Co-writers David Croft and Jimmy Perry during a Dad's Army event at Bressingham Steam Museum, May 2011.

Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The sitcom ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio version based on the television scripts, a feature film and a stage show. The series regularly gained audiences of 18 million viewers and is still repeated worldwide.

The Home Guard consisted of local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, either owing to age or by being in professions that were exempt from conscription (Dad's Army deals almost exclusively with the former), and as such the series mainly featured older British actors, including Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Arnold Ridley and John Laurie. Among relative youngsters in the regular cast were Ian Lavender, Clive Dunn (who played the elderly Jones), Frank Williams, James Beck (who died suddenly during production of the programme's sixth series in 1973) and Bill Pertwee.

In 2004, Dad's Army was voted into fourth place in a BBC poll to find Britain's Best Sitcom. It had been placed 13th in a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000 and voted for by industry professionals.^[1] The series has influenced popular culture in the United Kingdom, with the series' catchphrases and characters being well known. It highlighted a hitherto forgotten aspect of defence during the Second World War. The Radio Times magazine listed Captain Mainwaring's "You stupid boy!" among the 25 greatest put-downs on TV.^[2]

Origins[link]

Originally intended to be called The Fighting Tigers, Dad's Army was based partly on co-writer and creator Jimmy Perry's real-life experiences in the Local Defence Volunteers (later known as the Home Guard). Perry was 17 years old when he joined the 10th Hertfordshire Battalion. His mother who did not like him being out at night and feared he might catch cold; he resembled the character of Frank Pike. An elderly lance corporal in the outfit often referred to fighting under Kitchener against the "Fuzzy Wuzzies" (Hadendoa) and was the model for Corporal Jones. Other influences were the film Whisky Galore!^{[citation needed]}, and the work of comedians such as Will Hay whose film Oh, Mr Porter! featured a pompous ass, an old man and a young man which gave him Mainwaring, Godfrey and Pike. Another influence was the Lancastrian comedian Robb Wilton, who portrayed a work-shy husband who joined the Home Guard in numerous comic sketches during WW2.^{[citation needed]}

Perry wrote the first script and gave it to David Croft while working as a minor actor in the Croft-produced sitcom Hugh and I, originally intending the role of the spiv, later called Walker, to be his own. Croft was impressed and sent the script to Michael Mills, Head of Comedy at the BBC. After addressing initial concerns that the programme was making fun of the efforts of the Home Guard, the series was commissioned.^[3]

In his book, Dad's Army, Graham McCann explained that the show owes much to Michael Mills. It was he who renamed the show Dad's Army. He did not like Brightsea-on-Sea so the location was changed to Walmington-on-Sea. He was happy with the names for the characters Mainwaring, Godfrey and Pike but not with other names and he made suggestions: Private Jim Duck became Frazer, Joe Fish became Joe Walker and Jim Jones became Jack Jones. He also suggested adding a Scot to the mix. Jimmy Perry had produced the original idea but needed an experienced man to see it through. Mills suggested David Croft and so the successful partnership began.

When an episode was shown to members of the public to gauge audience reaction prior to broadcast of the first series, the majority of the audience thought it was very poor. The production team put the report containing the negative comments at the bottom of David Croft's in-tray. He only saw it several months later, after the series had been broadcast and had received great acclamation.^[4]

Situation[link]

The show was set in the fictional seaside town of Walmington-on-Sea, on the south coast of England (the exterior scenes were mostly filmed in and around the Stanford Training Area (STANTA), near Thetford, Norfolk).^[5] Thus the Home Guard would be on the front line in the event of an enemy invasion across the English Channel. The first series had a loose narrative thread, with Captain Mainwaring's platoon being formed and equipped—initially with wooden guns and LDV armbands, and later on with full army uniforms; the platoon was part of the The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment.

