Dad's Army is a
British sitcomA British sitcom tends, as it does in most other countries, to be based on a family, workplace or other institution, where the same group of contrasting characters is brought together in each episode. Unlike American sitcoms, where twenty or more episodes in a season is the norm, British sitcoms...
about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by
Jimmy PerryJimmy Perry OBE is an English writer, scriptwriter, producer, author and actor, most famous for devising and co-writing the BBC sitcoms Dad's Army with David Croft.-Education:...
and David Croft and broadcast on
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show. The series regularly gained audiences of 18 million viewers and is still repeated world wide.
The Home Guard consisted of local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, usually owing to age, and as such the series starred several veterans of British film, television and stage, including
Arthur LoweArthur Lowe was a BAFTA Award winning English actor. He was best known for playing Captain George Mainwaring in the popular British sitcom Dad's Army from 1968 until 1977.-Early life:...
,
John Le MesurierJohn Le Mesurier was a BAFTA Award-winning English actor. He is most famous for his role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the popular 1970s BBC comedy Dad's Army.-Career:...
,
Arnold RidleyMajor William Arnold Ridley, OBE was an English playwright and actor, first notable as the author of the play The Ghost Train and later in life for portraying the elderly Private Charles Godfrey in the popular British sitcom Dad's Army .-Early life:Ridley was born in Walcot, Bath, England where...
and
John LaurieJohn Paton Laurie was a British actor born in Dumfries, Scotland. Although he is now probably most recognised for his role as Private James Frazer in the sitcom Dad's Army , he appeared in hundreds of feature films, including films by Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier...
. Relative youngsters in the regular cast were
Ian LavenderArthur Ian Lavender , better known as Ian Lavender, is an English stage, film and television actor, best known for his role as Private Frank Pike in the BBC comedy series Dad's Army.-Early life and career:...
,
Clive DunnClive Robert Benjamin Dunn OBE is a retired English actor, comedian and author, best known for his role as Lance-Corporal Jack Jones in the BBC sitcom Dad's Army.-Early life:...
(who was made-up to play the elderly Jones),
Frank WilliamsFrank Williams is an English actor.Williams was educated at Ardingly College. He starred in The Army Game and as the Vicar in Dad's Army. In 1970, he starred in the short-lived sitcom As Good Cooks Go...
,
James BeckStanley James Carroll Beck was a British actor best remembered for his role as Private Joe Walker, the cockney spiv in the popular BBC sitcom Dad's Army. The cast was mainly composed of older actors, but Beck was one of the younger members.-Early life:Beck was born in Islington, North London and...
(who died suddenly during production of the programme's sixth series, despite being one of the youngest cast members) and
Colin BeanColin Bean was a British actor best known for his role as Private Sponge in the Second World War sitcom Dad's Army from 1968 to 1977, appearing in76 of Dad’s Army’s 80 episodes....
.
In 2004,
Dad's Army was voted into fourth place in a BBC poll to find
Britain's Best SitcomBritain's Best Sitcom was a poll conducted in 2004 by the BBC, to identify the United Kingdom's best situation comedy. Viewers were asked to vote for their favourite by phone, text message and on the web. The top ten went forward to a final round of voting...
. Previously, in a list of the
100 Greatest British Television ProgrammesThe BFI TV 100 is a list compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute , chosen by a poll of industry professionals, to determine what were the greatest British television programmes of any genre ever to have been screened....
drawn up by the
British Film InstituteThe British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, it was placed thirteenth. The series has had a profound influence on popular culture in the United Kingdom, with the series' catchphrases and characters well known. It is also credited with having highlighted a hitherto forgotten aspect of defence during the Second World War. The
Radio TimesRadio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
magazine listed Captain Mainwaring's "You stupid boy!" among the 25 greatest put-downs on TV.
