The Challenge (Yes Minister)
Encyclopedia
"The Challenge" is the sixteenth episode of the BBC
comedy series Yes Minister
and was first broadcast 18 November 1982.
is on the radio, being interviewed by Ludovic Kennedy
. His department, the Department for Administrative Affairs, is about to enjoy an expanded remit, with local government
bureaucracy
being added to its responsibilities. Kennedy puts it to Hacker that his department is more interested in increasing red tape
than reducing it. The Minister
responds that they have had to "take on more staff in order to reduce staff". He says that he is looking forward to the challenge, but is unable to give any detailed proposals.
The next day, Sir Humphrey Appleby
is at lunch with the Cabinet Secretary
, Sir Arnold Robinson. The latter remarks on Hacker's recent interview, in particular the fact that he regarded his new duties as a "challenge". Sir Arnold makes it clear to Sir Humphrey that he would have never given this task to the DAA if he thought the Minister was actually going to do anything about it, and would prefer it if the status quo is maintained. The reason is that efficiencies that are successfully enacted in local government usually rebound on Whitehall
departments, which are then also forced to implement them. Sir Humphrey is fully seized of Sir Arnold's aims, but is advised — if things get tricky — to draw the Minister's attention to civil defence
: the one area in which national government has little interest.
Hacker concludes a meeting in his office, and is approached by one of the participants, Dr Cartwright, an Under-Secretary who has become an expert in local government (and therefore shall rise no higher in the civil service
). He proposes to the Minister that any future local authority projects must list their criteria for failure before they are given the go-ahead. Hacker is immediately interested and instructs Bernard
, his Principal Private Secretary
, to make this paper his top priority reading for the weekend. They are joined by Sir Humphrey, who is apprised of Hacker's new plan and is completely startled, labelling it "dangerous nonsense". Hacker impresses upon his Permanent Secretary
the urgent need to bring forward proposals. Sir Humphrey falls back on Sir Arnold's advice and tells his minister that civil defence is the one area of local government which would be a "vote winner". These words have the desired effect and Hacker is curious. Sir Humphrey convinces him that there is a real public interest and mentions in passing that Ludovic Kennedy is in the process of preparing a documentary on the subject. In the meantime, the London
borough of Thames Marsh spends less on civil defence than any other authority: he suggests a ministerial visit. Bernard points out that the particular borough is run by Ben Stanley — a firebrand who is subject to frequent censure by the press. Hacker asks Bernard to ensure that there be plenty of journalists in attendance for his trip.
Hacker meets with Ben Stanley and is accompanied by Dr Cartwright. The Minister tells Stanley about his authority's poor commitment to civil defence, but the councillor responds that to increase expenditure in that area, other necessities would have to be forfeited. However, Dr Cartwright reads Stanley a list of items (including a fact-finding mission to Jamaica
and a gay
bereavement centre) that could be safely removed from the authority's current budget. Stanley is unimpressed, and states that even if they could afford it, his borough is unilateralist and will not invest in nuclear fallout
shelters — despite it being government policy. However, Bernard draws the Minister's attention to the fact that there is indeed a fallout shelter under the town hall, exclusively for the use of Stanley and his colleagues. The councillor insists that he was persuaded that his preservation was a necessity to local ratepayers
.
Sir Humphrey once again meets with Sir Arnold and discusses Hacker's visit, which seems to have been a publicity triumph. However, Dr Cartwright's initiative still looks likely to be implemented — and Sir Arnold is horrified. He remarks that if it goes ahead, Whitehall would enter the "squalid world of professional management
." He states that Hacker must be stopped, and, after Sir Humphrey tells him of the next Ludovic Kennedy interview, proposes that the Minister be provided with a dossier on local civil defence expenditure.
During the interview recording, Hacker tells Kennedy of Stanley's reserved place in the Thames Marsh fallout shelter and his refusal to build them for others. He believes that such places should be for essential citizens, such as doctors, nurses and ambulance drivers, rather than "mere politicians". However, Kennedy asks Hacker if he has approached the Prime Minister
and the Home Secretary
on the subject, since they are both able to avail themselves of the government shelter in Whitehall. Hacker manages to deflect the question, but not entirely successfully. He then tells of a trip by one authority to California
to examine fallout shelters, which itself ended up costing the borough's entire civil defence budget for three years.
