History Trivia / YesMinister

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The 2013 series started development at Creator/TheBBC, where the original series had aired, but negotiations broke down when the BBC only wanted to commission a pilot episode and then decide based on that whether to order a full series. The creators told them that they would only accept a commission for a full series, and that the BBC could take it or leave it -- they opted to leave it, with the series eventually being produced by UKTV Gold.

* DawsonCasting: Bernard's age is never stated on screen, but various hints suggest he's supposed to be a fairly young rookie civil servant, probably in his late twenties, much younger than Derek Fowlds at the time.

* ThrowItIn: The moment in "The Official Visit" where Bernard's briefcase falls open and lets his files spill out on the station platform was unscripted -- in fact, Derek Fowlds actually said "oh, shit!" when it happened, which somehow made it into the finished episode (probably because it was only just audible over the noise of the trains).

* DoingItForTheArt: Creator/NigelHawthorne was required to perform some of the most convoluted SesquipedalianLoquaciousness ever brought to screen, big or small. However, in spite of being forced to perform lines like: "The relationship, which I might tentatively venture to aver has been not without some degree of reciprocal utility, and perhaps even occasional gratification, is emerging a point of irreversible bifurcation and, to be brief, is in the propinquity of its ultimate regrettable termination.", he never once resorted to using a cue card, but insisted on actually learning his lines (although he briefly took beta blockers to deal with the anxiety). The writers were shocked and awed at his ability to deliver the lines and the fact that he could remember many of them years later.

* WrittenInInfirmity: In ''Yes, Prime Minister'' you might notice that in the later episodes especially, Jim Hacker spends much of the show sitting still behind his desk or in his armchair at home. This is because at the time of filming, Creator/PaulEddington was in the early stages of the T cell lymphoma that eventually killed him, and the episodes were written to be as comfortable for him to perform as possible.

* HarpoDoesSomethingFunny: Or in this case, as writer Jonathan Lynn reports putting in the margins of scripts, "Paul doesn't have to say this line if he doesn't want to". Creator/PaulEddington, who played Hacker, had an amazing ability to convey the same sense a line was intended to give with an expression. One particularly good example is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9NifqJyDMI 1:10 to 1:30 or so in this clip.]]

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: While the original series generally manages to avoid this for the most part, the 2013 series experiences it far more thanks to it being clearly based on the UK political situation in the early-mid 2010s, with the country being ruled by a coalition government, the government being beset by expenses scandals, and there being talk of closer links with the European Union to offset the damage caused by the Great Recession (in real life, of course, the complete opposite happened). Though one area where it does come across as oddly prescient is by depicting Hacker's coalition partners as being the Scottish National Party, presaging the complete collapse of the Liberal Democrats (who were the junior partners in the 2010-2015 Conservative-led coalition government) at the 2015 general election, and the SNP rising to become the third-largest party.

* BigNameFan:
** UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher was a fan of the series and even had a sketch written where she'd interact with Jim Hacker and Humphrey Applebee. This appalled Creator/PaulEddington[[note]]a pacifist with liberal views[[/note]] and Creator/NigelHawthorne[[note]]apolitical, but an opponent of Apartheid in his native South Africa, while Thatcher supported it[[/note]], but found themselves unable to decline and having to perform the sketch with someone whom they disagreed with intensely.
** Creator/ArmandoIannucci loves the series. It was while he was presenting the case for it being Series/BritainsBestSitcom, he was inspired to create his own [[Series/TheThickOfIt political comedy series]].

* BigNameFan: Creator/ArmandoIannucci loves the series. It was while he was presenting the case for it being Series/BritainsBestSitcom, he was inspired to create his own [[Series/TheThickOfIt political comedy series]].

* DoingItForTheArt: Creator/NigelHawthorne was required to perform some of the most convoluted SesquipedalianLoquaciousness ever brought to screen, big or small. However, in spite of being forced to perform lines like: "The relationship, which I might tentatively venture to aver has been not without some degree of reciprocal utility, and perhaps even occasional gratification, is emerging a point of irreversible bifurcation and, to be brief, is in the propinquity of its ultimate regrettable termination.", he never once resorted to using a cue card, but insisted on actually learning his lines (although he briefly took beta blockers to deal with the anxiety). The writers were shocked and awed.

* DoingItForTheArt: Creator/NigelHawthorne was required to perform some of the most convoluted SesquipedalianLoquaciousness ever brought to screen, big or small. However, in spite of being forced to perform lines like: "The relationship, which I might tentatively venture to aver has been not without some degree of reciprocal utility, and perhaps even occasional gratification, is emerging a point of irreversible bifurcation and, to be brief, is in the propinquity of its ultimate regrettable termination.", he never once resorted to using a cue card, but insisted on actually learning his lines. The writers were shocked and awed.