Origins
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 had been 17 years old when he joined the 10th
HertfordshireHertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
Battalion and with a mother who did not like him being out at night and fearing he might catch cold, he bore more than a passing resemblance to the character of Frank Pike. An elderly
lance corporalLance corporal is a military rank, used by many armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organizations. It is below the rank of corporal, and is typically the lowest non-commissioned officer, usually equivalent to the NATO Rank Grade OR-3.- Etymology :The presumed...
in the outfit often referred to fighting under
KitchenerField Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, ADC, PC , was an Irish-born British Field Marshal and proconsul who won fame for his imperial campaigns and later played a central role in the early part of the First World War, although he died halfway...
against the "Fuzzy Wuzzies" (
HadendoaHadendoa is the name of a nomadic subdivision of the Beja people. Other Beja tribes include the Bisharin and Ababda. The area inhabited by the Hadendoa is today parts of Sudan, Egypt and Eritrea.-Overview:...
) and proved to be a perfect model for Jones. Other influences were the film
Whisky Galore!Whisky Galore! was a 1949 Ealing comedy film based on the novel of the same name by Compton MacKenzie. Both the movie and the novel are based on the real-life 1941 shipwreck of the S.S. Politician near the island of Eriskay and the unauthorized taking of its cargo of whisky...
, and the work of comedians such as
Will HayWilliam Thomson "Will" Hay was an English comedian, actor, film director and amateur astronomer.-Early life:He was born in Stockton-on-Tees, in north east England, to William R...
whose film
Oh, Mr Porter!Oh, Mr Porter! is a British comedy film starring Will Hay with Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt and directed by Marcel Varnel. While not his most commercially successful, it is probably his best-known film to modern audiences...
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 WiltonRobb Wilton, born Robert Wilton Smith was an English comedian and comic actor who was famous for his filmed monologues in the 1930s and 1940s in which he played incompetent authority figures....
, who portrayed a work-shy husband who joined the Home Guard in numerous comic sketches during WW2.
Perry wrote the first script and gave it to David Croft while working as a minor actor in the Croft-produced sitcom
Hugh and IHugh and I was a highly successful black-and-white British sitcom that aired from 1962 to 1967. It starred Terry Scott and Hugh Lloyd as two friends who shared lodgings with Terry's mother and was followed by a sequel called Hugh and I Spy...
, originally intending the role of the
spivIn the United Kingdom, a spiv is a particular type of petty criminal, who deals in stolen or black market goods of questionable authenticity, especially a slickly-dressed man offering goods at bargain prices...
, 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.
In his book,
Dad's Army, Graham McCann explained that the show owes a lot 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
ScotThe Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
to the mix. Jimmy Perry had produced the original idea but was in need of 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.
Situation
The show was set in the fictional seaside town of
Walmington-on-SeaWalmington-on-Sea is a fictional seaside resort where the BBC Television sitcom, BBC radio series and film Dad's Army was based.Located on the channel coast of England in the county of Kent, the national "front line" following the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk during...
, on the south coast of England (the exterior scenes were mostly filmed in and around
ThetfordThetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland district of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just south of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , has a population of 21,588.-History:...
,
NorfolkNorfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
). Thus, the Home Guard were on the front line in the eventuality of an invasion by the enemy forces across the
English ChannelThe English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, which formed a backdrop to the series. The first series had a loose narrative thread, with Captain Mainwaring’s
platoonA platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organized into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer—the...
being formed and equipped—initially with wooden guns and LDV armbands, and later on full army uniforms; the platoon were part of the
The Queen's Own Royal West Kent RegimentThe Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1961. It was formed as The Queen's Own as part of the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 50th Regiment of Foot and the 97th Regiment of Foot...
.
The first episode, "
The Man and the HourThe Man and the Hour was the first episode of the British sitcom Dad's Army. It originally aired on television on 31 July 1968 and was later adapted for radio.-TV Episode:...
," 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 BritainI'm Backing Britain was a brief patriotic campaign aimed at boosting the British economy which flourished in early 1968. The campaign started spontaneously when five Surbiton secretaries volunteered to work an extra half an hour each day without pay in order to boost productivity, and urged others...
' campaign. The prologue opening was a condition imposed after initial concerns by Paul Fox, the controller of BBC 1, that it was belittling the efforts of the Home Guard. After Mainwaring relates how he had backed Britain in 1940, the episode proper began;
Dad’s Army is thus told in
flashbackFlashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
, although the final episode does not return to the then-present. 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 failure to participate actively in the Second World War, opposition to their activities had to come from another quarter, and this generally showed itself in the form of
Air Raid PrecautionsAir Raid Precautions was an organisation in the United Kingdom set up as an aid in the prelude to the Second World War dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air-raids. It was created in 1924 as a response to the fears about the growing threat from the development of bomber...
