talk about cynical, Veep really went off the deep end as a comedy, which was good for the show, but also unfortunately life is imitating art.
    - arp242 3y ago
      It's not my impression that Veep was/is all that widely known? I just heard about it because it's the US version of The Thick of It, but then again I'm not in the US. And just like the US version of House of Cards, it's also much newer. There isn't that long of a tradition of cynical satire as in Britain going back to at least the 80s (Yes Minster, Spitting Image, House of Cards, The Thick of It).
- throwup238 3y ago
  Based on anecdata from people in the UK and Australia, the Australian show Utopia [1] is the most realistic take on the civil service while The Thick of It is the most realistic take on party machinations. Some civil servants find Utopia too painful to watch because it hits too close to home. The show has made several very prescient predictions [2]. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_(Australian_TV_series) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_(Australian_TV_series... [2] https://www.news.com.au/sport/sports-life/abc-comedy-series-predicts-tasmanias-new-stadium/news-story/8da360168e5d41b3b9fb0f984d51226c https://www.news.com.au/sport/sports-life/abc-comedy-series-...
  - ljf 3y ago
    After working at the BBC, I can tell you that W1A is very true to life - though being film there also helped. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/W1A_(TV_series) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/W1A_(TV_series)
    - throwup238 3y ago
      God bless Ian Fletcher and Siobhan Sharpe. I wonder how Twenty-Twelve compares to reality

I wonder if people in politics or civil service feel the same about this show as the people in tech feel about Silicon Valley series. These series are also scary because they somehow managed to remain relevant. Maybe the way the world works hasn't changed that much after all.

LaundroMat 3y ago
Us humans make the (human) world work and we haven't changed a lot in a very long time indeed.
tomatocracy 3y ago
If you like the series then this article[0] which was published in the LRB early in its run is well worth a read - it gives you a good idea of how the series came about and why it feels very closely observed. Reportedly many politicians at the time, including Margaret Thatcher, felt it to be very closely observed. But the really clever thing about the writing is that you never know which party Jim Hacker is a member of and it is equally believable regardless of which one - it's so remarkable that it's a series about politics which manages to be really quite apolitical in that sense. 0. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v02/n10/antony-jay/informed-sources https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v02/n10/antony-jay/informed-...
arp242 3y ago
And/or people have started behaving according to the standards set in the show because they assume that everyone is that cynical. This is kind of what worries be about these extremely cynical satires and depictions. On the other hand, it's not like politics is better in the US which had The West Wing, which is very aspirational and not cynical at all so idk...
- bobthepanda 3y ago
  I mean if you want to talk about cynical, Veep really went off the deep end as a comedy, which was good for the show, but also unfortunately life is imitating art.
  - arp242 3y ago
    It's not my impression that Veep was/is all that widely known? I just heard about it because it's the US version of The Thick of It, but then again I'm not in the US. And just like the US version of House of Cards, it's also much newer. There isn't that long of a tradition of cynical satire as in Britain going back to at least the 80s (Yes Minster, Spitting Image, House of Cards, The Thick of It).
throwup238 3y ago
Based on anecdata from people in the UK and Australia, the Australian show Utopia [1] is the most realistic take on the civil service while The Thick of It is the most realistic take on party machinations. Some civil servants find Utopia too painful to watch because it hits too close to home. The show has made several very prescient predictions [2]. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_(Australian_TV_series) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_(Australian_TV_series... [2] https://www.news.com.au/sport/sports-life/abc-comedy-series-predicts-tasmanias-new-stadium/news-story/8da360168e5d41b3b9fb0f984d51226c https://www.news.com.au/sport/sports-life/abc-comedy-series-...
- ljf 3y ago
  After working at the BBC, I can tell you that W1A is very true to life - though being film there also helped. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/W1A_(TV_series) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/W1A_(TV_series)
  - throwup238 3y ago
    God bless Ian Fletcher and Siobhan Sharpe. I wonder how Twenty-Twelve compares to reality