The Men from the Ministry

The Men from the Ministry was a British radio comedy series broadcast by the BBC between 1962 and 1977, starring Wilfrid Hyde-White, Richard Murdoch and, from 1966, when he replaced Hyde-White, Deryck Guyler. Written and produced by Edward Taylor with contributions from John Graham, and with some early episodes written by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke, it ran for 14 series, totalling 147 half-hour episodes. A further 14 episodes were made by the BBC Transcription Service in 1980 but never broadcast in the UK. Versions were made by YLE in Finland, Sveriges Radio (SR) in Sweden, and Springbok Radio in South Africa, where it was made into a feature-length film.

Format

The series was about lazy, bungling, incompetent civil servants, "Number One" - Roland Hamilton-Jones (Wilfrid Hyde-White) and later Deryck Lennox-Brown (Deryck Guyler), "Number Two" - Richard Lamb (Richard Murdoch), with their dim, typo-prone, teenage secretary, Mildred Murfin (Norma Ronald), all watched-over by the lecherous, pompous, self-seeking Permanent Under-Secretary Sir Gregory Pitkin (Roy Dotrice and later Ronald Baddiley), all members of the British Civil Service based in Whitehall. The stories centered on their General Assistance Department (analogous to the "Department of Administrative Affairs" in the later Yes Minister), which helps other governmental departments. Instead of assistance, the department creates mix-ups, misunderstandings and cock-ups that lead to a telling-off from Sir Gregory, who sees his 'hard earned' Civil Service career and pension disappearing.

In one 1960s episode, "The Big Rocket", General Assistance Department is put in charge of publicity for Britain's almost non-existent space programme. With "One" out of the office and through a series of blunders by "Two", a press release reveals the launch of a non-existent British space rocket, carrying Britain's first female astronaut, Mildred Murfin. This surprises Mildred as she has that morning stormed out announcing she is "going round Ma's". The press interprets this as the rocket "going around Mars" and "One" and "Two" are faced with "bringing Mildred down to earth" while keeping their blunders from the public and superiors.

In another episode, "The Whitehall Castaways", Lennox-Brown, Lamb and Mildred row to an island in a lake in Regent's Park, General Assistance having been told to ensure the safety of a great bustard, a rare bird that is nesting there. Neglecting to tie the boat up, Lamb allows it to drift and the trio are, as Mildred puts it, "marooned", none of them able to swim to shore and Lennox-Brown having ordered the park to be closed and not re-opened "until I give the order". Spending weeks on the island, Lennox-Brown shows leadership and Lamb shows signs of mental distress, while back at the office Sir Gregory is delighted with their non-attendance and the prospect of being able to fire them, until a note cancelling an order for wooden pixies is found leading him to the conclusion that they may have taken their lives due to the shame of a blunder and his thoughts immediately turn to the effect this will have on his prospects. The trio are released by a boy and the fate of the bird and its eggs is revealed.

The characters are portrayed as inept, subject to greed, selfishness and incompetence. However, malice was never a factor and all the humour was light-hearted. There was also a little broad satire in many episodes. Later series tended to recycle older scripts, just people and places being changed.

Episodes

Main article: List of The Men from the Ministry episodes

Cast

• "One" (Roland Hamilton-Jones) - Wilfrid Hyde-White (1962-65)
• "One" (Deryck Lennox-Brown) - Deryck Guyler (1966-77)
• "Two" (Richard Lamb) - Richard Murdoch
• "Mildred Murfin" - Norma Ronald
• Under-Secretary "Sir Gregory Pitkin", CBE - Roy Dotrice (1962-65), Ronald Baddiley (1966-77)
• "April Adams" - Secretary to Roland Hamilton-Jones - Diana Olsson (1962-65)