(ARP) Warden Hodges, although sometimes the
vergerA verger is a person, usually a layman, who assists in the ordering of religious services, particularly in Anglican churches.-History:...
of the local church (St Aldhelm's), or Captain Square and the neighbouring Eastgate Home Guard platoon. However, the group did have some encounters related to the war such as downed
GermanNazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
planes, a
U-boatU-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
crew, parachutes that may have been German, and German mines. Also, an IRA suspect appeared in one episode,
Absent FriendsAbsent Friends is the sixth episode of the fourth series of the British comedy series Dad's Army that was originally transmitted on Friday 30 October 1970.-Synopsis:...
.
The humour ranged from the subtle (especially in the
classSocial classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
-reversed relationship between Mainwaring and Wilson, who also happened to be his deputy at the bank) to the
slapstickSlapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
(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-WuzziesHadendoa is the name of a nomadic subdivision of the Beja people. Other Beja tribes include the Bisharin and Ababda. The area inhabited by the Hadendoa is today parts of Sudan, Egypt and Eritrea.-Overview:...
". Mainwaring said "You stupid boy" to Pike in many episodes. The first series occasionally included darker humour, reflecting the fact that, especially early in the war, members of the Home Guard were woefully under-equipped and yet were still prepared to have a crack at the
WehrmachtThe Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
. An example of this theme occurs in "The Battle of Godfrey’s Cottage" episode, in which the platoon believes an enemy invasion is underway. 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 reinforcments; "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
The show's main characters were:
- Captain George Mainwaring
Captain George Mainwaring is the bank manager and Home Guard platoon commander portrayed by Arthur Lowe on the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army, set in the fictional seaside town of Walmington-on-Sea during the Second World War...
(Arthur LoweArthur Lowe was a BAFTA Award winning English actor. He was best known for playing Captain George Mainwaring in the popular British sitcom Dad's Army from 1968 until 1977.-Early life:...
)—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
Sergeant The Honourable Arthur Wilson is a fictional Home Guard platoon sergeant and bank clerk portrayed by John Le Mesurier on the BBC television situation comedy Dad's Army....
(John Le MesurierJohn Le Mesurier was a BAFTA Award-winning English actor. He is most famous for his role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the popular 1970s BBC comedy Dad's Army.-Career:...
)—a diffident, upper-class bank employee who would quietly question Mainwaring's judgement ("Do you think that's wise?"). Wilson served as a CaptainCaptain is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above Lieutenant and below Major and has a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force...
in the First World War. He lodges with the Pike family, and is Pike's biological father (confirmed by the writers).
- Lance-Corporal Jack Jones
Lance Corporal Jack Jones is a fictional Home Guard platoon lance-corporal, veteran of the British Empire and butcher portrayed by Clive Dunn in the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army...
(Clive DunnClive Robert Benjamin Dunn OBE is a retired English actor, comedian and author, best known for his role as Lance-Corporal Jack Jones in the BBC sitcom Dad's Army.-Early life:...
)—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 campaign of Kitchener in the SudanSudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
between 1896 and 1898.
- Private Joe Walker
Private Joe Walker is a fictional black market spiv and Home Guard platoon member portrayed by actor James Beck on the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. James Beck died suddenly in 1973, and is featured in just under three-quarters of the episodes...
(James BeckStanley James Carroll Beck was a British actor best remembered for his role as Private Joe Walker, the cockney spiv in the popular BBC sitcom Dad's Army. The cast was mainly composed of older actors, but Beck was one of the younger members.-Early life:Beck was born in Islington, North London and...
)—a black market “spivIn the United Kingdom, a spiv is a particular type of petty criminal, who deals in stolen or black market goods of questionable authenticity, especially a slickly-dressed man offering goods at bargain prices...
,” 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 beefCorned beef is a type of salt-cured beef products present in many beef-eating cultures. The English term is used interchangeably in modernity to refer to three distinct types of cured beef:...
allergy.
