Editing Yes Minister (section)

===Bernard Woolley===
{{Main|Bernard Woolley}}

Bernard Woolley, [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|MA (Oxon)]] ([[Derek Fowlds]]) is Jim Hacker's [[Principal Private Secretary]]. His loyalties are often split between his Minister and his Civil Service boss, Sir Humphrey. Whilst in theory he is personally responsible to Hacker, in practice it is Sir Humphrey who writes his performance reviews and influences his Civil Service career. He usually handles these situations well, and maintains his reputation in the Civil Service as a "high flier" as opposed to a "low flier supported by occasional gusts of wind."<ref>{{cite episode |title=The Whisky Priest |series=Yes Minister |credits=Writers [[Antony Jay]] and [[Jonathan Lynn]], Producer Peter Whitmore|network=[[BBC]] |station=BBC Two |location=UK |airdate=16 December 1982}}</ref>

Woolley is always quick to point out the physical impossibilities of Sir Humphrey's or Hacker's [[mixed metaphor]]s, with almost obsessive [[pedant]]ry. He can occasionally appear rather childlike, by making animal noises and gestures or by acting out how such an analogy cannot work, which sometimes annoys his Minister. Woolley tends to side with Hacker when new policies are announced, because they seem radical or democratic, only for Sir Humphrey to point out the disadvantages to the status quo and the civil service in particular. To sway Bernard, Sir Humphrey uses phrases such as "barbarism" and "the beginning of the end".<ref>{{cite episode |title=Power to the People |series=Yes, Prime Minister |credits=Writers [[Antony Jay]] and [[Jonathan Lynn]], Producer [[Sydney Lotterby]]|network=[[BBC]] |station=BBC Two |location=UK |airdate=7 January 1988}}</ref> At times when Sir Humphrey fails to get his way, Woolley can be seen smiling smugly at him over his defeat.<ref>{{cite episode |title=Man Overboard |series=Yes, Prime Minister |credits=Writers [[Antony Jay]] and [[Jonathan Lynn]], Producer [[Sydney Lotterby]]|network=[[BBC]] |station=BBC Two |location=UK |airdate=3 December 1987}}</ref> As Hacker awaits confirmation of his elevation to Prime Minister, he asks Woolley to join him in Downing Street as his principal private secretary, which Sir Humphrey endorses, thus keeping the trio together.

In a 2004 retrospective, [[Armando Iannucci]] commented that Fowlds had a difficult task because he had to "spend most of his time saying nothing but looking interested in everyone else's total and utter guff" but "his one line frequently had to be the funniest of the lot." Iannucci suggests that Woolley is essential to the structure of the show because both Hacker and Appleby confide in him, "which means we get to find out what they're plotting next."<ref name="bbs"/>

The editor's note to ''The Complete Yes Prime Minister'' (supposedly published in 2024 after Hacker's death but actually published by the BBC in 1989), thanks "Sir Bernard Woolley, [[Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath|GCB]]" for his help and confirms that he did indeed make it to the position of Head of the Civil Service.<ref>{{cite book|title = The Complete Yes Prime Minister|author1 = Lynn, J.|author-link1 = Jonathan Lynn|author2 = Jay A.|author-link2 = Antony Jay|year = 1989|location = London|publisher = [[BBC Books]]|page = 8|quote = We are especially grateful also to Sir Bernard Woolley GCB, formerly Hacker's Principal Private Secretary at Number Ten Downing Street and eventually Head of the Home Civil Service}}</ref>