Dad's Army

Dad's Army was a British sitcom about the Home Guard in the Second World War, written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977.

The series starred several veterans of British film, television and stage, including Arthur Lowe (1915–82), John Le Mesurier (1912–83), Arnold Ridley (also a veteran playwright; 1896–1984), John Laurie (1897–1980) and Clive Dunn (1920—). Relative youngsters in the regular cast were Ian Lavender (1946—) and James Beck (1929–1973), the last dying suddenly part way through the programme's long run despite being one of the youngest cast members.

Popular at the time and still repeated, it was voted into fourth place in a 2004 BBC poll for Britain's Best Sitcom. Previously, in a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, it was placed thirteenth. British Film Institute TV100 URL accessed June 4th, 2006

Origins

Originally intended to be called "The Fighting Tigers", Dad's Army was based partly on Jimmy Perry's experiences in the Local Defence Volunteers (later known as the Home Guard), the film Whisky Galore!, and on the work of comedians such as Will Hay and Robb Wilton. 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, 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. Life support (article about Croft & Perry's writing relationship) by Stephanie Dennison, in The Observer, Sunday December 16, 2001, URL accessed June 4, 2006

Situation

The show was set in the fictional seaside town of Walmington-on-Sea, on the South Coast of England. (though it was mostly filmed in and around Thetford, Norfolk).Thetford tourist website discussing the reasons for shooting in Norfork, retrieved June 5th, 2006 Thus, the Home Guard were in the front line in the eventuality of an invasion by the enemy forces across the English Channel, which formed a backdrop to the series. 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 full army uniforms (the platoon were 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 by Paul Fox, the controller of BBC 1, that it was belittling the efforts of the Home Guard.Dad's Army at BFI Screen online, article by Anthony Clark, URL accessed June 4th, 2006 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 the then-present. Later episodes were largely self-contained, albeit referring to previous events and with additional character development.

Since the comedy was in many ways dependent for its effectiveness on the platoon's failure to participate actively in World War II, opposition to their activities had to come from another quarter, and this generally showed itself in the form of Air Raid Patrol Warden Hodges, although sometimes the Verger or Captain Square and the Eastgate platoon. However the group did have some encounters related to the war such as downed German planes, a U-boat crew, parachutes that may have been German, and German mines.

The humour ranged from the subtle (especially in the relationship between Mainwaring and his sergeant, Wilson, who also happened to be 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, in reference to Pike, at least once an episode. The first series occasionally included darker humour, reflecting the fact that, especially early in the war, members of the Home Guard were woefully underequipped and yet still prepared to have a crack at the German army. A poignant moment to this theme occurs in one of the "lost episodes" during which the platoon believes an invasion to be taking place, when Mainwaring and a few volunteers decide to stay in the village to hold off any German advance so information can be relayed back by the rest of the platoon; "Of course, that will be the end of us." says Mainwaring, "We know sir." replies Wilson, before getting on with the task in hand.

Characters

Captain George Mainwaring, (Arthur Lowe) - a local bank manager, who appointed himself leader of his town's contingent of Local Defence Volunteers. Although an ensemble piece, the series focused particularly upon Mainwaring. He can be pompous and laughable, but is essentially brave and well-intentioned
Sergeant Arthur Wilson (John Le Mesurier) - an upper-class bank clerk and colleague of Mainwaring. He is of a higher social standing than Mainwaring, which the writers exploited so as to derive comedy from the British class war.
Lance-Corporal Jack Jones (Clive Dunn) - a butcher and ex-solider. Jones was leader of the platoon's first section. Despite being the oldest member of the platoon, Jones demonstrates an almost boyish enthusiasm for combat and is the first to volunteer for anything.
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. Mainwaring often turned a blind eye to his profiteering, as he was able to supply useful items. However, he was disciplined several times by Captain Mainwaring for making jokes at inappropriate times.
Private Frank Pike (Ian Lavender) - a "soppy" boy and often the target of Mainwaring's derision ("You stupid boy!"), Pike was a junior bank clerk. He frequently threatens to set his mother on Mainwaring whenever he is shouted at or forced to do anything he doesn't want to do. It is implied that he is Wilson's illegitimate son.
Private James Frazer (John Laurie) - a dour Scottish coffin maker, Frazer was tight with money, and was known his pessimism.
Private Charles Godfrey (Arnold Ridley) - the platoon's medical orderly, Godfrey was an amiable, vague, lifelong bachelor who lived with his sisters in an idyllic cottage, and was a martyr to his weak bladder.
ARP Warden Bert Hodges (Bill Pertwee) - the platoon's major rival and nemesis. An uncompromising, grumpy greengrocer by day, and Chief Air Raid Warden by night, he relishes in teasing the platoon when they are caught in sticky situations. His nickname for Mainwaring is "Napoleon".
Mrs. Mavis Pike (Janet Davies) - Pike's mother and Sergeant Wilson's lover, she appeared in most episodes. She was fiercely protective of Pike and Wilson, to the point that she was accused of "mollycoddling" by Captain Mainwaring.
Reverend Timothy Farthing (Frank Williams) - the effeminate vicar of St. Aldhelm’s Church, he shares his church hall and office with Mainwaring's platoon, much to his dismay because he never gets to use it when he needs it.
Maurice Yeatman (Edward Sinclair) - Mr. Yeatman was the verger at St. Aldhelm's church and head of the Sea Scouts group, and was often hostile to the platoon. Labelled a "troublemaker" by Jones, he is ridiculously loyal to the vicar, and his good friend Mr. Hodges.

