9.0/10375 votesLoading...#1 - The Skeleton in the Cupboard
Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 11/25/1982
Jim uses a costly mistake from Sir Humphrey’s past to escape chastising an efficient local council for being late with their paperwork.
Director: Peter Whitmore
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.8/10457 votesLoading...#2 - Big Brother
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 3/17/1980
When the Government is planning to introduce a national database, Jim wants to bring in safe guards, but Sir Humphrey stalls until with some help from the opposition, Jim gets his way.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.8/10361 votesLoading...#3 - The Moral Dimension
Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 12/2/1982
Jim is forced to back down about exposing bribery used to obtain a lucrative foreign contract when Bernard allows a valuable vase from a foreign government to be undervalued so that Mrs Hacker can keep it.
Director: Peter Whitmore
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.7/10344 votesLoading...#4 - A Question of Loyalty
Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 4/6/1981
Jim and Sir Humphrey pass the buck to protect each other when they appear before a select committee investigating charges of waste in Hacker’s ministry, until Jim’s higher loyalties are called upon.
Director: Peter Whitmore
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.5/10361 votesLoading...#5 - Equal Opportunities
Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 11/11/1982
Jim decides to promote more women to high civil service positions despite Sir Humphrey’s opposition.
Director: Peter Whitmore
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.4/10385 votesLoading...#6 - The Compassionate Society
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 2/23/1981
When Jim learns that a brand new hospital still has no medical staff, but hundreds of civil servants working there, he proposes that half of the civil servants be sacked and use the money saved to open wards with medical staff.
Director: Peter Whitmore
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.3/10396 votesLoading...#7 - The Writing on the Wall
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 3/24/1980
A rumour starts that Jim’s department is about to be axed. So with help from Sir Humphrey, they try and defeat the Prime Minister’s plans.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.3/10347 votesLoading...#8 - Doing the Honours
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 3/2/1981
When Jim learns that he can block civil servant’s honours, he blackmails them into cutting their budgets, but when he hears that he might be in line for an honorary degree, he has to back down.
Director: Peter Whitmore
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.3/10315 votesLoading...#9 - The Bed of Nails
Season 3 Episode 5 - Aired 12/9/1982
Jim accepts an unpopular position pushing a transportation bill desired by Number 10, but opposed by everyone else.
Director: Peter Whitmore
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.2/10383 votesLoading...#10 - The Right to Know
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 3/31/1980
Jim faces rebellion at home and in the office over the removal of protected status from a badger habitat, while he tries to circumvent Sir Humphrey’s efforts to keep him ignorant of things.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.2/10332 votesLoading...#11 - The Greasy Pole
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 3/16/1981
Jim has the chance of creating jobs, and saving a chemical company, when they are offered the chance to manufacture a highly dangerous chemical, but when the news gets out that it might be too dangerous, he has to back down.
Director: Peter Whitmore
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.2/10334 votesLoading...#12 - The Devil You Know
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 3/23/1981
When Jim is betrayed by a Cabinet colleague over his plans to bring in jobs for British workers, he thinks about leaving Westminster and becoming a European Commissioner, But when Sir Humphrey learns who his replacement will be, he tries to change Jim’s mind.
Director: Peter Whitmore
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.2/10319 votesLoading...#13 - The Challenge
Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 11/18/1982
When Jim tackles local council administration and civil defence, he runs afoul of a B.B.C. interviewer.
Director: Peter Whitmore
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.2/10319 votesLoading...#14 - The Whisky Priest
Season 3 Episode 6 - Aired 12/16/1982
Jim faces opposition from all sides when he learns that British munitions have been sold to terrorist groups and he decides to start an inquiry into how it happened.
Director: Peter Whitmore
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.1/10457 votesLoading...#15 - The Official Visit
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 3/3/1980
When the leader of an African country is killed in a coup, his successor, who is an old friend of Jim’s, comes in his place. They negotiate a £50 million deal to help buy oil exploration equipment.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.1/10298 votesLoading...#16 - The Middle-Class Rip-Off
Season 3 Episode 7 - Aired 12/23/1982
Jim and Sir Humphrey collide when Jim acts as an M.P. to sell an art gallery and museum in his district to support a popular local soccer club.
Director: Peter Whitmore
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.0/10491 votesLoading...#17 - Open Government
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 2/25/1980
Jim Hacker retains his seat in the election and is given a cabinet post in the new government He meets the permanent secretary for his department Sir Humphrey Appleby but Jim decides to change the way things are done in the civil service so Sir Humphrey sets out to stop him
Director: Stuart Allen
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.0/10421 votesLoading...#18 - The Economy Drive
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 3/10/1980
Jim Hacker is determined to reduce the Civil Service, but he is frustrated by Sir Humphrey, and the only numbers he can alter are the numbers of tea ladies.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.0/10371 votesLoading...#19 - Jobs for the Boys
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 4/7/1980
Jim goes on radio to support the Solihull project a Government, union and private enterprise building scheme, that he has inherited from the last administration, but unknown to him the project is close to bankruptcy, Sir Humphrey hopes to save the deal by offering a quango to the director of the bank involved
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.0/10341 votesLoading...#20 - The Death List
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 3/9/1981
When Jim learns that when in opposition he was bugged by the secret service, he decides to bring in legislation to kerb the bugging, only to find out that he is on the death list of a group of terrorist’s, and the best way to find them, is by bugging phone lines
Director: Peter Whitmore
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
8.0/10333 votesLoading...#21 - The Quality of Life
Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 3/30/1981
Sir Humphrey uses Jim’s promise to keep a popular city farm project open to get special permission for an additional nine floors on a proposed skyscraper.
Director: Peter Whitmore
Writer: Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay
The Best Episodes of Yes Minister
Every episode of Yes Minister ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Yes Minister!
Satirical sitcom set in the office of a UK Cabinet minister, Jim Hacker MP, who struggles with Civil Service bureaucracy and political machinations as he...
Genres:ComedyWar & Politics
Network:BBC Two
Best Episodes Summary
"The Skeleton in the Cupboard" is the best rated episode of "Yes Minister". It scored 9/10 based on 375 votes. Directed by Peter Whitmore and written by Jonathan Lynn, Antony Jay, it aired on 11/25/1982. This episode scored 0.2 points higher than the second highest rated, "Big Brother".