- Private Frank Pike
Private Frank Pike is a fictional Home Guard platoon member and junior bank clerk portrayed by Ian Lavender in the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. He is frequently referred to by Captain Mainwaring as "stupid boy".- Personality :...
(Ian LavenderArthur Ian Lavender , better known as Ian Lavender, is an English stage, film and television actor, best known for his role as Private Frank Pike in the BBC comedy series Dad's Army.-Early life and career:...
)—a cosseted mother’s boy, constantly wearing a thick scarf with his uniform to prevent illness, and often the target of Mainwaring’s derision ("Stupid boy!"). He also works under Mainwaring in his day-job as assistant bank clerk.
- Private James Frazer
Private James Frazer is a fictional Home Guard platoon member and undertaker portrayed by John Laurie on the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. He is noted for the phrase "we're doomed!" and "Rubbish!"- Personality :...
(John LaurieJohn Paton Laurie was a British actor born in Dumfries, Scotland. Although he is now probably most recognised for his role as Private James Frazer in the sitcom Dad's Army , he appeared in hundreds of feature films, including films by Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier...
)—a dour Scottish coffin maker and a Chief Petty OfficerA chief petty officer is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards.-Canada:"Chief Petty Officer" refers to two ranks in the Canadian Navy...
on HMS Defiant in the Royal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
who served at the Battle of JutlandThe Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
as a ship's cook.
- Private Charles Godfrey
For the American football player see Charles Godfrey Private Charles Godfrey MM is a fictional Home Guard platoon member and retired shop assistant portrayed by Arnold Ridley on the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army.-Personality:Godfrey is a gentle, mild-mannered and kindly - though more complex...
MMThe Military Medal was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other services, and formerly also to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land....
(Arnold RidleyMajor William Arnold Ridley, OBE was an English playwright and actor, first notable as the author of the play The Ghost Train and later in life for portraying the elderly Private Charles Godfrey in the popular British sitcom Dad's Army .-Early life:Ridley was born in Walcot, Bath, England where...
)—he is the platoon’s medical orderly. He was always getting caught short and needed to "be excused". A conscientious objector during WWI, he nevertheless was 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
William Desmond Anthony Pertwee MBE is a British comedy actor. He is best known for playing the part of antagonist ARP Warden Hodges in the popular sitcom Dad's Army.-Early and personal life:...
)—the platoon’s major rival and nemesis. He was looked down on by Mainwaring for being a common 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
Pamela I. Cundell is a British character actress. Her best known role was Mrs Fox in the long-running TV comedy Dad's Army....
)—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
Frank Williams is an English actor.Williams was educated at Ardingly College. He starred in The Army Game and as the Vicar in Dad's Army. In 1970, he starred in the short-lived sitcom As Good Cooks Go...
)—The effete vicarIn the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
of St. Aldhelm’s Church, he shares his church hall and office with Mainwaring’s platoon.
- Maurice Yeatman (Edward Sinclair
Edward "Teddy" Sinclair was a British actor most famous for his role as the verger Maurice Yeatman in Dad's Army. He also made appearances in Z Cars and Danger Man.Edward's father was the son of a stage actor who died when he was 14...
)—The vergerA verger is a person, usually a layman, who assists in the ordering of religious services, particularly in Anglican churches.-History:...
at St. Aldhelm’s Church and head of the Sea Scouts group, and was often hostile to the platoon while frequently sycophantic to the vicar, who often struggled to tolerate him.
- Private Sponge (Colin Bean
Colin Bean was a British actor best known for his role as Private Sponge in the Second World War sitcom Dad's Army from 1968 to 1977, appearing in76 of Dad’s Army’s 80 episodes....
)—Private Sponge, a sheep farmer, had the job 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
Talfryn Thomas was a British character actor, best known for supporting roles on British television in the 1970s.-Biography:Talfryn Thomas was born in Swansea on 31 October 1922....
)—a WelshmanThe Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
who joined the Walmington-on-Sea platoon during the seventh series to compensate for the death of James Beck who played Private Walker.
