Bernard Woolley
Encyclopedia
Sir Bernard Woolley GCB
is one of the three main fictional characters of the 1980s British sitcom
Yes Minister
and its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. He was portrayed by Derek Fowlds
.
to the Minister for Administrative Affairs (fictional governmental dept.), then Prime Minister, James "Jim" Hacker. However, his loyalties are split between his Minister and his Civil Service
boss, Sir Humphrey Appleby
. Whilst he is theoretically accountable to Hacker personally, it is Sir Humphrey who writes his performance reviews and apparently wields influence over Bernard's future in the Service, leading to difficult situations for the young civil servant. When Hacker once asked his Private Secretary where his loyalty would lie when the chips were down, Woolley replied, "Minister, it's my job to see the chips stay up."
Woolley is always quick to point out the physical impossibilities of Sir Humphrey's or Hacker's mixed metaphors, with almost excessive pedantry. He can occasionally appear rather childlike, by making animal noises and gestures or by acting out how such an analogy cannot work. Even so, on many occasions Sir Humphrey describes Woolley as a "rising star" and "high flier" of the Civil Service, though it is not entirely clear how to interpret Sir Humphrey's remarks — that is, whether with sincere deference to Bernard's capabilities or with indignance to such a term being applied to a subordinate.
Woolley plays an important role in many episodes in helping Hacker. For example, in "Doing the Honours
", it is his idea that leads to Hacker proposing a scheme that links national honours
to departmental economies (and he is quick to remind the Minister that he didn't suggest it, if asked). He seems to have studied past civil service actions in depth, occasionally recommending historically proven responses (such as the "Rhodesia Solution" for a potential arms scandal in "The Whisky Priest
").
His background is not something revealed to any great extent, though we do find out (passim in the very last episode) that Woolley, like Sir Humphrey, is an Oxford graduate. (The novelisation, in an apparent mistake, refers to Bernard at one point as a graduate of Cambridge, but later follows the series in confirming that he attended Oxford. There is, however, no problem in suggesting that he attended both.) In addition, several areas of specialist knowledge surface from time to time: one example arises in "The Greasy Pole
" where, while discussing the possible political dangers of building a chemical facility in Liverpool
(to manufacture the fictional compound "metadioxin"), Woolley is quick to remind Sir Humphrey that Greek
, unlike Latin
, has no ablative case
(Bernard may, like Sir Humphrey, have read Literae Humaniores
, but equally a basic knowledge of Greek and Latin may merely suggest a standard classical schooling).
Woolley is often the source of much exposition, serving in some ways as a proxy for the audience. His common sense views lead him to ask apparently sensible questions of Sir Humphrey, which are generally used to demonstrate his superior's rather more counter-intuitive view of the situation. Much of the satire comes from the fact that Sir Humphrey's views are not just shared by other experienced civil servants, but are taken completely for granted. Bernard's naïve questioning is the perfect way of bringing this out for the audience. In one such conversation, in "The Devil You Know
", Bernard will simply not let the matter rest and eventually homes in on the heart of the issue. He begins the sentence, "But surely, in a democracy..." and is immediately dismissed by an exasperated Sir Humphrey. In "A Victory for Democracy
", Bernard is genuinely outraged when he learns that the Foreign Office
is conducting its own policy with little regard for the Prime Minister's wishes.
On the other hand, we frequently see Bernard forced to hide something, at which point he tries to mimic Sir Humphrey's distinctive style of confusing never-ending sentences in order to play for time with the Minister. An example of him attempting to "walk the tightrope" in this way occurs in "The Skeleton in the Cupboard
", when he has to conceal a betrayed confidence from Hacker. Although he becomes slightly more adept at this over time, he is clearly much less proficient. At other times, he is the one explaining to the Minister how the civil service machinery works. When asked by Hacker if "...all this is to prevent Cabinet from enacting its policies?", Woolley casually and earnestly replies, "Well, someone's got to."