The first episode, "The Man and the Hour", began with a scene set in the "present day" of 1968, in which Mainwaring addressed his old platoon as part of the contemporary 'I'm Backing Britain' campaign. The prologue opening was a condition imposed after initial concerns of Paul Fox, the controller of BBC 1, that it was belittling the efforts of the Home Guard.^[6] After Mainwaring relates how he had backed Britain in 1940, the episode proper began; Dad’s Army is thus told in flashback, although the final episode does not return to 1968. Later episodes were largely self-contained, albeit referring to previous events and with additional character development.

As the comedy in many ways relied on the platoon's lack of active participation in the Second World War, opposition to their activities had to come from another quarter, and this was generally provided by Air Raid Precautions (ARP) Warden Hodges, and sometimes by the verger of the local church (St Aldhelm's), or by Captain Square and the neighbouring Eastgate Home Guard platoon. However the group did have some encounters related to the enemy, such as downed German planes, a U-boat crew, parachutes that may have been German, and German mines. Also an IRA suspect appeared in one episode, "Absent Friends".

The humour ranged from the subtle (especially in the class-reversed relationship between Mainwaring, who was the local bank manager, and Wilson, who was also his deputy at the bank) to the slapstick (the antics of the elderly Jones being a prime example). Jones had several catchphrases, including "Don't panic!", "They don't like it up 'em", "Permission to speak, sir", and talk about the "Fuzzy-Wuzzies". Mainwaring said "You stupid boy" to Pike in many episodes. The first series occasionally included darker humour, reflecting that, especially early in the war, the Home Guard was woefully under-equipped but was still prepared to have a crack at the Wehrmacht. For instance, in the episode "The Battle of Godfrey’s Cottage", the platoon believes an enemy invasion is under way. Mainwaring, Godfrey, Frazer and Jones (along with Godfrey's sisters, who are completely unaware of the invasion) decide to stay at the cottage to delay any German advance, to allow the regular army time to arrive with reinforcements; "Of course, that will be the end of us", says Mainwaring. "We know, sir", replies Frazer, before getting on with the task in hand.

Characters[link]

The show's main characters were:

• Captain George Mainwaring ( /ˈmænərɪŋ/ MAN-ər-ing) (Arthur Lowe)—the pompous—if essentially brave and unerringly patriotic—local bank manager, Mainwaring appointed himself leader of his town's contingent of Local Defence Volunteers.
• Sergeant Arthur Wilson (John Le Mesurier)—a diffident, upper-class bank employee who would quietly question Mainwaring's judgement ("Do you think that's wise, Sir?"). Wilson served as a Captain in the First World War. He lodges with the Pike family, and is Pike's biological father (confirmed by the writers) althogh this is never explicitly stated.
• Lance-Corporal Jack Jones (Clive Dunn), the local butcher—born in 1870, Jones was an old campaigner who had joined up as a drummer boy aged 14 and participated, as a boy soldier, in the Gordon Relief Expedition of 1884-85 and as a soldier in the campaign of Kitchener in the Sudan in 1896-98.
• Private Joe Walker (James Beck)—a black market spiv, Walker was the only fit, able-bodied man of military age in Walmington-on-Sea’s Home Guard. His absence from the regular armed forces was due to a corned beef allergy.
• Private Frank Pike (Ian Lavender)—a cosseted mother's boy, constantly wearing a thick scarf with his uniform to prevent illness, and often the target of Mainwaring's derision ("You stupid boy!"). He also works under Mainwaring in his day job as assistant bank clerk.
• Private James Frazer (John Laurie)—a dour Scottish undertaker and a Chief Petty Officer on HMS Defiant in the Royal Navy who served at the Battle of Jutland as a ship's cook.
• Private Charles Godfrey MM (Arnold Ridley)—he is the platoon's medical orderly. He was always getting caught short and needing to "be excused". A conscientious objector during WWI, he was nevertheless awarded a Military Medal for heroic actions during the war, and demonstrated bravery in the Home Guard as well.
• ARP Warden William Hodges (Bill Pertwee)—the platoon's major rival and nemesis. Mainwaring looked down on him as a greengrocer. As an ARP Warden he was always demanding that people "Put that light out!".