Opening and closing credits
The show's opening titles were originally intended to feature footage of refugees and Nazi troops, in order to illustrate the threat faced by the Home Guard. Despite opposition from the BBC's Head of Comedy Michael Mills, BBC One's controller Paul Fox ordered that these be removed on the grounds that they were "offensive". The replacement titles featured the now familiar animated sequence of
swastikaThe swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
-headed arrows approaching Britain. 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 AheadThe Way Ahead is a British Second World War drama released in 1944. It stars David Niven and Stanley Holloway and follows a group of civilians who are conscripted into the British Army to fight in North Africa. In the U.S., an edited version was released as The Immortal Battalion.The film was...
which had covered the training of an everyman platoon during the war and was 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 stars of 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 sit-com. Coincidentally, the film's lead character (played by
David NivenJames David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
) is named Lt. Jim Perry.
Music
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 lyrics himself, and composed the music with Derek Taverner. Perry persuaded one of his childhood idols, wartime entertainer
Bud FlanaganBud Flanagan was a popular English music hall and vaudeville entertainer from the 1930s until the 1960s. Flanagan was famous as a wartime entertainer and his achievements were recognised when he was awarded the O.B.E. in 1960.- Family background :Flaganan was born Chaim Reuben Weintrop in...
, to sing the theme for 100
guineasThe guinea is a coin that was minted in the Kingdom of England and later in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom between 1663 and 1813...
. 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 but inconspicuous edit removes, for timing reasons, two lines of lyrics with a different 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. Arthur Lowe also recorded a full version of the theme.
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
marchA march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner's Götterdämmerung to the brisk military marches of John...
version of the song played by the Band of the
Coldstream GuardsHer Majesty's Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, also known officially as the Coldstream Guards , is a regiment of the British Army, part of the Guards Division or Household Division....
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 songs between scenes, usually brief quotations that have some reference to the theme of the episode or the scene.
TV episodes
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. There were also four short specials broadcast as part of
Christmas Night with the StarsChristmas Night with the Stars was a variety television show broadcast each Christmas night by the BBC from 1958 to 1972 and also in 1994. The show featured the top stars of the BBC as they appeared in short versions of their programmes, typically five to ten minutes long. The show was voted 24th...
in 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1972.
Missing episodes
The first two series were recorded and screened in black and white; after that series three to nine were recorded and screened in colour. Even so, one episode in series three,
Room at the Bottom-Synopsis:Room at the Bottom is the 17th adapted radio episode of Dad's Army. The synopsis remains virtually unchanged from the TV episode, although there are a few minor changes in terms of actions performed by certain characters.-Plot:...
, could only be found in black and white, despite being recorded in colour. On the official
DVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s, the episode is also in black and white.
Colour recoveryFor color recovery of archived television broadcasts, see Colour recovery.Color recovery is a technique used in Hewlett-Packard's older workstation graphics devices to produce a 'near 24-bit' color look from an 8-bit framebuffer...
technology eventually allowed the BBC to put the full colour version out in late 2008.
Until 1978 the BBC (along with ITV) did not have proper archives for programmes recorded on video tape. This, combined with the cost of
2 inch Quadruplex videotape2-inch quadruplex videotape was the first practical and commercially successful analog recording videotape format. It was developed and released for the broadcast television industry in 1956 by Ampex, an American company based in Redwood City, California...
reels and no appreciation of future commercial possibilities, resulted in significant amounts of material being
wipedWiping or junking is a colloquial term for action taken by radio and television production and broadcasting companies, in which old audiotapes, videotapes, and telerecordings , are erased, reused, or destroyed after several uses...
after they were transmitted (contractual agreements at that time often allowed for one repeat showing before being wiped).
Although the BBC has recovered many recordings from overseas broadcasters and private collectors through BBC Archive Treasure Hunt, many are still missing.
Dad's Army is less affected than most, but three second-series episodes are lost, and one third-series episode was filmed in colour but had only existed in black and white. This third-series episode has been re-coloured, using an existing colour signal in the black-and-white tele-recording, and was transmitted on 13 December 2008 on BBC Two. Two further series-two 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"A Stripe for Frazer" is an episode in the British comedy series Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on Saturday 29 March 1969.This episode is currently missing from the BBC's television archives after they wiped the tapes to reuse them. This is one of three Dad's Army episodes still missing...
