Newly appointed Minister for the Department of Social Affairs, Hugh Abbot, is totally out of his depth with the relatively new department.
He tries to push a new government policy called Snooper Force, which is tasked to find benefit fraudsters. However, due to a misunderstanding of symantics between him and the Prime Minister, Abbot realises that the PM never gave him the okay to announce the policy to the press.
As a consequence he has to back-peddle with the help of his advisors, Glenn and Ollie, or face the sharp tongue of Director of Communications and internal political enforcer, Malcolm Tucker!
It is well know that this show is a 21st century update of the classic BBC sitcom of the 70s, "Yes, Minister". However, this is probably far more realistic, especially in its use of hardcore swear words and verbal bullying, mostly noticeably from Tucker.
It is filmed in a fly-on-the-wall documentary style with no music and no canned or live-audience laughter. In fact even though this is labelled as a comedy, it is not laugh-out-loud humour like "Yes, Minister". Instead the comedy is very subtle and incredibly dry, and may well fly over the heads of most people.
One noticeable complaint about the first season, and this episode in particular, is its use of "shakeycam", which is often used in real-life documentaries, but doesn't work here. Fortunately, this is watered down by season 2.
Even though this episode only has a relatively small cast, it will perhaps take one or two repeat viewings to get the hang of who they are, what they do and how they interact with each other.
He tries to push a new government policy called Snooper Force, which is tasked to find benefit fraudsters. However, due to a misunderstanding of symantics between him and the Prime Minister, Abbot realises that the PM never gave him the okay to announce the policy to the press.
As a consequence he has to back-peddle with the help of his advisors, Glenn and Ollie, or face the sharp tongue of Director of Communications and internal political enforcer, Malcolm Tucker!
It is well know that this show is a 21st century update of the classic BBC sitcom of the 70s, "Yes, Minister". However, this is probably far more realistic, especially in its use of hardcore swear words and verbal bullying, mostly noticeably from Tucker.
It is filmed in a fly-on-the-wall documentary style with no music and no canned or live-audience laughter. In fact even though this is labelled as a comedy, it is not laugh-out-loud humour like "Yes, Minister". Instead the comedy is very subtle and incredibly dry, and may well fly over the heads of most people.
One noticeable complaint about the first season, and this episode in particular, is its use of "shakeycam", which is often used in real-life documentaries, but doesn't work here. Fortunately, this is watered down by season 2.
Even though this episode only has a relatively small cast, it will perhaps take one or two repeat viewings to get the hang of who they are, what they do and how they interact with each other.