Later, the Minister is back in his office. He is unsure that things are going smoothly, and tells Sir Humphrey of the recording. It then transpires that the California visit was undertaken by a council that is in the PM's own constituency. The Minister is alarmed and instructs Sir Humphrey to stop the broadcast. Alas, all his time is being taken up with implementing the failure standards scheme, but if that wasn't so urgent, he may be able to help. As it happens, Sir Humphrey is lunching with the BBC
's Director of Policy: he invites Hacker along.
During the lunch, the BBC's man states that there is no question of the Corporation giving in to government pressure. However, Sir Humphrey provides a raft of evidence for so-called anti-government bias within the BBC's output, along with a number of photographs of senior BBC executives enjoying certain hospitality. The pair also convinces the Director of Policy that Kennedy's interview contains some "factual errors" and security issues.
Back in Hacker's office, Sir Humphrey informs the Minister of the BBC's decision not to proceed with the transmission. In turn, Hacker now decides to leave local government as it is, due to the above incident having made him acutely aware of the fine line that must be negotiated in dealing with local government by Whitehall, much to Sir Humphrey's relief.
wrote in the Daily Telegraph that "it was in an episode from Series 3 called The Challenge that we saw how the Government succeeds in exerting pressure on the BBC by applying the best twisted logic the executive machine can deliver... If all that seems depressingly relevant, it's easy to forget how revolutionary the programme was when it first went out."
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
comedy series Yes Minister
Yes Minister
Yes Minister is a satirical British sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn that was first transmitted by BBC Television between 1980–1982 and 1984, split over three seven-episode series. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 to 1988. In total there were 38 episodes—of which all but...
and was first broadcast 18 November 1982.
Plot
Jim HackerJames Hacker
James George Hacker, Baron Hacker of Islington, KG, PC, B. Sc. , Hon. D. C. L. was a fictional British politician. He was the Minister of the fictional Department of Administrative Affairs, and later the Prime Minister, in the 1980s British sitcom Yes Minister and its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister...
is on the radio, being interviewed by Ludovic Kennedy
Ludovic Kennedy
Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy was a British journalist, broadcaster, humanist and author best known for re-examining cases such as the Lindbergh kidnapping and the murder convictions of Timothy Evans and Derek Bentley, and for his role in the abolition of the death penalty in the United...
. His department, the Department for Administrative Affairs, is about to enjoy an expanded remit, with local government
Local government in the United Kingdom
The pattern of local government in England is complex, with the distribution of functions varying according to the local arrangements. Legislation concerning local government in England is decided by the Parliament and Government of the United Kingdom, because England does not have a devolved...
bureaucracy
Bureaucracy
A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...
being added to its responsibilities. Kennedy puts it to Hacker that his department is more interested in increasing red tape
Red tape
Red tape is excessive regulation or rigid conformity to formal rules that is considered redundant or bureaucratic and hinders or prevents action or decision-making...
than reducing it. The Minister
Minister (government)
A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....
responds that they have had to "take on more staff in order to reduce staff". He says that he is looking forward to the challenge, but is unable to give any detailed proposals.
The next day, Sir Humphrey Appleby
Humphrey Appleby
Sir Humphrey Appleby, GCB, KBE, MVO, MA , is a fictional character from the British television series Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. He was played by Sir Nigel Hawthorne. In Yes Minister, he is the Permanent Secretary for the Department of Administrative Affairs...
is at lunch with the Cabinet Secretary
Cabinet Secretary
A Cabinet Secretary is almost always a senior official who provides services and advice to a Cabinet of Ministers. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powers, including general responsibility for the entire civil service...
, Sir Arnold Robinson. The latter remarks on Hacker's recent interview, in particular the fact that he regarded his new duties as a "challenge". Sir Arnold makes it clear to Sir Humphrey that he would have never given this task to the DAA if he thought the Minister was actually going to do anything about it, and would prefer it if the status quo is maintained. The reason is that efficiencies that are successfully enacted in local government usually rebound on Whitehall
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...
departments, which are then also forced to implement them. Sir Humphrey is fully seized of Sir Arnold's aims, but is advised — if things get tricky — to draw the Minister's attention to civil defence
Civil defense
Civil defense, civil defence or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attack. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation, and recovery...