Music

The show's famous theme tune, "Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler?", was Jimmy Perry's idea, and was intended as a gentle pastiche of wartime songs. It is not uncommon for people to assume that the song genuinely dates from the war (as the other music heard in the series does) but this is not the case. Perry wrote the lyrics himself, and composed the music with Derek Taverner. Perry persuaded one of his childhood idols, popular wartime entertainer Bud Flanagan, to sing the theme for a fee of 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 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 catch us, I'm afraid you've missed the bus".Vinyl record: On the Air: 60 Years of BBC Theme Music, BBC Enterprises 1982 (track 4). The Dad's Army title sequences and theme are viewable in Realplayer at TV-Ark

The closing credits featured an instrumental march version of the song played by the band of the Coldstream Guards conducted by Trevor L. Sharpe, ending with the air-raid warning siren.

The series is also notable for its use of 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 for nine series and was broadcast over a period of nine years, with eighty episodes made in total, including three Christmas specials and an hour long special. At its peak in the early 1970s, the programme regularly gained audiences of 18.5 million.Museum of Broadcast History website, URL accessed 4th June, 2006 There were also four short specials broadcast as part of Christmas Night with the Stars in 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1972.

The missing episodes

A number of the early episodes of Dad's Army were wiped over by the BBC, as was standard practice at the time. However, as a series thought to have commercial potential overseas, the first series was offered for sale to broadcasters by BBC Enterprises. To this end, 16mm film recordings were made of the first six episodes by the BBC Engineering department before the master videotapes were wiped for re-use. In the event, series 1 sold very poorly and BBC Enterprises did not express interest in selling series 2 abroad - so no film recordings were made of any episodes for them. "Sgt. Wilson's Little Secret" was recorded onto 35mm film instead of videotape, either because it required additional editing (which was easier to perform with film before the advent of modern electronic editing methods) or because no videotape recording facilities were available on the day it was recorded. This inadvertently assured the episode's survival: being effectively a production made on film it fell within the BBC's then-current remit of keeping only filmed productions for posterity.Documentary: Dad's Army: Missing Presumed Wiped, BBC, 2001

Two other episodes from the second series were returned in 2001, ironically as 16mm film recordings of the type believed not to have been made from the second series. It has since been established that the two episodes were film recorded to show to executives at Columbia Pictures during discussions on the structure of the Dad's Army feature film (see below).

The other second series episodes are still missing and were probably lost forever once the original broadcast videotapes were wiped.The missing episodes at the BBC Treasure Hunt site, URL accessed June 4th, 2006 The only remaining (slim) hope is that the episodes may have been recorded during their original UK broadcasts by a person wealthy enough to afford an early videotape recorder such as a Shibaden or Sony CV-2000 machine, and also of sufficient means to be able to afford new tapes rather than wiping and reusing their existing recordings. The BBC is running a "Treasure Hunt" for the wiped episodes; they encourage anyone with copies to contact them at the Treasure Hunt Website. Tape wiping also affected the later, colour, series badly but recoveries of colour versions from overseas broadcasters such as in Australia and New Zealand have ensured there is only one casualty; "Room At The Bottom" from the third series. This episode exists as a 16mm monochrome film recording prepared once BBC Enterprises resumed their interest in selling the series overseas.