Woolley, like the Minister and Sir Humphrey, progresses through the series, especially in his understanding of political mastery. In the last scene of "The Tangled Web
", the final episode of Yes, Prime Minister, Woolley of his own accord both saves Sir Humphrey from public embarrassment and gives Hacker a lasting weapon to use against him, by acquiring a tape of Sir Humphrey describing the British public in many unpleasant ways, spoken off the record after a radio interview. This act of service to the Prime Minister can be seen as the final result of many series' wrestling between the two competing loyalties. Throughout both series, Bernard is the only civil servant portrayed with any sense of conscience, seeking constantly to justify his actions to himself. In the final episode, therefore, he realises that his principal loyalty must be to the (Prime) Minister, and his intervention in the crisis is crucial in saving Hacker's political reputation and in ensuring that the Cabinet Secretary, like any other civil servant, remains a "humble functionary".
As with the other principal characters in the series, both actor and character have the same date of birth. This means that Bernard is in his mid- to late-forties during the series. Bernard is also married: in the Yes, Prime Minister episode "The Key
", he declares that he does not give the key to his house to his mother-in-law. However, his wife never appeared in the series.
(GCB). The novels takes the form of diaries written by Hacker and the so-called Appleby Papers. Bernard himself contributes in interviews with the authors.
, a satirical novel by A. N. Wilson
first published in 1983 (later made in 1989 into a TV comedy-drama film Blore M.P. starring Timothy West
) features a cabinet minister who gets involved in a Profumo
-like affair with a prostitute. The prostitute is a naive, even stupid, young girl called Bernadette Woolley (Maggie O'Neill
) (see IMDB entry).
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
is one of the three main fictional characters of the 1980s British sitcom
British sitcom
A British sitcom tends, as it does in most other countries, to be based on a family, workplace or other institution, where the same group of contrasting characters is brought together in each episode. Unlike American sitcoms, where twenty or more episodes in a season is the norm, British sitcoms...
Yes Minister
Yes Minister
Yes Minister is a satirical British sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn that was first transmitted by BBC Television between 1980–1982 and 1984, split over three seven-episode series. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 to 1988. In total there were 38 episodes—of which all but...
and its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. He was portrayed by Derek Fowlds
Derek Fowlds
Derek Fowlds is an English actor, known for playing Bernard Woolley in popular British television comedies Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister and Oscar Blaketon in the long-running ITV police drama Heartbeat....
.
Character
He is the Principal Private SecretaryPrincipal Private Secretary
In the British Civil Service and Australian Public Service the Principal Private Secretary is the civil servant who runs a cabinet minister's private office...
to the Minister for Administrative Affairs (fictional governmental dept.), then Prime Minister, James "Jim" Hacker. However, his loyalties are split between his Minister and his Civil Service
British Civil Service
Her Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as the Home Civil Service, is the permanent bureaucracy of Crown employees that supports Her Majesty's Government - the government of the United Kingdom, composed of a Cabinet of ministers chosen by the prime minister, as well as the devolved...
boss, Sir Humphrey Appleby
Humphrey Appleby
Sir Humphrey Appleby, GCB, KBE, MVO, MA , is a fictional character from the British television series Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. He was played by Sir Nigel Hawthorne. In Yes Minister, he is the Permanent Secretary for the Department of Administrative Affairs...
. Whilst he is theoretically accountable to Hacker personally, it is Sir Humphrey who writes his performance reviews and apparently wields influence over Bernard's future in the Service, leading to difficult situations for the young civil servant. When Hacker once asked his Private Secretary where his loyalty would lie when the chips were down, Woolley replied, "Minister, it's my job to see the chips stay up."
Woolley is always quick to point out the physical impossibilities of Sir Humphrey's or Hacker's mixed metaphors, with almost excessive pedantry. He can occasionally appear rather childlike, by making animal noises and gestures or by acting out how such an analogy cannot work. Even so, on many occasions Sir Humphrey describes Woolley as a "rising star" and "high flier" of the Civil Service, though it is not entirely clear how to interpret Sir Humphrey's remarks — that is, whether with sincere deference to Bernard's capabilities or with indignance to such a term being applied to a subordinate.
Woolley plays an important role in many episodes in helping Hacker. For example, in "Doing the Honours
Doing the Honours
"Doing the Honours" is the ninth episode of the BBC comedy series Yes Minister and was first broadcast 2 March 1981. In this episode, the final ' Yes Minister ' is uttered by Sir Humphrey Appleby, though he actually says "Yes, Doctor... er, Minister"....
", it is his idea that leads to Hacker proposing a scheme that links national honours
British honours system
The British honours system is a means of rewarding individuals' personal bravery, achievement, or service to the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories...
to departmental economies (and he is quick to remind the Minister that he didn't suggest it, if asked). He seems to have studied past civil service actions in depth, occasionally recommending historically proven responses (such as the "Rhodesia Solution" for a potential arms scandal in "The Whisky Priest
The Whisky Priest (Yes Minister)
For an explanation of the term, see "Whisky priest"."The Whisky Priest" is the twentieth episode of the BBC comedy series Yes Minister and was first broadcast 16 December 1982.- Plot :...
").
His background is not something revealed to any great extent, though we do find out (passim in the very last episode) that Woolley, like Sir Humphrey, is an Oxford graduate. (The novelisation, in an apparent mistake, refers to Bernard at one point as a graduate of Cambridge, but later follows the series in confirming that he attended Oxford. There is, however, no problem in suggesting that he attended both.) In addition, several areas of specialist knowledge surface from time to time: one example arises in "The Greasy Pole
The Greasy Pole
"The Greasy Pole" is the eleventh episode of the BBC comedy series Yes Minister and was first broadcast 16 March 1981. In this episode, the final ' Yes Minister ' is uttered by Bernard Woolley. The episode's title is an allusion to a famous quotation by Benjamin Disraeli: "I have climbed to the top...
" where, while discussing the possible political dangers of building a chemical facility in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
(to manufacture the fictional compound "metadioxin"), Woolley is quick to remind Sir Humphrey that Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
, unlike Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, has no ablative case
Ablative case
In linguistics, ablative case is a name given to cases in various languages whose common characteristic is that they mark motion away from something, though the details in each language may differ...
(Bernard may, like Sir Humphrey, have read Literae Humaniores
Literae Humaniores
Literae Humaniores is the name given to an undergraduate course focused on Classics at Oxford and some other universities.The Latin name means literally "more humane letters", but is perhaps better rendered as "Advanced Studies", since humaniores has the sense of "more refined" or "more learned",...
, but equally a basic knowledge of Greek and Latin may merely suggest a standard classical schooling).
Woolley is often the source of much exposition, serving in some ways as a proxy for the audience. His common sense views lead him to ask apparently sensible questions of Sir Humphrey, which are generally used to demonstrate his superior's rather more counter-intuitive view of the situation. Much of the satire comes from the fact that Sir Humphrey's views are not just shared by other experienced civil servants, but are taken completely for granted. Bernard's naïve questioning is the perfect way of bringing this out for the audience. In one such conversation, in "The Devil You Know
The Devil You Know (Yes Minister)
"The Devil You Know" is the twelfth episode of the BBC comedy series Yes Minister and was first broadcast 23 March 1981. In this episode, the final ' Yes Minister ' is uttered by Sir Humphrey Appleby.- Plot :Jim Hacker is not best pleased...
", Bernard will simply not let the matter rest and eventually homes in on the heart of the issue. He begins the sentence, "But surely, in a democracy..." and is immediately dismissed by an exasperated Sir Humphrey. In "A Victory for Democracy
A Victory for Democracy
“A Victory for Democracy” is the sixth episode of the BBC comedy series Yes, Prime Minister and was first broadcast 13 February 1986.- Plot :...
", Bernard is genuinely outraged when he learns that the Foreign Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
is conducting its own policy with little regard for the Prime Minister's wishes.
On the other hand, we frequently see Bernard forced to hide something, at which point he tries to mimic Sir Humphrey's distinctive style of confusing never-ending sentences in order to play for time with the Minister. An example of him attempting to "walk the tightrope" in this way occurs in "The Skeleton in the Cupboard
The Skeleton in the Cupboard (Yes Minister)
"The Skeleton in the Cupboard" is the seventeenth episode of the BBC comedy series Yes Minister and was first broadcast 25 November 1982.- Plot :Jim Hacker is chairing a meeting of his senior officials...
