Rapped Knuckles All Round

I don’t spend all my time trying to prove people wrong on here, you know. Sometimes there’s joy in being able to prove somebody right, too.

Take this little anecdote about Yes Minister in Paul Eddington’s autobiography:

“There were rapped knuckles all round on one occasion. We had finished the recording one night and were waiting for the tape to be checked before the audience could be released and we could all go home when someone doing the checking noticed a slight mistake in one of Nigel’s long speeches.

The poor man came back with it all to do again, took a deep breath and did it, perfectly. We got our clearance and shot off home. But what no one had noticed was that since Nigel recorded the speech the first time there had been intervening scenes with costume changes, and Nigel was wearing the wrong tie. It was a viewer who spotted the mistake when the episode was shown.

– So Far, So Good, Paul Eddington, p.168

Unfortunately, Eddington doesn’t go into such piddling little details such as which episode he’s actually talking about. We’ll have to do the work for ourselves. Or at least cheat by grumpily searching Google.

Sure enough, “yes minister” bloopers tie comes up with the following IMDB entry. Apparently, during the Series 1 episode “Big Brother” (TX: 17/3/80)¹, “Sir Humphrey’s tie changes several times during one scene with Jim Hacker.”

“Several times” is an exaggeration. In fact, it changes once, and then back again, as we can see in this clip:

Humphrey’s “Yes, quite so, Minister” is the funniest part of the whole episode.

Anyway, we can clearly see the tie change for Hawthorne’s mildly difficult speech, and then change back again, indicating the reshoot. From blue and burgundy, to burgundy with white spots:

Original shoot

Reshoot

And what’s more, the errant tie genuinely is the same one as that worn in the final scene, indicating the reshoot took place exactly as described by Eddington:

Reshoot

Final scene

And there you have it. Proof that Paul Eddington wasn’t talking bollocks. Why bother fact-checking actual ministers who run the country, when I can fact-check pretend ones instead?

In all seriousness, though: it really is just as pleasurable for an anecdote to slip neatly into place as fact, as it is to prove somebody wrong. Poking away at these things isn’t an exercise in self-importance. The truth about something, no matter how inconsequential, is always worth striving for.

Yes, I’m no fun at parties, what’s your point?

UPDATE (7/7/22): One of my favourite things about writing this site is when gaps I couldn’t figure out are filled by other people. Such is the case with this story. I did suspect that this little escapade had probably ended up on Points of View at the time, and did some investigation of the episodes surrounding the original broadcast of the episode. However there was nothing to be found, so I gave up on it.

But I gave up too easily, as someone very kindly got in touch to point out. Series 1 of Yes Minister was first shown on BBC2 early in 1980; however, it got a BBC1 repeat later in the year. “Big Brother” was shown again on the 25th September 1980; two weeks later, on the 10th October, Points of View did a segment on the errant tie.

Unfortunately I can’t upload the clip, but here is a transcript of the relevant section:

BARRY TOOK: Now a letter of praise from Beatrice N. Ward² of Streatham SW16. She feels the BBC gives good value for money, and adds:

“I must put in a good word for two programmes currently running which have been criticised on Points of View, viz: “Mackenzie” and “Yes Minister”… the latter is extremely amusing and is clever satirical humour.”

Well true enough, Mrs. Ward, but many of our correspondents noticed something odd recently. Dr. Catherine Garnett of Edinburgh wrote to say:

“While watching Yes Minister tonight I was greatly impressed with the portrayal of how slick our civil servants can be. Humphrey in particular was devastating. To be able to change one’s tie during a debate with the Minister – what dexterity!”

And another doctor, Dr. Saad of Chingford says:

“I thought I really ought to point out the following: Ministers have changing faces, but I never realised they had metamorphous ties.”

And Mrs. Anne Jacobs of York asks:

“What happened to the permanent secretary Humphrey’s tie in tonight’s Yes Minister – one moment paisley, next moment maroon with white spots!”

The strange affair of Nigel Hawthorne’s tie is commented on by Peter Tilling of Fleetwood, Lancashire, A.J. Dunk of Brighton, Mrs. Schneider of Edgware, Vanessa Blackler aged 9 of Plymouth, and Neville Hargreaves of Shipley, West Yorkshire, who ends his letter:

“Oops, continuity”

Well let’s have a look at this metamorphous tie.

[Clip of Yes Minister showing tie error]

How extraordinary. Hey, Tim, can we see it again?

[Shorter clip]

Yes Minister. I declare the result a tie. (theatrical groans)

Thank you Barry Took, for using a joke that I briefly considered as the title for this article, but decided against it because it was too irrelevant. Seemingly something that was not a concern of the Points of View production team.

Now, would it be too cruel to point out that one person wrote in to register that a character’s tie had changed, but got the wrong character, and thought it had happened to Jim Hacker? Yes, I think it would, so I’m not going to mention that.

1. Just out of interest, the episode was recorded on the 13th January 1980, a shade under two months before transmission. ↩

2. Spelling of all names here is best guess – I have no way of checking. ↩

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