Other occasionally recurring characters include "Lord Stilton", Sir Gregory's equally pompous boss, "Mr. 'Whizzer' Wilkins", Lennox-Brown and Lamb's aged and absent-minded colleague, and "Mr. Stack" - "Mr. Stack of 'Records'" - in charge of the Ministry's Records department and prone to taking naps in one of his filing cabinets. In the 1970 episode, Bye-bye Mildred, Sir Gregory does not appear and we hear instead "Sir Hector Gunn". Also appearing in some episodes are Mr. "Creepy" Crawley, a rather ingratiating member of the Department, and Miss Lusty, an elderly lady in the Pensions Department who lives up to her name. One of Sir Gregory's later paramours was 'Daphne Bentwater' from the typing pool. The Ministry building's hall porter was the ancient and lazy 'Mr Matthews' - "Old Matthews". Other named but non-appearing characters include 'Mrs Bratby', Lamb's landlady.

The antics of Lennox-Brown and Lamb would sometimes be reported in newsclips within the programme by "Forth Robertson", a parody of the then well-known reporter, Fyfe Robertson. Other 'news' items would be read out by the real BBC newsreaders John Cole and Bryan Martin^[1]. In the 1977 episode, Not on Your Telly, Sir Gregory is interviewed for the BBC Panorama programme by "Robin Gay" a thinly-disguised parody of the broadcaster Robin Day.

Actors who appeared in episodes of the series include Clive Dunn, Pat Coombs, Warren Mitchell, Bill Pertwee, Joan Sanderson and Nicolette McKenzie.

In three episodes John Laurie, playing Mr. Dougal, stood in for Deryck Guyler who was temporarily unable to take part.

Theme music

The theme music for the BBC version was Top Dog, composed by Ivor Slaney (1921-1988) in 1960 and recorded by the Hilversum Radio Orchestra for De Wolfe Music.

Other versions

Yleisradio version

The Men from the Ministry has become a major success in Finland by the name of Knalli ja sateenvarjo ('A bowler hat and an umbrella'). It has been in the repertoire of Yleisradio (YLE) since 1979 and has been repeated twice. Scriptwriter Edward Taylor has also written some episodes only for the Finnish audience that have never been broadcast in the UK and he continues to write new episodes for YLE, the latest four of his new scripts having been aired in early 2008.

Sveriges Radio version

The Men from the Ministry was also produced in Sweden by Sveriges Radio (SR) as I plommonstop och paraply ('With a bowler hat and an umbrella') from 1963 to 1971. The role of Hamilton-Jones was played by Gunnar Björnstrand, who is noted for his acting in many films by Ingmar Bergman (A Lesson in Love, Smiles of a Summer Night, The Seventh Seal, The Magician, Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, etc). He was joined by famous Swedish actor and comedian Stig Järrel, who is noted for his role as the sadistic teacher Caligula in the film Torment (1944), directed by Alf Sjöberg after a screenplay by Ingmar Bergman. Both actors enjoyed a widespread popularity in Sweden and the radio series was popular. About 40 shows were made in Sweden.

Springbok Radio/Radio South Africa version

A South African adaptation of the series was also produced by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), featuring similar main characters (Roland Lennox-Brown and Richard Lamb) but using local actors. Additional characters also made regular appearances including South Asian immigrant Rampersad Haribhai Spoonilal V Muckerjee and elderly working class couple Humbert and Lolita Snethersthwaite. Produced by father/son team, Tom Meehan and Brian Squires for Springbok Radio between 1968 and 1985, and Radio South Africa from 1993 to 1995, the series eventually ran to about 900 episodes. After the demise of Springbok Radio in 1985, 71 episodes were subsequently re-recorded and broadcast on the SABC's Radio South Africa, this time produced by Don Ridgway.

References

1. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/5033728/Bryan-Martin.html

External links

• Hear episodes of The Men from the Ministry on BBC 7's Listen again (requires RealPlayer)
• The Men From The Ministry
• britishcomedy airdates listing
• South African version of The Men from the Ministry
• A page on the 1993 recording of a Radio South Africa episode
• A Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) interview with scriptwriter Edward Taylor
• Theme music (Top Dog) at www.dewolfe.co.uk