Thirty-eight episodes of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister were made in total, running from 1980 to 1988. A one-hour special aired in 1984; all other episodes were a half-hour in length. The dates listed below are when a particular episode was first transmitted on BBC2.
| Series | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 7 | 25 February 1980 | 7 April 1980 | |
| 2 | 7 | 23 February 1981 | 6 April 1981 | |
| 3 | 7 | 11 November 1982 | 23 December 1982 | |
| Christmas Sketch | 27 December 1982 | |||
| Christmas Special | 17 December 1984 | |||
| Series | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 8 | 9 January 1986 | 27 February 1986 | |
| 2 | 8 | 3 December 1987 | 28 January 1988 | |
| Series | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 6 | 15 January 2013 | 19 February 2013 | |
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Open Government" | 25 February 1980 | |
| The new Minister's idealistic commitment to open the windows of his department faces its first hurdle: Sir Humphrey and the Civil Service. | ||||
| 2 | 2 | "The Official Visit" | 3 March 1980 | |
| Jim Hacker welcomes the visit of the new President of Buranda, an old university chum who has his own agenda. | ||||
| 3 | 3 | "The Economy Drive" | 10 March 1980 | |
| Hacker plans to slim down the civil service — but Sir Humphrey forces him to set a personal example. | ||||
| 4 | 4 | "Big Brother" | 17 March 1980 | |
| Sir Humphrey drags his feet over the safeguards for a new National Integrated Database. | ||||
| 5 | 5 | "The Writing on the Wall" | 24 March 1980 | |
| The threat of the abolition of the Department of Administrative Affairs forces Hacker and Sir Humphrey to work together. | ||||
| 6 | 6 | "The Right to Know" | 31 March 1980 | |
| A threatened badger colony demonstrates that Sir Humphrey must be selective in what he tells his Minister. | ||||
| 7 | 7 | "Jobs for the Boys" | 7 April 1980 | |
| Hacker is kept in the dark over a doomed building project, and discovers that it takes two to quango. | ||||
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 1 | "The Compassionate Society" | 23 February 1981 | |
| Hacker is concerned about a brand new, fully staffed hospital that has no patients. He learns, however, just how powerful the unions are. | ||||
| 9 | 2 | "Doing the Honours" | 2 March 1981 | |
| Hacker plans to withhold honours for civil servants who do not reduce their budgets. | ||||
| 10 | 3 | "The Death List" | 9 March 1981 | |
| The Minister is forced to re-appraise his views on bugging and phone tapping after a death threat. | ||||
| 11 | 4 | "The Greasy Pole" | 16 March 1981 | |
| Plans for a new chemical factory hinge on the outcome of a so-called "independent" report. | ||||
| 12 | 5 | "The Devil You Know" | 23 March 1981 | |
| A Cabinet reshuffle coincides with a vacancy in Brussels. Hacker wonders who the PM has in mind to fill it. | ||||
| 13 | 6 | "The Quality of Life" | 30 March 1981 | |
| Hacker vows to keep open a city farm that Sir Humphrey has enabled to be bulldozed to make way for a car park for Inland Revenue inspectors. | ||||
| 14 | 7 | "A Question of Loyalty" | 6 April 1981 | |
| Hacker and Sir Humphrey are tested by a select committee on their commitment to reducing waste in government expenditure. | ||||
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 1 | "Equal Opportunities" | 11 November 1982 | |
| Sir Humphrey doesn't see eye to eye with the Minister's plan for gender equality in the civil service. | ||||
| 16 | 2 | "The Challenge" | 18 November 1982 | |
| Fallout shelters upset Hacker's crusade to make local authorities responsible for their expenditure. | ||||
| 17 | 3 | "The Skeleton in the Cupboard" | 25 November 1982 | |
| Details of a 1950s defence contract are about to be made public — and Sir Humphrey seems unaccountably nervous. | ||||
| 18 | 4 | "The Moral Dimension" | 2 December 1982 | |
| After signing a huge export order in Qumran, Hacker is upset to discover it was obtained through bribery. | ||||
| 19 | 5 | "The Bed of Nails" | 9 December 1982 | |
| Hacker is made Transport Supremo — and soon wonders if it is a title worth having. | ||||
| 20 | 6 | "The Whisky Priest" | 16 December 1982 | |
| Hacker faces a moral dilemma when he learns that British bombs are ending up in the hands of Italian terrorists. | ||||
| 21 | 7 | "The Middle-Class Rip-Off" | 23 December 1982 | |
| Sir Humphrey is incensed that Hacker plans to subsidise his local football club by selling a local museum. | ||||
A two-minute Christmas-themed sketch, featuring only Eddington, Hawthorne and Fowlds, was aired on BBC One as part of a 1982 Christmas special titled The Funny Side of Christmas.