The film

As was the case with many British sitcoms of that era, in 1971 Dad's Army was made into a feature film. Backers Columbia Pictures imposed what seemed arbitrary changes, such as recasting Liz Frazer as Mavis Pike and filming outdoor scenes in Chalfont St Giles rather than Thetford, which made the cast unhappy. The director Norman Cohen, who was also responsible for the original 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 particularly happy with the result. Perry spent some 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 Studios and various locations. After filming the movie, the cast immediately returned to working on the fourth television series.

The film's UK premiere was on 12 March 1971 at the Columbia Theatre in 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.Richard Webber Dad's Army: A Celebration, (Virgin Publishing 1997), pp.164-169, ISBN 0753503077

The 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).

Dad's Army: A Nostalgic Music and Laughter Show of Britain's Finest Hour opened at Billingham in Cleveland 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. Richard Webber Dad's Army: A Celebration, (Virgin Publishing 1997), pp.178-180, ISBN 0753503077

The radio series

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 starred 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 roles of Mrs. Pike and Mrs. Fox 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. Dad's Army.tv page about the radio series, URL accessed June 4th, 2006

Knowles and Snoad also developed a radio series It Sticks Out Half a Mile, which told the story of 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

Awards

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. List of awards at IMDb, URL accessed June 4th, 2006

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.The final top-ten of Britain's Best Sitcom, URL accessed June 4th, 2006

Cultural impact

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 British defence in World War II, something which the series has certainly rectified.Richard Webber Dad's Army: A Celebration, (Virgin Publishing 1997), p.12, ISBN 0753503077 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".Deirdre MacDonald speaking to Arthur Lowe in the Radio Times March 18-24, 1972. Article from Dad's Army.tv, URL accessed June 4th, 2006

However, the popularity and impact of the series is as much down to the lovable and well crafted characters; Sergeant Wilson, for example, is a masterly exercise in understatement and Captain Mainwaring a clever portrayal of lower middle class pomposity. Each of the main characters are well executed by the proficient cast. Underlying the comedy is the portrayal of a group of ineffective but decent and civilised people who embody British virtues, similar to wartime propaganda of the era.

In popular culture

Other productions have included characters resembling members of the Dad's Army platoon for comic effect:

The 1987 movie Hope and Glory includes a scene in which members of the Home Guard, looking like characters from Dad's Army, bring an escaped barrage balloon under control.

In the "Corporal Punishment" episode of Blackadder Goes Forth, two minor characters named Corporal Jones and Private Frazer are introduced.

Characters called Mainwaring (Alec Linstead), Wilson (Terence Hardiman) and a clerk similar to Pike appear in a scene set in a 1940s bank in an episode of the 1990s time travel sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart. The central character, Gary Sparrow (played by Nicholas Lyndhurst), who is from the 1990s, is astounded to learn that the three are all members of the local Home Guard platoon, and sings some lines of "Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler?" at them.

Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier and John Laurie themselves made a cameo appearance as their Dad's Army characters in the 1973 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".^*

Many of the characters in the Ben Elton sitcom The Thin Blue Line can be compared with those of Dad's Army. Fowler's relationship with Grim is very similar to that of Captain Mainwaring to Warden Hodges, in that they are both on the same side yet enemies. Also, Constable Goody is rather like Private Pike in being a 'stupid boy' that irritates Fowler. Similar comparisons can be drawn from many of the minor characters. In the episode Rag Week, Fowler is briefly seen walking out of a shop called "Mainwaring's".

For three weeks in January 1971 Clive Dunn, dressed not unlike Corporal Jones out of uniform, was top of the UK music charts with the single "Grandad".

Jones's catchphrase "Don't panic!" may have inspired Douglas Adams to use the same phrase on the cover of the fictional Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the radio series, book, TV series, computer game and film of the same name.

Some of the characters appeared in the comic book Jack Staff, in flashbacks to the hero's activities during the war.

DVD Release

The BBC has previously released two "Best of" DVD sets, but it wasn't until September 2004 that the full series began to be released, with the first and surving spisodes of the second series episodes being released first, along with the documentary Missing Presumed Wiped. As of July 2006, seven out of nine series have been released, although the hour-long special "The Battle of the Giants" is yet to be included. The DVDs also include short individual biographical documentaries about the characters and their actors called We Are The Boys. In addition, the Columbia film adaptation is also available.

References

External links

Guides

Fansites

Miscellaneous

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