9.2/10440 votesLoading...#1 - The Key
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 1/30/1986
Office politics take precedence over national issues when Sir Humphrey and Bernard fall out with each other after Jim tries to restrict Sir Humphrey’s access to №10.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn
8.8/10286 votesLoading...#2 - The Tangled Web
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 1/28/1988
Sir Humphrey has to decide if he will support the P.M. or inform Parliament when Hacker denies knowledge of a wiretap authorized by his office without his knowledge.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn
8.6/10330 votesLoading...#3 - The Smoke Screen
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 1/23/1986
Jim favors abolishing smoking through heavy taxation but runs into strong opposition from the tobacco lobby and the Treasury department.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn
8.5/10299 votesLoading...#4 - One of Us
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 2/27/1986
Hacker threatens to place Sir Humphrey on leave while a security inquiry looks into why he cleared a confessed Soviet spy many years earlier, so Sir Humphrey retaliates with a dog in distress on Salisbury plain.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn
8.5/10321 votesLoading...#5 - A Diplomatic Incident
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 12/17/1987
Jim uses the occasion of his predecessor’s state funeral to negotiate with the French over the conditions of the Channel Tunnel.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn
8.4/10352 votesLoading...#6 - The Grand Design
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 1/9/1986
With his finger now on the nuclear button, Hacker plans his first act as Prime Minister to be a radical new defence policy.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn
8.4/10318 votesLoading...#7 - A Victory for Democracy
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 2/13/1986
Jim must take action to avert a Marxist takeover of a Commonwealth island nation despite the efforts of the Foreign Office to keep him ignorant.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn
8.3/10332 votesLoading...#8 - The Ministerial Broadcast
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 1/16/1986
Jim is coached in the world of show business as he prepares to address the nation on his defence policy.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn
8.3/10299 votesLoading...#9 - A Real Partnership
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 2/6/1986
Sir Humphrey tries to get his scheduled pay raise even though increases for M.P.s have been put on hold for budgetary reasons.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn
8.3/10299 votesLoading...#10 - The Bishop’s Gambit
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 2/20/1986
Jim has to choose a new bishop but doesn’t like either the Church or Sir Humphrey’s choices.
Director: N/A
Writer: Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn
8.2/10308 votesLoading...#11 - Man Overboard
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 12/3/1987
Sir Humphrey makes Jim suspicious of the Minister of Employment when he needs the P.M.’s support in opposing a plan to shift military personnel from the south to the north of England.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn
8.1/10269 votesLoading...#12 - Power to the People
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 12/31/1987
Sir Humphrey makes a very strange ally out of the formidable Agnes Moorhouse, a radical political reformer from a London council, in his efforts to stop Hacker’s plans to make local government more democratic.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn
8.1/10265 votesLoading...#13 - The National Education Service
Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 1/8/1988
Sir Humphrey faces a conflict of interest when Hacker devises a plan to improve educational standards by abolishing the Department of Education and Science.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn
8.0/10277 votesLoading...#14 - Official Secrets
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 12/10/1987
Jim considers approving the publication of his predecessor’s memoirs, but it becomes a plumber’s nightmare as a series of leaks spring up.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn
8.0/10286 votesLoading...#15 - A Conflict of Interest
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 12/24/1987
Hacker and Sir Humphrey clash over the appointment of the governor of the Bank of England and the cover up of a banking scandal in the City.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn
8.0/10265 votesLoading...#16 - The Patron of the Arts
Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 1/1/1988
Jim Hacker faces embarrassment when Sir Humphrey tells a friend in the arts that the PM's government is planning to cut grants.
Director: Sydney Lotterby
Writer: Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn
The Best Episodes of Yes, Prime Minister
Every episode of Yes, Prime Minister ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Yes, Prime Minister!
James Hacker MP the Government's bumbling minister for Administrative Affairs is propelled along the corridors of power to the very pinnacle of politics -...
Genre:Comedy
Network:BBC Two
Best Episodes Summary
"The Key" is the best rated episode of "Yes, Prime Minister". It scored 9.2/10 based on 440 votes. Directed by Sydney Lotterby and written by Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, it aired on 1/30/1986. This episode scored 0.4 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Tangled Web".