A slick young man buys a jewel with a cheque that bounces. He then disappears and both the police and a lawyer try to find him. The lawyer hires a female detective to track down the missing man, but when his body is found in the Thames the case is by no means over.

Westminster and Whitehall clash again as the Rt Hon. Jim Hacker, the Minister for Administrative Affairs, locks horns with his Permanent Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby.

The Rt Hon. Jim Hacker MP and Sir Humphrey step out again for the second series of the Whitehall waltz.

The newly appointed Minister for Administrative Affairs, the Rt Hon. Jim Hacker MP, finds even the corridors of power congested by the machinations of his Permanent Secretary Sir Humphrey and his Civil Service cohorts.

If Prime Minister Jim Hacker has a fault (and god knows...), it is that he has ideas. Fortunately his Cabinet Secretary, Sir Humphrey makes sure they never come to fruition. Meanwhile poor Bernard, his Private Secretary, sits uneasily on the fence between them...

Vision, integrity and a ruthless streak are the weapons of the political power. Unfortunately new Prime Minister Jim Hacker has none of these, but he does have the cowardice, desperation and a scheming, pragmatic Cabinet Secretary in Sir Humphrey...