LIFE AND ART MAKE ODD BEDFELLOWS AT THE BBC

Here’s another case of life imitating art.

British TV viewers know that the BBC’s recent cancellation of a volatile documentary under government pressure was its second crisis in a little more than a year. Well, sort of, anyway.

Last week’s real-life dispute concerned a BBC program about extremism in Northern Ireland. The public-financed BBC’s decision to yank the documentary--after strong objections to it by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government--prompted a 24-hour strike by BBC journalists and their colleagues in commercial broadcasting.

Although the government claimed it wasn’t meddling and the BBC claimed it wasn’t bowing to pressure, the crisis over the documentary severely damaged the BBC’s reputation for independence and was no laughing matter.

The first “crisis” was.

It was written by comedy writers and depicted by actors on “Yes Minister,” the hit BBC comedy series that satirizes the inner workings of the British government.

“We did an episode about the BBC submitting to pressure while saying it never submits to pressure,” said Jonathan Lynn, who co-writes “Yes Minister” with Antony Jay. That is exactly what the BBC did when it pulled its documentary.

Lynn is here directing “Clue,” a theatrical feature for Paramount. “I don’t think there is any subject that is not suitable for satire,” he said Friday.

American viewers are now seeing that for themselves on the Arts & Entertainment network and again this fall when “Yes Minister” airs in syndication on 35 public-TV stations, including KCET.

Meanwhile, another TV comedy--satirizing U.S. congressional goofiness in Washington--premieres Thursday on cable-delivered Showtime. It’s “Washingtoon,” based on a cartoon strip by Mark Alan Stamaty about the comic escapades of freshman Congressman Bob Forehead.

“Washingtoon” is far less sophisticated than “Yes Minister,” which makes fun of bureaucracy and the eternal power struggle between British politicians and top civil servants.

That struggle is epitomized by the two central characters. One is the well-meaning but ineffectual minister for administrative affairs (a fictional job), James Hacker, a member of Parliament. The other is Hacker’s humorless civil servant department chief, Sir Humphrey Appleby.

The writing by Jay and Lynn and performances by Paul Eddington as Hacker and Nigel Hawthorne as Appleby are splendid. And the subjects, though British in setting and application, have a universal quality.

Poor Hacker’s ideas for reform are openly opposed by civil servants and smothered by slow-moving bureaucracy whose role in government is to preserve the status quo. As Sir Humphrey notes, “It takes time to do things now.”

In one wonderfully funny episode, Hacker is determined to trim local government bureaucracy, starting with the National Health Service. He discovers a hospital with an administrative staff of 500--and no patients. “But, minister,” the chief administrator protests, “it’s one of the best-run hospitals in the country.” And not only that, Sir Humphrey adds with his usual straight face, “those 500 people are considerably overworked.”

Jay and Lynn thought they were inventing the ultimate joke with their script about a fully staffed hospital with no patients. “But we found out there were six such hospitals in the U.K.,” Lynn said.

“We have never identified which party our minister belongs to,” Lynn said. “Although we caricature everyone, they recognize the essential truth of what we are saying. Basically we get it right.”

That is probably one reason “Yes Minister” is popular in the corridors of London’s Whitehall and Westminster. It’s even said to be a favorite of Thatcher’s.

“I wouldn’t hold that against it,” Lynn said, laughing.

Although Thatcher is an outspoken media critic, her government has not pressured the BBC to soften “Yes Minister,” Lynn said. “The way the British try to deal with people who make fun of them is to embrace them,” he said. “They encourage you to become part of the Establishment. Instead of discouraging us, they invite us for drinks at No. 10 (Downing St.).”

British TV series generally are made in small clusters. After completing three batches of shows, “Yes Minister” went on hiatus for more than two years, returning last Christmas with a special in which Hacker became prime minister. Eight additional episodes will be made this year and eight more the year after.

Hacker the prime minister? Could that happen in the real Britain? Lynn chuckled. “I’d say he already has had several predecessors.”

Always topical, “Yes Minister” has tackled some tough subjects comedically, including chemical contamination, national security and even a potential assassination.

The closest thing to government satire on TV today is ABC’s “Benson,” in which Robert Guillaume plays a lieutenant governor. “I don’t see the American networks touching a show like ours with a long pole,” Lynn said. “Norman Lear and others have had it under option, but no one would touch it.”

“Yes Minister” is being distributed domestically by Lionheart Television International, which didn’t even approach commercial stations because it felt the series was better suited for public TV, President Frank Miller said.

There is an underlying credibility to “Yes Minister.” Though played for laughs, the characters and plots are believable.

Not so for Showtime’s broader “Washingtoon,” whose shallow, preening, self-adoring central character is almost brain dead.

Despite his Robert Redford hair, Tom Callaway brings a sort of Michael Keaton/likable-boob quality to Forehead, who is bullied by his staff, his children and his mentor, the slimy House minority whip played by Barry Corbin.

Though uneven, the Telecom production is sometimes very funny when Forehead is falling on his forehead or devising cretinous schemes to polish his image, including a baseball game between North America and South America.

His lifelong ambition is to be a game-show host, so Forehead jumps out of his skin when he gets a shot at being in something almost as big--televised military appropriation hearings.

“These are major decisions affecting the entire world,” he tells his son. “I just hope my hair behaves.”

Hmmmmm. On second thought, “Washingtoon” may be more on the mark than “Yes Minister.”