: the one area in which national government has little interest.
Hacker concludes a meeting in his office, and is approached by one of the participants, Dr Cartwright, an Under-Secretary who has become an expert in local government (and therefore shall rise no higher in the civil service
British Civil Service
Her Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as the Home Civil Service, is the permanent bureaucracy of Crown employees that supports Her Majesty's Government - the government of the United Kingdom, composed of a Cabinet of ministers chosen by the prime minister, as well as the devolved...
). He proposes to the Minister that any future local authority projects must list their criteria for failure before they are given the go-ahead. Hacker is immediately interested and instructs Bernard
Bernard Woolley
Sir Bernard Woolley GCB is one of the three main fictional characters of the 1980s British sitcom Yes Minister and its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. He was portrayed by Derek Fowlds.-Character:...
, his Principal Private Secretary
Principal Private Secretary
In the British Civil Service and Australian Public Service the Principal Private Secretary is the civil servant who runs a cabinet minister's private office...
, to make this paper his top priority reading for the weekend. They are joined by Sir Humphrey, who is apprised of Hacker's new plan and is completely startled, labelling it "dangerous nonsense". Hacker impresses upon his Permanent Secretary
Permanent Secretary
The Permanent secretary, in most departments officially titled the permanent under-secretary of state , is the most senior civil servant of a British Government ministry, charged with running the department on a day-to-day basis...
the urgent need to bring forward proposals. Sir Humphrey falls back on Sir Arnold's advice and tells his minister that civil defence is the one area of local government which would be a "vote winner". These words have the desired effect and Hacker is curious. Sir Humphrey convinces him that there is a real public interest and mentions in passing that Ludovic Kennedy is in the process of preparing a documentary on the subject. In the meantime, the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
borough of Thames Marsh spends less on civil defence than any other authority: he suggests a ministerial visit. Bernard points out that the particular borough is run by Ben Stanley — a firebrand who is subject to frequent censure by the press. Hacker asks Bernard to ensure that there be plenty of journalists in attendance for his trip.
Hacker meets with Ben Stanley and is accompanied by Dr Cartwright. The Minister tells Stanley about his authority's poor commitment to civil defence, but the councillor responds that to increase expenditure in that area, other necessities would have to be forfeited. However, Dr Cartwright reads Stanley a list of items (including a fact-finding mission to Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
and a gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
bereavement centre) that could be safely removed from the authority's current budget. Stanley is unimpressed, and states that even if they could afford it, his borough is unilateralist and will not invest in nuclear fallout
Nuclear fallout
Fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and shock wave have passed. It commonly refers to the radioactive dust and ash created when a nuclear weapon explodes...
shelters — despite it being government policy. However, Bernard draws the Minister's attention to the fact that there is indeed a fallout shelter under the town hall, exclusively for the use of Stanley and his colleagues. The councillor insists that he was persuaded that his preservation was a necessity to local ratepayers
Rates (tax)
Rates are a type of property tax system in the United Kingdom, and in places with systems deriving from the British one, the proceeds of which are used to fund local government...
.
Sir Humphrey once again meets with Sir Arnold and discusses Hacker's visit, which seems to have been a publicity triumph. However, Dr Cartwright's initiative still looks likely to be implemented — and Sir Arnold is horrified. He remarks that if it goes ahead, Whitehall would enter the "squalid world of professional management
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
." He states that Hacker must be stopped, and, after Sir Humphrey tells him of the next Ludovic Kennedy interview, proposes that the Minister be provided with a dossier on local civil defence expenditure.
During the interview recording, Hacker tells Kennedy of Stanley's reserved place in the Thames Marsh fallout shelter and his refusal to build them for others. He believes that such places should be for essential citizens, such as doctors, nurses and ambulance drivers, rather than "mere politicians". However, Kennedy asks Hacker if he has approached the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
and the Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
on the subject, since they are both able to avail themselves of the government shelter in Whitehall. Hacker manages to deflect the question, but not entirely successfully. He then tells of a trip by one authority to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to examine fallout shelters, which itself ended up costing the borough's entire civil defence budget for three years.