| No. | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Christmas at the Ministry" | 27 December 1982 | |
| Sir Humphrey has a special end-of-year message for the Minister, delivered in, even by his standards, an especially circumlocutory style. His message was later transcribed and printed in The Utterly Utterly Merry Comic Relief Christmas Book. | |||
| No. overall | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | "Party Games" | 17 December 1984 | |
| The unexpected resignation of the PM prompts a race for the succession, and, as Party Chairman, Hacker is in a key position—and the Civil Service, now headed by Sir Humphrey, has its own agenda. (Special hour-long episode.) | |||
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "The Grand Design" | 9 January 1986 | |
| With his finger now on the nuclear button, Hacker plans his first act as Prime Minister to be a radical new defence policy. | ||||
| 2 | 2 | "The Ministerial Broadcast" | 16 January 1986 | |
| Hacker is groomed for his first television broadcast as PM, but Sir Humphrey is more concerned with the content. | ||||
| 3 | 3 | "The Smoke Screen" | 23 January 1986 | |
| Hacker uses his Health Minister's plan to eliminate smoking as a bluff against the Treasury. | ||||
| 4 | 4 | "The Key" | 30 January 1986 | |
| The PM decides to clip Sir Humphrey's wings when he engages in a territorial battle with Hacker's political advisor. | ||||
| 5 | 5 | "A Real Partnership" | 6 February 1986 | |
| Sir Humphrey has to get through a civil service pay claim while at the same time discrediting its proposer. | ||||
| 6 | 6 | "A Victory for Democracy" | 13 February 1986 | |
| Hacker has difficulty discovering if the Foreign Office is there to carry out government policy or vice versa. | ||||
| 7 | 7 | "The Bishop's Gambit" | 20 February 1986 | |
| A troubled British nurse in Qumran and a vacant bishopric combine to provide an opportunity for Sir Humphrey. | ||||
| 8 | 8 | "One of Us" | 27 February 1986 | |
| The former head of MI5 is revealed to be a spy (despite Sir Humphrey clearing him), while a dog strays on to Salisbury Plain. | ||||
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 1 | "Man Overboard" | 3 December 1987 | |
| Sir Humphrey fights the Employment Secretary's plan to relocate service personnel by casting doubt over the Minister's loyalty. | ||||
| 10 | 2 | "Official Secrets" | 10 December 1987 | |
| Hacker attempts to suppress an unflattering chapter of his predecessor's memoirs that has been leaked to the press. | ||||
| 11 | 3 | "A Diplomatic Incident" | 17 December 1987 | |
| The death of Hacker's predecessor provides a chance for some negotiations with France over the Channel Tunnel at his state funeral. | ||||
| 12 | 4 | "A Conflict of Interest" | 23 December 1987[1] | |
| Hacker can avoid a City scandal if he appoints a Bank of England Governor whose honesty isn't beyond reproach. | ||||
| 13 | 5 | "Power to the People" | 7 January 1988 | |
| Sir Humphrey and the leader of Houndsworth Council become strange bedfellows when Hacker tries to reform local government. This episode gave rise to the Politician's syllogism. | ||||
| 14 | 6 | "The Patron of the Arts" | 14 January 1988 | |
| Hacker's invitation to the British Theatre Awards dinner becomes a hot potato when the size of the Arts Council grant is revealed. | ||||
| 15 | 7 | "The National Education Service" | 21 January 1988 | |
| When the Department of Education and Science stands in the way of reform, Hacker decides to abolish it. | ||||
| 16 | 8 | "The Tangled Web" | 28 January 1988 | |
| When Hacker unwittingly lies to the House of Commons he is helped by Sir Humphrey's unfortunate indiscretion. | ||||
In January 2013, a new series of Yes, Prime Minister was launched on the Gold television channel.[2][3]
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Crisis at the Summit" | 15 January 2013 | |
| Jim Hacker's premiership is falling apart when a saviour appears—Kumranistan! | ||||
| 2 | 2 | "The Poisoned Chalice" | 22 January 2013 | |
| Jim holds a dinner to welcome the Kumranistan Foreign Secretary. | ||||
| 3 | 3 | "Gentlemen's Agreement" | 29 January 2013 | |
| Humphrey's pro-Euro scheme has been stymied. But then some expenses claims are revealed. | ||||
| 4 | 4 | "A Diplomatic Dilemma" | 5 February 2013 | |
| Desperate to secure the Kumranistan loan agreement, Jim must provide some unusual sexual arrangements. | ||||
| 5 | 5 | "Scot Free" | 12 February 2013 | |
| Another crisis looms for Jim Hacker when a coalition partner threatens to jump ship. | ||||
| 6 | 6 | "A Tsar is Born" | 19 February 2013 | |
| Jim's efforts to appease the Kumranistan Foreign Secretary have failed. But then, Sir Humphrey has a plan. | ||||