Supporting characters included:

• Mrs Mavis Pike (Janet Davies)—Pike's mother and Sergeant Wilson's lover.
• Mrs Fox (Pamela Cundell)—a glamorous local widow to whom Jones was attracted. She was a regular customer at his shop, and helped the platoon with official functions.
• The Reverend Timothy Farthing (Frank Williams)—The effete vicar of St. Aldhelm's Church, he shares his church hall and office with Mainwaring's platoon.
• Maurice Yeatman (Edward Sinclair)—The verger at St. Aldhelm's Church and head of the Sea Scouts group. He was often hostile to the platoon while frequently sycophantic to the vicar, who often struggled to tolerate him.
• Private Sponge (Colin Bean), a sheep farmer. He had the role of representing those members of the platoon not in Corporal Jones' first section, and thus has only occasional speaking parts while nonetheless appearing in the majority of episodes.
• Private Cheeseman (Talfryn Thomas)—a Welshman who joined the Walmington-on-Sea platoon during the seventh series after the death of James Beck who played Private Walker.

Opening and closing credits[link]

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The show's opening titles were originally intended to feature footage of refugees and Nazi troops, to illustrate the threat faced by the Home Guard. Despite opposition from the BBC's Head of Comedy Michael Mills, Paul Fox, the controller of BBC 1, ordered that these be removed on the grounds that they were offensive.^[7] The replacement titles featured the now familiar animated sequence of swastika-headed arrows approaching Britain.^[8] In Series 6 they were updated – in all previous versions one of the Nazi arrows passes over the tail of another but then appears under.

The closing credits of the show are a homage to the end credits of the 1944 film The Way Ahead which had covered the training of an everyman platoon during the war and was originally released as a propaganda film in 1943. In both instances, each character is shown as they walk across a smoke-filled battlefield. One of the actors in Dad's Army, John Laurie, also appeared in that film, and his performance in the end credits of The Way Ahead appears to be copied in the sitcom. Coincidentally, the film's lead character (played by David Niven) is named Lt. Jim Perry.

Music[link]

The show's theme tune, "Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler?" was Jimmy Perry's idea, intended as a gentle pastiche of wartime songs. It was the only pastiche in the series, as the other music used was contemporary to the 40s. Perry wrote the lyric himself, and composed the music with Derek Taverner. Perry persuaded one of his childhood idols, wartime entertainer Bud Flanagan, to sing the theme for 100 guineas. Flanagan died less than a year after the recording.

The version played over the opening credits differs slightly from the full version recorded by Flanagan; an abrupt and rather conspicuous edit removes, for timing reasons, two lines of lyric with the "middle eight" tune: "So watch out Mr Hitler, you have met your match in us/If you think you can crush us, we're afraid you've missed the bus." Bud Flanagan's full version appears as an Easter egg on the first series DVD release, and on the authorised soundtrack CD issued by CD41.^[9] Arthur Lowe also recorded a full version of the theme.^[10]

The music over the opening credits was recorded at Riverside Studios, Bud Flanagan being accompanied by the Orchestra of the Band of the Coldstream Guards. The closing credits feature an instrumental march version of the song played by the Band of the Coldstream Guards conducted by Captain (later Lt Col) Trevor L. Sharpe, ending with the air-raid warning siren sounding all-clear. It is accompanied by a style of credits that became a trademark of David Croft: the caption "You have been watching", followed by vignettes of the main cast.

The series also contains genuine wartime and period songs between scenes, usually brief quotations that have some reference to the theme of the episode or the scene. Many appear on the CD soundtrack issued by CD41, being the same versions used in the series.

TV episodes[link]

The television series lasted nine series and was broadcast over nine years, with 80 episodes in total, including three Christmas specials and an hour-long special. At its peak, the programme regularly gained audiences of 18.5 million.^[11] There were also four short specials broadcast as part of Christmas Night with the Stars in 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1972.