Later, the Minister is back in his office. He is unsure that things are going smoothly, and tells Sir Humphrey of the recording. It then transpires that the California visit was undertaken by a council that is in the PM's own constituency. The Minister is alarmed and instructs Sir Humphrey to stop the broadcast. Alas, all his time is being taken up with implementing the failure standards scheme, but if that wasn't so urgent, he may be able to help. As it happens, Sir Humphrey is lunching with the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Director of Policy: he invites Hacker along.
During the lunch, the BBC's man states that there is no question of the Corporation giving in to government pressure. However, Sir Humphrey provides a raft of evidence for so-called anti-government bias within the BBC's output, along with a number of photographs of senior BBC executives enjoying certain hospitality. The pair also convinces the Director of Policy that Kennedy's interview contains some "factual errors" and security issues.
Back in Hacker's office, Sir Humphrey informs the Minister of the BBC's decision not to proceed with the transmission. In turn, Hacker now decides to leave local government as it is, due to the above incident having made him acutely aware of the fine line that must be negotiated in dealing with local government by Whitehall, much to Sir Humphrey's relief.
Reception
Armando IannucciArmando Iannucci
Armando Giovanni Iannucci is a Scottish comedian, satirist, writer, director, performer and radio producer. Born in Glasgow, he studied at Oxford University and left graduate work on a PhD about John Milton to pursue a career in comedy....
wrote in the Daily Telegraph that "it was in an episode from Series 3 called The Challenge that we saw how the Government succeeds in exerting pressure on the BBC by applying the best twisted logic the executive machine can deliver... If all that seems depressingly relevant, it's easy to forget how revolutionary the programme was when it first went out."
Episode cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Paul Eddington Paul Eddington Paul Eddington CBE was an English actor best known for his appearances in popular television sitcoms of the 1970s and 80s: The Good Life, Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.-Early life:... |
Jim Hacker |
| Nigel Hawthorne Nigel Hawthorne Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne, CBE was an English actor, perhaps best remembered for his role as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary in the 1980s sitcom Yes Minister and the Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. For this role he won four BAFTA Awards during the 1980s in the... |
Sir Humphrey Appleby |
| Derek Fowlds Derek Fowlds Derek Fowlds is an English actor, known for playing Bernard Woolley in popular British television comedies Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister and Oscar Blaketon in the long-running ITV police drama Heartbeat.... |
Bernard Woolley |
| John Nettleton John Nettleton (actor) John Nettleton is an English actor.One of his most notable roles was that of Sir Arnold Robinson, the Cabinet Secretary in Yes Minister and President of the Campaign for Freedom of Information in the follow-up Yes, Prime Minister... |
Sir Arnold Robinson |
| Ian Lavender Ian Lavender Arthur Ian Lavender , better known as Ian Lavender, is an English stage, film and television actor, best known for his role as Private Frank Pike in the BBC comedy series Dad's Army.-Early life and career:... |
Dr Cartwright |
| Doug Fisher Doug Fisher (actor) Douglas Fisher was an English actor.He was schooled at The Royal Liberty - a grammar school in Romford, Essex, where he became a prefect in the sixth form. He later went on to Oxford University.... |
Ben Stanley |
| Moray Watson Moray Watson Moray Watson is an English actor.Watson's father was killed in Belgium in World War II. He was educated at Eton College and made his first appearance on stage whilst still a student at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art at a matinee performance in memory of Ellen Terry at Hythe, Kent... |
BBC Director of Policy |
| Stuart Sherwin | Permanent Secretary |
| Frank Tregear | TV Floor Manager |
| Ludovic Kennedy Ludovic Kennedy Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy was a British journalist, broadcaster, humanist and author best known for re-examining cases such as the Lindbergh kidnapping and the murder convictions of Timothy Evans and Derek Bentley, and for his role in the abolition of the death penalty in the United... |
Himself |
Character notes
- The character of Ben Stanley is, in both name and appearance, a thinly veiled reference to Ken LivingstoneKen LivingstoneKenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
, who himself attracted criticism for his left-wingLeft-wing politicsIn politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
views and generally being a thorn in the side of Britain's ConservativeConservative Party (UK)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
government.