My father, an actual civil servant, also loved the show. it takes a special kind of genius to satirise a group of people and have those same people laugh in recognition. (On similar lines, W1A is how I explain higher university administration to people outside that world)
Oh yes, indeed. Having worked at the Guardian and various media adjacent jobs over the last few decades, W1A is the easiest way to explain to my parents what I do all day.
I went back to read the Dr Aziz… piece, and fell about laughing at “if you ever wondered what Robert Glenister might have looked like as a member of Bucks Fizz, now’s your chance to find out”.
The thing that I love now about Yes Minister and other sit coms of that time is the way you can see them trying not to laugh and break character. It’s more like theatre, and everything now is so very glossy. I’m not being mistily nostalgic as there was a lot of utter rubbish as well, but it does come across as more “conversational” with the viewer somehow. I think it’s why I love Be Kind Rewind, where they go about Sweding all the films— all the cardboard box and chicken wire remakes are so imaginative and theatrical in just the right way.
That's a really good point about how welcoming the theatricality can be; admitting the audience in multiple ways, admitting they're there and thereby letting them in. That 'Be Kind Rewaind' analogy is an excellent one. And it also means that I'm going to have to watch it again, I don't think I've seen it since it came out.
I also loved Yes, PM. It ran on our public television network in the US. Somehow, the one delineating which segment of the population read The Sun slipped me by. Probably because it was censored.
At the end of his life, Uncle Harry said he just lived to smoke. He was best buds with David Lynch. In Harry’s last movie, Lucky, Lynch and he are bar buds who smoke like chimneys through the entire film.
I can’t say that even though I lived in metro Philadelphia for 15 years, it ever occurred to me to visit the house where Poe slept. I love that you did.
Well, I need to credit Adam Frost with the happy idea of going to find Poe's and Lynch's houses. We'd gone out to run some training for GSK in King of Prussia and the storm hit as we were running the seminar. Gradually people kept checking their emails and casting pitying looks at us as it became increasingly obvious we weren't getting back to the UK any time soon. Still, Philly's not a bad place to be stranded. Lot's and excellent art galleries and plenty of cheese steak.
I ought to catch up on 'Lucky'. I do wonder how many people of my generation were persuaded to smoke by some combination of David Lynch, Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch.
My father, an actual civil servant, also loved the show. it takes a special kind of genius to satirise a group of people and have those same people laugh in recognition. (On similar lines, W1A is how I explain higher university administration to people outside that world)
Oh yes, indeed. Having worked at the Guardian and various media adjacent jobs over the last few decades, W1A is the easiest way to explain to my parents what I do all day.
I went back to read the Dr Aziz… piece, and fell about laughing at “if you ever wondered what Robert Glenister might have looked like as a member of Bucks Fizz, now’s your chance to find out”.
The thing that I love now about Yes Minister and other sit coms of that time is the way you can see them trying not to laugh and break character. It’s more like theatre, and everything now is so very glossy. I’m not being mistily nostalgic as there was a lot of utter rubbish as well, but it does come across as more “conversational” with the viewer somehow. I think it’s why I love Be Kind Rewind, where they go about Sweding all the films— all the cardboard box and chicken wire remakes are so imaginative and theatrical in just the right way.
And I'm glad you enjoyed the Robert Glenister/Bucks Fizz joke. It's niche, but that niche is the Metropolitan readership (I hope)
That's a really good point about how welcoming the theatricality can be; admitting the audience in multiple ways, admitting they're there and thereby letting them in. That 'Be Kind Rewaind' analogy is an excellent one. And it also means that I'm going to have to watch it again, I don't think I've seen it since it came out.
ah, you've put it so perfectly--that's exactly it: admitting the audience is there, and thereby letting them in, wonderful.
(also, niche is precisely what I'm here for).
I also loved Yes, PM. It ran on our public television network in the US. Somehow, the one delineating which segment of the population read The Sun slipped me by. Probably because it was censored.
At the end of his life, Uncle Harry said he just lived to smoke. He was best buds with David Lynch. In Harry’s last movie, Lucky, Lynch and he are bar buds who smoke like chimneys through the entire film.
I can’t say that even though I lived in metro Philadelphia for 15 years, it ever occurred to me to visit the house where Poe slept. I love that you did.
Well, I need to credit Adam Frost with the happy idea of going to find Poe's and Lynch's houses. We'd gone out to run some training for GSK in King of Prussia and the storm hit as we were running the seminar. Gradually people kept checking their emails and casting pitying looks at us as it became increasingly obvious we weren't getting back to the UK any time soon. Still, Philly's not a bad place to be stranded. Lot's and excellent art galleries and plenty of cheese steak.
I ought to catch up on 'Lucky'. I do wonder how many people of my generation were persuaded to smoke by some combination of David Lynch, Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch.