Jonathan Lynn & Antony Jay have created what has to be one of the sharpest, wittiest comedies ever written. The hugely entertaining characterisations alongside the masterly manipulation of the English language make for a terrifyingly worrying observation on the true nature of "democratic" government and of the chronic ineptitude and incompetence of some/many of our elected representatives. Paul Eddington is superb as the politically naive Minister ("Jim Hacker MP") in the fictional, but perfectly plausible, Ministry of Administrative Affairs - an unimaginably pointless government department that seems to be a filter for all the junk that the more serious officers of state wouldn't touch with a flagpole. The power behind the throne is the Machiavellian "Sir Humphrey" (Nigel Hawthorne) as the permanent secretary; the senior civil servant who has every intention of following his ministerial instructions, but only insofar as they suit the needs of his red-tape brigade. Treading the wavy line between both is his private secretary "Bernard Woolley" (Derek Fowlds) who is almost as naive as his boss, but more practically idealistic - and also a man with his foot in his mouth on a fairly regular basis. What is also great about these series, is that the characters evolve. The hapless "Hacker" learns how to play the game and soon - occasionally - starts to have his victories over "Sir Hum…

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