Who Wouldn't Want to be Jim Hacker for a Week?

A review of the BBC Micro's 'Yes Prime Minister' (1988)

Two classic things that Britain produced in the 1980s were the Yes Minister comedy series and the BBC Micro personal computer. In a light-hearted Christmas post, we review the 1988 game that fused the two - giving you the opportunity to play Jim Hacker for a week in politics¹ and seek to outwit Sir Humphrey.

Now available free as a browser game from the BBC Micro Games Archive.

Those of a certain age may remember the BBC Micro from school, with many happy hours spent playing Dinosaur Discovery², Tea Shop³, Flowers of Crystal⁴ and Jet Set Willy⁵. However, one title I only discovered more recently is Yes Prime Minister, produced in 1988, with the involvement of Antony Jay (one of the show writers).

The basic graphics (see above) and functionality of the BBC Micro actually stand the test of time well in what is essentially a text-based game. You play Hacker, in your office, from where you have a few options including answering the phone, checking your diary and reading memos. At various points you go for meetings with, or receive calls from, Sir Humphrey, the Party Chair, the Home Secretary or others - and to resolve the various issues that cross your path you must debate with Sir Humphrey, with regular interjections from Bernard. The dialogues are faithful in style to the show and not too far off in quality⁶.

Nominally, the goal of the game is to achieve as high a poll rating as possible⁷. However, playing this game to win isn’t really the point: it’s all about the humour and playing through answering ‘What Would Hacker Do?’ will get you to see better and funnier dialogue.

So what’s it like to play? Let’s gallop through some highlights.

The game helpfully introduces us to the premise, in the 1 in a million chance that we’re somehow playing this without ever having watched the series:

Through the week, one has to deal with EU regulation, a punch-up between MPs in the house, Russian espionage, establishing a new department and all kinds of offers, appointments and meetings.

Here’s a call from the Taoiseach, complete with Irish brogue, inviting me to Dublin (I decided he was too full of the blarney):

The Home Secretary, however, was less impressed, when I suggested that we attempt to cover up a Cabinet Minister who had been drink-driving:

As Hacker, I struggled to understand whether or not this did indeed mean a cover-up, and was forced to clarify:

Yes Minister goes woke! (1988 style)

One of your first challenges is the establishment of a Ministry for Women’s Affairs, which Sir Humphrey assured me was my idea. He was, however, unimpressed by my decision to appeal to put a woman in charge of it:

But I ultimately won him round⁸ by reminding him that a new department would mean a lot more civil servants:

Party Games

Not everything is about Whitehall policy. As leader of the party one also has to plan the next election.

I successfully avoided the trap to be associated with ‘hot air’ - but the Party Chair was unimpressed by my plans for a ‘campaign hovercraft’.

Classic Humphryisms

One of the real strengths is the parts of the script that one can absolutely imagine the TV characters delivering. Here is Sir Humphrey attempting to explain contract law to the hapless Hacker:

Nor does Bernard miss out on the action:

Sometimes Bernard even leaves helpful little notes for you:

Education Business

Many readers will be pleased to know that education policy has its moment. You have to deal with a trio of pressure groups, Chalk, Dust and Cane.

My ‘entirely reasonable’ attempt to introduce performance-related pay quickly ran into the rocks of Sir Humphrey’s obstructionism:

The BBC also managed to get the better of me in a debate on censorship:

Closing the week

By Thursday, my poll ratings had reached their nadir of 26%.

However, adroit handling of a threatened influx of European bureaucracy restored my fortunes somewhat, after I first successfully leaked⁹ against the Trade Secretary:

And followed this up with resolving the dispute using words sufficiently circumlocutious to win the praise of Sir Humphrey:

Led to me finish on a grand total of 32%.

So should I try it?

The above is just a snapshot. There are many other great moments, including deciding whether to appear on Blue Peter or Desert Island Discs¹⁰, responding to the discovery of a spy caught in Russia, a feud with the Americans over foreign policy and a meeting with the League of English Dog Lovers.

Reception at the time was mixed, with some praising it as a faithful adaptation but others praising it for its limited replay value¹¹ and high price. The latter was a fair criticism for a 1988 retail price of £14.95¹² for 3-5 hours of game play - but given it’s now available free, that’s hardly a consideration.

Overall, if you’re a fan of the series it’s most definitely a fun way to while away a couple of hours in the post-Christmas period.

Link to game here.

1. A week is a long time in politics.

2. Hatched the egg.

3. Broke the bank.

4. Did…whatever weird thing it was you had to do to win.

5. Why was this even on the school computers?

6. I laughed out loud a few times.

7. This is surprisingly hard to do. As far as I can tell, if you make even a single mistake in any dialogue, Humphrey (or the Chief Whip, or whoever) wins and your ratings go down.

8. I still ended up going down 2% in the polls in this exchange.

9. Sorry, ‘briefed’.

10. A fascinating reminder of the longevity of certainty British institutions.

11. The Guardian said that it, ‘inevitably becomes repetitive’ and ‘At least when you settle down to watch the television series, you know the storyline will be different each time!’ I’m not entirely sure what the Grauniad was expecting here - procedurally generated text content?

12. Over £40 in today’s money!