Sir Humphrey opposes P.M. Hacker's plan to cut taxes, so Hacker steers the Minister for Health into campaigning against smoking as a diversion.Sir Humphrey opposes P.M. Hacker's plan to cut taxes, so Hacker steers the Minister for Health into campaigning against smoking as a diversion.Sir Humphrey opposes P.M. Hacker's plan to cut taxes, so Hacker steers the Minister for Health into campaigning against smoking as a diversion.
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Did you know
- TriviaThe anti-smoking policy proposed to the horror of The Prime Minister and the derisory laughter of the studio audience at the time is almost exactly what is now UK law.
- GoofsSir Humphrey refers to the "British Navy". He should, of course, have called it the "Royal Navy".
- Quotes
Sir Humphrey: Notwithstanding the fact that your proposal could conceivably encompass certain concomitant benefits of a marginal and peripheral relevance, there is a countervailing consideration of infinitely superior magnitude involving your personal complicity and corroborative malfeasance, with a consequence that the taint and stigma of your former associations and diversions could irredeemably and irretrievably invalidate your position and culminate in public revelations and recriminations of a profoundly embarrassing and ultimately indefensible character.
Jim Hacker: Perhaps I can have a précis of that?
This an excellent episode that tackles another very interesting subject matter with great comedy, cynicism, and tactical manoeuvring by the characters.
It's good to see the focus is less explicitly on 'Hacker's Grand design' and more on the tobacco industry and its implications on the medical and financial wellbeing of Britain. It presents an attitude from the civil service that is so morally wrong yet logically sound, you cannot help but laugh. Humphrey's notion of smokers as national heroes for me is one of the funniest concepts written on the show.
How the difficult characters are managed and the eventual resolution to the problem is an inspired plot thread that is both funny and quite disheartening to watch. You can quite easily imagine these situations occurring in real life government. Again the writers emphasise self interest as the main driving factor in the behaviour and decisions of characters.
Looking back at this from a 2021 perspective, there is a fabulous irony when you consider the proposals treated so outrageously in this episode are all in legislation now.
Paul Eddington, Nigel Hawthorne and Derek Fowlds are superb as ever. Bill Wallis gives a strong performance as the chain smoking Minister of Sport.
- snoozejonc
- Aug 20, 2021