Humphrey Appleby

Sir Humphrey Appleby GCB KBE MVO is a fictional character from the British television series Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. He was played originally by Sir Nigel Hawthorne, and both on stage and in a television adaptation of the stage show by Henry Goodman in a new series of Yes, Prime Minister. In Yes Minister, he is the Permanent Secretary for the Department of Administrative Affairs (a fictional department of the British government). In the last episode of Yes Minister, "Party Games", he becomes Cabinet Secretary, the most powerful position in the service and one he retains during Yes, Prime Minister. Hawthorne's portrayal won the British Academy Television Awards Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance four times: 1981, 1982, 1986, and 1987.