", when he has to conceal a betrayed confidence from Hacker. Although he becomes slightly more adept at this over time, he is clearly much less proficient. At other times, he is the one explaining to the Minister how the civil service machinery works. When asked by Hacker if "...all this is to prevent Cabinet from enacting its policies?", Woolley casually and earnestly replies, "Well, someone's got to."
Woolley, like the Minister and Sir Humphrey, progresses through the series, especially in his understanding of political mastery. In the last scene of "The Tangled Web
The Tangled Web
"The Tangled Web" is the sixteenth and final episode of the BBC comedy series Yes, Prime Minister and was first broadcast 28 January 1988.- Plot :Sir Humphrey Appleby criticises Bernard over an answer given by Jim Hacker during Prime Minister's Questions...
", the final episode of Yes, Prime Minister, Woolley of his own accord both saves Sir Humphrey from public embarrassment and gives Hacker a lasting weapon to use against him, by acquiring a tape of Sir Humphrey describing the British public in many unpleasant ways, spoken off the record after a radio interview. This act of service to the Prime Minister can be seen as the final result of many series' wrestling between the two competing loyalties. Throughout both series, Bernard is the only civil servant portrayed with any sense of conscience, seeking constantly to justify his actions to himself. In the final episode, therefore, he realises that his principal loyalty must be to the (Prime) Minister, and his intervention in the crisis is crucial in saving Hacker's political reputation and in ensuring that the Cabinet Secretary, like any other civil servant, remains a "humble functionary".
As with the other principal characters in the series, both actor and character have the same date of birth. This means that Bernard is in his mid- to late-forties during the series. Bernard is also married: in the Yes, Prime Minister episode "The Key
The Key (Yes, Prime Minister)
“The Key” is the fourth episode of the BBC comedy series Yes, Prime Minister and was first broadcast 30 January 1986.- Plot :Jim Hacker is in the Cabinet Room in 10 Downing Street and is visited by his political advisor, Dorothy Wainwright. She is unhappy that she has been moved from her office,...
", he declares that he does not give the key to his house to his mother-in-law. However, his wife never appeared in the series.
Later career
In the novelisations of the series, it is stated that Bernard eventually rose to the post of Head of the Home Civil Service and was appointed a Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the BathOrder of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(GCB). The novels takes the form of diaries written by Hacker and the so-called Appleby Papers. Bernard himself contributes in interviews with the authors.
Parody
Scandal, or Priscilla's KindnessScandal (novel)
Scandal, or Priscilla's Kindness is a satirical novel by A. N. Wilson first published in 1983 about a British politician's rise and fall, the latter caused by a relationship with a prostitute...
, a satirical novel by A. N. Wilson
A. N. Wilson
Andrew Norman Wilson is an English writer and newspaper columnist, known for his critical biographies, novels, works of popular history and religious views...
first published in 1983 (later made in 1989 into a TV comedy-drama film Blore M.P. starring Timothy West
Timothy West
Timothy Lancaster West, CBE is an English film, stage and television actor.-Career:West's craggy looks ensured a career as a character actor rather than a leading man. He began his career as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Wimbledon Theatre in 1956, and followed this with several seasons of...
) features a cabinet minister who gets involved in a Profumo
Profumo Affair
The Profumo Affair was a 1963 British political scandal named after John Profumo, Secretary of State for War. His affair with Christine Keeler, the reputed mistress of an alleged Russian spy, followed by lying in the House of Commons when he was questioned about it, forced the resignation of...
-like affair with a prostitute. The prostitute is a naive, even stupid, young girl called Bernadette Woolley (Maggie O'Neill
Maggie O'Neill
-Biography:The youngest of six Catholic brothers and sisters, born to head teacher parents, O'Neill grew up in the Midlands, where she was educated at a convent school, and after being inspired by a sixth-form drama teacher, "fell" into acting....
) (see IMDB entry).