The series is about lazy, bungling, incompetent civil servants, "Number One" – Roland Hamilton-Jones (Wilfrid Hyde-White) and later Deryck Lennox-Brown (Deryck Guyler), "Number Two" – Richard Lamb (Richard Murdoch), with their dim, typo-prone, teenage secretary, Mildred Murfin (Norma Ronald), all watched-over by the lecherous, pompous, self-seeking Permanent Under-Secretary Sir Gregory Pitkin (Roy Dotrice and later Ronald Baddiley), all members of the British Civil Service based in Whitehall.
Instead of assistance, the department creates mix-ups, misunderstandings and cock-ups that lead to a telling-off from Sir Gregory, who sees his 'hard earned' Civil Service career and pension disappearing.
Actors who appeared in episodes of the series include Clive Dunn, Pat Coombs, Warren Mitchell, Bill Pertwee, Joan Sanderson and Nicolette McKenzie.
Cast includes Kauko Helovirta as Hamilton-Jones, Pekka Autiovuori as Lamm (Lamb), Aila Svedberg as Mildred Murfin and Yrjö Järvinen as Sir Henry (Gregory) Pitkin.
[3] The Men from the Ministry was also produced in Sweden by Sveriges Radio (SR) as I plommonstop och paraply ('With a bowler hat and an umbrella') from 1963 to 1971.
The role of Hamilton-Jones was played by Gunnar Björnstrand, who is noted for his acting in many films by Ingmar Bergman (A Lesson in Love, Smiles of a Summer Night, The Seventh Seal, The Magician, Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, etc.).
He was joined by famous Swedish actor and comedian Stig Järrel, who is noted for his role as the sadistic teacher Caligula in the film Torment (1944), directed by Alf Sjöberg after a screenplay by Ingmar Bergman.
The main characters was played by Per Pallesen (Deryck Lennox-Brown), Jess Ingerslev (Richard Lamb), Jesper Langberg (Sir Gregory), Kirsten Walther (Myrna) and Helge Kjærulff-Schmidt (Lord Stilton).
Additional characters also made regular appearances including South Asian immigrant Rampersad Haribhai Spoonilal V Muckerjee and elderly working class couple Humbert and Lolita Snethersthwaite.