Missing episodes[link]

The first two series were recorded and screened in black and white; but Series 3 to 9 were recorded and screened in colour. Even so, one episode in Series 3, Room at the Bottom, formerly only survived in black and white, and remains on the official DVDs in this form. This episode has benefited from Colour recovery technology, using a buried colour signal (chroma dots) in the black-and-white telerecording to restore the programme, and was transmitted on 13 December 2008 on BBC Two.^[12]

Dad's Army is less affected than most from the wiping of Videotape, but three second-series episodes remain lost. Two further Series 2 episodes were believed lost until 2001. Two of the three lost episodes have since been performed as part of the latest stage show.

In 2008 soundtracks of the lost episode "A Stripe for Frazer" and the 1968 Christmas Special "Untitled Sketch" were recovered.^[13]

Film[link]

In common with many British sitcoms of that era, in 1971 Dad's Army was made into a feature film. Backers Columbia Pictures imposed arbitrary changes, such as recasting Liz Fraser as Mavis Pike and filming outdoors in Chalfont St Giles rather than Thetford, which made the cast unhappy. The director, Norman Cohen, whose idea it was to make the film, was nearly fired by the studio.^[14]

Jimmy Perry and David Croft wrote the original screenplay. This was expanded by Cohen to try to make it more cinematic; Columbia executives made more changes to plot and pacing. As finally realised, two-thirds of the film consists of the creation of the platoon—this was the contribution of Perry and Croft—and the final third shows the platoon in action, rescuing hostages from the church hall where they had been held captive by three German pilots.

Neither the cast nor Perry and Croft were happy with the result. Perry argued for changes to try to reproduce the style of the television series, but with mixed results.

Filming took place between 10 August and 25 September 1970, at Shepperton Studios and various locations. After shooting the film, the cast returned to working on the fourth television series.

The film's UK première was on 12 March 1971 at the Columbia Theatre, London. Critical reviews were mixed, but it performed well at the UK box office. Discussions were held about a possible sequel, to be called Dad's Army and the Secret U-Boat Base, but the project never came to fruition.^[15]

Stage show[link]

The fact that a pub in Shoeburyness has been named (albeit incorrectly) after a main character indicates the programme's popularity.

In 1975 Dad’s Army transferred to the stage as a revue, with songs, familiar scenes from the show, and individual “turns” for cast members. It was created by Roger Redfarn, who shared the same agent as the sitcom writers. Most of the principal cast transferred with it, with the exception of John Laurie (he was replaced by Hamish Roughead). Following James Beck’s death two years earlier, Walker was played by John Bardon.

Dad’s Army: A Nostalgic Music and Laughter Show of Britain’s Finest Hour opened at Billingham in England, Teesside on 4 September 1975 for a two-week tryout. After cuts and revisions, the show transferred to London’s West End and opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre on 2 October 1975. On the opening night there was a surprise appearance by Chesney Allen, singing the old Flanagan and Allen song Hometown with Arthur Lowe.

The show ran in the West End until February 1976, disrupted twice by bomb scares, and then toured the country until 4 September 1976. Clive Dunn was replaced for half the tour by Jack Haig (David Croft's original first choice for the role of Corporal Jones on television). Jeffrey Holland, who went on to star in several later Croft sitcoms, also had a number of roles in the production.^[16]

The stage show, billed as Dad's Army—The Musical, was staged in Australia and toured New Zealand in 2004–05, starring Jon English. Several sections of this stage show were filmed and have subsequently been included as extras on the final Dad's Army DVD.

In April 2007, a new stage show was announced with cast members including Leslie Grantham as Private Walker and Emmerdale actor Peter Martin as Captain Mainwaring.^[17] The production contained the episodes "A Stripe for Frazer", "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker", "Room at the Bottom" and "The Deadly Attachment".