" and the 1968 Christmas Special "
Untitled SketchUntitled Sketch is the first Christmas Night with the Stars insert of the British comedy series Dad's Army that was originally transmitted on Wednesday 25 December 1968.-Synopsis:It's Christmas and Mainwaring can't forget his sense of duty...
" were recovered.
Film
As with many British sitcoms of that era, in 1971
Dad's Army was made into a feature film. Backers
Columbia PicturesColumbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
imposed arbitrary changes, such as recasting
Liz FraserLiz Fraser is an English actress, mainly in comedy roles.- Life and career :Her birthdate is usually attributed as 1933, the year she gave when auditioning for her role in I'm All Right Jack, as the Boulting Brothers wanted someone younger for the part...
as Mavis Pike and filming outdoors in
Chalfont St GilesChalfont St Giles is a village and civil parish within Chiltern district in south east Buckinghamshire, England, on the edge of the Chilterns, 25 miles from London, and near Seer Green, Jordans, Chalfont St Peter, Little Chalfont and Amersham....
rather than Thetford, which made the cast unhappy. The director, Norman Cohen, who was also responsible for the idea to make the film, was nearly fired by the studio.
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’d been held captive by three German pilots.
Neither the cast nor Perry and Croft were happy with the result. Perry spent time arguing 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 StudiosShepperton Studios is a film studio in Shepperton, Surrey, England with a history dating back to 1931 since when many notable films have been made there...
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.
Stage show
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 BardonJohn Bardon, is an English stage and screen actor. He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award in 1988 as 'Best Actor in a Musical' for Kiss Me, Kate, sharing the award with co-star Emil Wolk.-Acting career:Bardon is best known for playing Jim Branning in the popular British soap opera EastEnders...
.
Dad’s Army: A Nostalgic Music and Laughter Show of Britain’s Finest Hour opened at
BillinghamBillingham is a town in the unitary authority of Stockton on Tees, in north east England, with a population of 35,765 . It was founded circa 650 by a group of Saxons known as Billa's people, which is where the name Billingham is thought to have originated...
in
England, TeessideTeesside is the name given to the conurbation in the north east of England made up of the towns of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar, Billingham and surrounding settlements near the River Tees. It was also the name of a local government district between 1968 and 1974—the County Borough of...
on 4 September 1975 for a two-week tryout. After cuts and revisions, the show transferred to London’s
West EndWest End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
and opened at the
Shaftesbury TheatreThe Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End Theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The theatre was designed for the brothers Walter and Frederick Melville by Bertie Crewe and opened on 26 December 1911 with a production of The Three Musketeers, as the New...
on 2 October 1975. On the opening night there was a surprise appearance by
Chesney AllenChesney Allen was a popular English entertainer of the Second World War period. He is best remembered as part of the double act with Bud Flanagan, Flanagan and Allen.-Life and career:...
, singing the old
Flanagan and AllenFlanagan and Allen were a British singing and comedy double act popular during World War II. Its members were Bud Flanagan and Chesney 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 HaigJack Haig was a British actor who specialised in supporting roles, mainly in TV comedy.Haig was the son of music hall actors Bertha Baker and Charles Coppin, whose act went under the name "Haig and Esco". He was seen in a long list of British TV favourites: Hugh and I, Dad's Army, Are You Being...
(David Croft's original first choice for the role of Corporal Jones on television).
Jeffrey HollandJeffrey Holland is an English actor well known for roles in television sitcoms, as well as BBC Radio comedy, including Week Ending.-Early life and career:...
, who went on to star in several later Croft sitcoms, also had a number of roles in the production.
The stage show, billed as
Dad's Army—The Musical, was staged in Australia and toured New Zealand in 2004–05, starring
Jon EnglishJonathan James "Jon" English is an Australian rock singer, musician, actor and writer. English emigrated to Australia with his parents in 1961...
