The first episode of "Yes, Minister" -- ie. the pilot -- is a bit slow, but in the second episode, it takes off.
The show is about the tension between elected members of Parliament and the British civil service. Thatcher liked it because it showed how the bureacracy of the civil service did everything it could to prevent change, no matter which party was in control of Parliament.
Nigel Hawthorne got his big break in show biz via this show, in which he plays Sir Humphrey Appleby, an oily and unctuous bureaucrat.