Radio series[link]

Many TV episodes were remade for BBC Radio 4 with the original cast, although other actors played Walker after James Beck’s death. These radio versions were adapted by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles and also featured John Snagge as a newsreader who would set the scene for each episode. Different actors were used for some of the minor parts; Mollie Sugden played the role of Mrs Fox and Pearl Hackney played the role of Mrs. Pike for example. The pilot episode was actually based on the revised version of events seen in the opening of the film version rather than the TV pilot. The entire radio series has been released on CD.^[18]

Knowles and Snoad also developed a radio series It Sticks Out Half a Mile, which told what happened to some of the Dad’s Army characters after the war. It was originally intended to star Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier reprising their Dad’s Army roles, but Lowe died shortly after recording the pilot episode, and Bill Pertwee and Ian Lavender were brought in to replace him for a 13-episode series.

Jimmy Perry wrote a radio sketch The Boy Who Saved England for the Last Night at the Paris evening broadcast on Radio 2 on 3 June 1995. It featured Ian Lavender as Pike, Bill Pertwee as Hodges, Frank Williams as the Vicar and Jimmy Perry as General Haverlock-Seabag.

Other appearances[link]

Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier and John Laurie themselves made a cameo appearance as their Dad's Army characters in the 1977 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special. As Elton John is following incomprehensible instructions to find the BBC studios, he encounters them in a steam room. On leaving, Mainwaring calls him a “stupid boy”.^[19] Earlier, Le Mesurier, Laurie, Beck, Ridley and Lavender had appeared as guests in the 22 April 1971 edition of The Morecambe and Wise Show on BBC2 playing pirates to Lowe’s captain in the Monty on the Bonty sketch. The cast also appeared in a 1970s public information film, in character but set in the modern day, showing how to cross the road safely at traffic lights.

A pilot episode for an American remake called The Rear Guard was produced by ABC and broadcast on 10 August 1976, based on the episode "The Deadly Attachment". However, it failed to make it past the pilot stage^[20]—probably due to the fact there was never a realistic chance of a German invasion of the United States, unlike Britain.

Le Mesurier and Lowe made a final appearance in Dad's Army garb for a 1982 television commercial advertising Wispa chocolate bars. Clive Dunn made occasional appearances as Corporal Jones at 1940s themed events in the 1980s and 1990s.

Arthur Lowe appeared in Blue Peter twice. The first time was with John Le Mesurier, in which the two appeared in costume and in character as Captain Mainwaring and Sergeant Wilson when walking around looking at and discussing a mural schoolchildren had painted featuring the characters from the show at a Christmas party, among which was Mainwaring's unseen wife Elizabeth – or rather, what the children thought she looked like (Mainwaring remarks "Good grief. What a remarkable likeness!"). Arthur Lowe made a second appearance as Captain Mainwaring on Blue Peter with the Dad's Army van which would appear in the forthcoming London-Brighton run, and showed presenter John Noakes the vehicle's hidden anti-Nazi defences.

Awards[link]

During its original television run, Dad's Army was nominated for a number of British Academy Television Awards, although only won "Best Light Entertainment Production Team" in 1971. It was nominated as "Best Situation Comedy" in 1973, 1974 and 1975. Also, Arthur Lowe was frequently nominated for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" in 1970, 1971, 1973, 1975 and 1978.^[21]

In 2000, the show was voted 13th in a British Film Institute poll of industry professionals of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. In 2004, championed by Phill Jupitus, it came fourth in the BBC poll to find Britain's Best Sitcom with 174,138 votes.^[22]

Tributes[link]

Statue of Captain George Mainwaring, erected in Thetford in June 2010

In June 2010, a statue of Captain George Mainwaring was erected in the Norfolk town of Thetford where most of the exteriors for the TV series were filmed. The statue features Captain Mainwaring sitting to attention on a simple bench in Home Guard uniform, with his swagger stick across his knees. The statue is mounted at the end of winding brick pathway with a Union Flag patterned arrow head to reflect the opening credits of the TV series, and the sculpture has been designed so that members of the public can sit alongside Captain Mainwaring for the purpose of having their photograph taken.