. 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 GranthamLeslie Michael Grantham is an English actor best known for his role as "Dirty" Den Watts in the soap opera EastEnders. He is also a convicted murderer, having served 10 years for the killing of a German taxi driver, and he generated significant press coverage as the result of an online sex scandal...
as
Private WalkerPrivate Joe Walker is a fictional black market spiv and Home Guard platoon member portrayed by actor James Beck on the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. James Beck died suddenly in 1973, and is featured in just under three-quarters of the episodes...
and
EmmerdaleEmmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
actor
Peter MartinPeter Martin is an English actor who was known in the 1980s for his TV commercials for Jewsons Hardware. He played the fish shop man in First of the Summer Wine. He also played 'Charlie the moonlighting gravedigger' in the Beiderbecke Tapes...
as
Captain MainwaringCaptain George Mainwaring is the bank manager and Home Guard platoon commander portrayed by Arthur Lowe on the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army, set in the fictional seaside town of Walmington-on-Sea during the Second World War...
. The production contained the episodes "
A Stripe for Frazer"A Stripe for Frazer" is an episode in the British comedy series Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on Saturday 29 March 1969.This episode is currently missing from the BBC's television archives after they wiped the tapes to reuse them. This is one of three Dad's Army episodes still missing...
", "
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker-Notes:Graham Stark replaced James Beck in the role of Private Walker for this radio adaptation.-External links:...
", "
Room at the Bottom-Synopsis:Room at the Bottom is the 17th adapted radio episode of Dad's Army. The synopsis remains virtually unchanged from the TV episode, although there are a few minor changes in terms of actions performed by certain characters.-Plot:...
" and "
The Deadly Attachment"The Deadly Attachment" is the first episode of the sixth series of the British television sitcom Dad's Army which was originally transmitted on Wednesday 31 October 1973...
".
Radio series
Many TV episodes were remade for
BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
with the original cast, although other actors played Walker after James Beck’s death. These radio versions were adapted by
Harold SnoadHarold Edward Snoad is a British television producer and director.Beginning his career in the 1960s, he has worked on many comedy shows for the BBC, including the sitcoms Dad's Army, Are You Being Served?, Ever Decreasing Circles and Keeping Up Appearances...
and Michael Knowles and also starred
John SnaggeJohn Derrick Mordaunt Snagge OBE was a long-time British newsreader and commentator on BBC Radio.Born in Chelsea, London, he was educated at Winchester College and Pembroke College, Oxford, where he obtained a degree in law. He then joined the BBC, taking up the position of assistant director at...
as a newsreader who would set the scene for each episode. Different actors were used for some of the minor parts;
Mollie SugdenIsobel Mary 'Mollie' Sugden was an English comedy actress best known for portraying the saleswoman Mrs. Slocombe in the British sitcom Are You Being Served? from 1972 to 1985. She later reprised this role in Grace & Favour, which ran from 1992 to 1993...
played the role of
Mrs FoxMrs Marcia Jones is a minor character, played by the actress Pamela Cundell in Dad's Army, a situation comedy depicting life in wartime England that ran between 1968 and 1977 on BBC TV...
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.
Knowles and Snoad also developed a radio series
It Sticks Out Half a MileIt Sticks Out Half a Mile was a BBC Radio sitcom created by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles as a sequel to the television war sitcom Dad's Army, for which Snoad and Knowles had written radio adaptations.-The pilot:...
, 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
Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier and John Laurie themselves made a cameo appearance as their
Dad's Army characters in the 1977
Morecambe and WiseEric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, usually referred to as Morecambe and Wise, or Eric and Ernie, were a British comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984...
Christmas Special. As
Elton JohnSir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
is following incomprehensible instructions to find the BBC studios, he encounters them in a steam room. On leaving, Mainwaring calls him a “stupid boy”. 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
BBC2BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
playing
piratesPiracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
to Lowe’s captain in the
Monty on the Bonty sketch. The cast also appeared in a 1970s
public information filmPublic Information Films are a series of government commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the UK. The US equivalent is the Public Service Announcement .-Subjects:...
, in character but set in the modern day, showing how to cross the road safely at
traffic lightTraffic lights, which may also be known as stoplights, traffic lamps, traffic signals, signal lights, robots or semaphore, are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings and other locations to control competing flows of traffic...
s.
A pilot episode for an American remake called
The Rear GuardThe Rear Guard was a 1976 pilot episode for an American adaptation of the BBC situation comedy Dad's Army. Set in World War II, The Rear Guard followed a band of men in the American Civil Defense who were part of an auxiliary force in the event of an invasion of the USA...
was produced by
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
and broadcast on 10 August 1976, based on the episode "
The Deadly Attachment"The Deadly Attachment" is the first episode of the sixth series of the British television sitcom Dad's Army which was originally transmitted on Wednesday 31 October 1973...
". However, it failed to make it past the pilot stage—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
WispaWispa is a brand of chocolate bar currently manufactured by Cadbury UK. The bar was launched in 1981 as a trial version in North East England and with its success it was introduced nationally in 1983...
chocolate bars.
Clive DunnClive Robert Benjamin Dunn OBE is a retired English actor, comedian and author, best known for his role as Lance-Corporal Jack Jones in the BBC sitcom Dad's Army.-Early life:...
made occasional appearances as
Corporal JonesLance Corporal Jack Jones is a fictional Home Guard platoon lance-corporal, veteran of the British Empire and butcher portrayed by Clive Dunn in the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army...
at 1940s themed events in the 1980s and 1990s.
Arthur Lowe appeared in
Blue PeterBlue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
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 NoakesJohn Noakes is a British television presenter and personality, best known for co-presenting the BBC children's magazine programme Blue Peter in the 1960s and 1970s. He remains the show's longest-serving presenter, with a stint that lasted 12 years and 6 months...
the vehicle's hidden anti-Nazi defences.
Awards
During its original television run,
Dad's Army was nominated for a number of
British Academy Television AwardsThe British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...
, 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.
In 2000, the show was voted 13th in a
British Film InstituteThe British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
poll of industry professionals of the
100 Greatest British Television ProgrammesThe BFI TV 100 is a list compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute , chosen by a poll of industry professionals, to determine what were the greatest British television programmes of any genre ever to have been screened....
. In 2004, championed by
Phill JupitusPhillip Christopher Jupitus is an English stand-up and improvised comedian, actor, performance poet, musician and podcaster....
, it came fourth in the BBC poll to find
Britain's Best SitcomBritain's Best Sitcom was a poll conducted in 2004 by the BBC, to identify the United Kingdom's best situation comedy. Viewers were asked to vote for their favourite by phone, text message and on the web. The top ten went forward to a final round of voting...
with 174,138 votes.
Tributes
In June 2010, a statue of Captain George Mainwaring was erected in the
NorfolkNorfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
town of
ThetfordThetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland district of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just south of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , has a population of 21,588.-History:...
where most of the TV series Dad's Army was filmed. The statue features Captain Mainwaring sitting to attention on a simple bench in Home Guard uniform, with his
swagger stickA swagger stick is a short stick or riding crop usually carried by a uniformed person as a symbol of authority. A swagger stick is shorter than a staff or cane, and is usually made from rattan.-History:...
across his knees. The statue is mounted at the end of winding brick pathway with a
Union FlagThe Union Flag, also known as the Union Jack, is the flag of the United Kingdom. It retains an official or semi-official status in some Commonwealth Realms; for example, it is known as the Royal Union Flag in Canada. It is also used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas...
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 photo taken.
The British series Good Night Sweetheart paid tribute to Dad's Army in episode one of series two. The protagonist of the series goes into a bank in 1941 and meets the bank manager who is named Mainwaring, and the Chief Clark named Wilson. Both characters are also in the home guard. The show is about a man who travels back to WW2 regularly. When he hears the name, he begins singing the theme song.
Cultural influence
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. In a 1972
Radio TimesRadio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
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.
The Sega Mega CD port of the
arcade gameAn arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
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 that of characters from
Dad's Army.
Media releases
- Main articles: Dad's Army books and memorabilia, Dad's Army DVD and Video releases
Below is a list of all the Dad's Army DVD and video releases so far. Included are the region 2 release dates, and the episodes that were released.-BBC The Very Best releases:-BBC episode releases:-Britannia Music Company releases:...
and Dad's Army Audio releases-LP:* Dad's Army, BBC Records, 1975. Radio series episodes Something Nasty in the Vault and Sgt. Wilson's Little Secret.-Volume releases:Since 1990, the BBC have been releasing the original radio episodes. First on cassette and now on CD as well...
.
The BBC released two "Best of"
DVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
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 boxset.
External links
Guides
Miscellaneous