The British series Goodnight Sweetheart paid tribute to Dad's Army in episode one of series two. Here, Gary goes into a bank in 1941 and meets a bank manager named Mainwaring and Wilson, his chief clerk, both of whom are in the Home Guard. When he hears the names Mainwaring and Wilson, Gary begins singing the Dad's Army theme song.

Cultural influence[link]

The characters of Dad's Army and their catchphrases are well known in the UK due to the popularity of the series when originally shown and the frequency of repeats.

Jimmy Perry recalls that before writing the sitcom, the Home Guard was a largely forgotten aspect of Britain's defence in the Second World War, something which the series rectified.^[23] In a 1972 Radio Times interview, Arthur Lowe expresses surprise at the programme’s success;

We expected the show to have limited appeal, to the age group that lived through the war and the Home Guard. We didn’t expect what has happened – that children from the age of five upwards would enjoy it too.^[24]

The Sega Mega CD port of the arcade game Mortal Kombat (developed by British programmers Probe Software), contained a cheat code (known as the "Dad's Code"), which allowed the player to rename the fighters to those of characters from Dad's Army.^[25]

Media releases[link]

Main articles: Dad's Army books and memorabilia, Dad's Army DVD and Video releases and Dad's Army Audio releases.

The BBC released two "Best of" DVD sets in October 2001 and September 2002, but it was not until September 2004 that the full series began to be released, with the first series and the surviving episodes of the second series being released first, along with the documentary Missing Presumed Wiped. By November 2007, the entire series had been released, with the final edition featuring the specials "The Battle of the Giants", "The Love of Three Oranges" and "My Brother and I", along with various other appearances including several "Christmas Night with the Stars" sketches and excerpts from the stage show. The DVDs also include short individual biographical documentaries about the characters and their actors called We Are the Boys. The Columbia film adaptation is also available, although as this is not a BBC production, this is not included in the boxed set.

See also[link]

BBC portal

• Dad's Army Appreciation Society

References[link]

Notes

Further reading

• Croft, David; Perry, Jimmy; Webber, Richard (2003). Dad’s Army: The Complete Scripts. Orion. ISBN 0-7528-6024-0
• Croft, David (2004). You Have Been Watching...: The Autobiography of David Croft. BBC Consumer Publishing (Books). ISBN 0-563-48739-9
• Croft, David; Perry, Jimmy; Webber, Richard (2000). The Complete A-Z of Dad’s Army. Orion. ISBN 0-7528-1838-4
• McCann, Graham (2001). Dad's Army: The story of a classic television show. Fourth Estate. ISBN 1-84115-308-7. 
• McKenzie, Simon (1995). The Home Guard: A military and political history. OUP. ISBN 0-19-820577-5
• Perry, Jimmy (2003). A Stupid Boy. Arrow. ISBN 0-09-944142-X
• Webber, Richard (1997). Dad’s Army: A Celebration. Virgin Publishing. ISBN 0-7535-0307-7

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Dad's Army

Guides

• Dad's Army at the former BBC Guide to Comedy (archive)
• Dad's Army at BBC Programmes
• Dad's Army at TV.com
• Dad's Army at the Internet Movie Database
• Dad's Army at the BFI's Screenonline
• Dad's Army at the British Comedy Guide
• Dad’s Army at the Encyclopedia of Television
• Dad's Army soundtrack CD at CD41

Miscellaneous

• BBC Treasure Hunt site
• Guardian article—Jimmy Perry and David Croft talk about their writing relationship
• Dad's Army at the BBC Archive
• Home Guard history and photographs of UK World War II invasion defences
• Dad's Army film locations in Norfolk
• Dad's Army tv and film locations in Norfolk
• Dad's Army podcast
• Bill Pertwee Interview – April 2010
• Filming locations from Dad's Army