It remains one of the best loved and most iconic British sit-coms in television histoy, and next February will see the release of a new movie based on the mis-adventures of the Walmington on Sea Home Guard.
In 2004, Dad's Army was voted fourth 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.The series has influenced popular culture in the United Kingdom, with
the series' catchphrases and characters being well known. It highlighted
a 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
The new cast
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 Stars in 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1972.
The series was also made into a big screen movie in 1971. The film was popular enough for a sequel called Dad's Army and the Secret U Boat Base to be put into pre-production, but this eventually fell by the wayside and didn't get past the script stage.
The new movie version is directed by Oliver Parker and hopes are high for a classic movie - the casting is spot on as can be seen in the photographs of the original and new cast shown above.
The first trailer also looks very promising and I'm really looking forward to this one.
My first thought was, Oh My God, this can't be true...
I mean come on this is almost as bad as casting Tom Cruise as a tall, muscular ex - military policeman who gets into all kinds of scrapes, but you never know it could turn out OK.
Not you though Tom, you'll never be OK and you've really Reachered too far. I'd rather watch paint dry. Shit, I'd even sit through a Bon Jovi concert before watching you mutilate Lee Childs.
Jones now and the original
I'm talking about the fact that there is to be a big screen movie version of the iconic British sit-com, Dad's Army - and now the movie's received a boost with the news that it will be distributed by Universal. The film starts shooting this month and there is excitement at the seemingly superb casting. Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier were flawless as Captain Mainwaring and Sergeant Wilson and the actors chosen to reprise the iconic roles are enticing - Toby Jones as Mainwaring and Bill Nighy as Wilson. Both are excellent actors and have both the look and mannerisms of the originals. Tom Courtney as Corporal Jones also seems like perfect casting. All in all this film is looking more and more like it may something worth watching.
Perfect casting aside the new film has a lot to live up to.
Dad's Army ran on the BBC from 1968 to 1977 is widely considered to a classic of British TV. For many people, myself included, it is the NO 1 all time sit-com. For me it even beats Falty Towers in the LPM stakes - that's laughs per minute.Telling the story of a team of home guard volunteers, the show ran for
nine seasons and also produced a spin off big screen movie, as well as a
radio series and several stage plays.
So popular was the series that in June 2010, a statue (pictured) of
Captain George Mainwaring was erected in the Norfolk town of Thetford
where most of the TV series was 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 photo
taken.
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 Home Guard. Perry had been 17 years old when he
joined the 10th Hertfordshire
Battalion and with a mother who did not like him being out at night and
fearing he might catch cold. Thus, he bore more than a passing resemblance to
Whisky Galore!, 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.
the character of Frank Pike. An elderly lance corporal in the outfit
often referred to fighting under Kitchener against the "Fuzzy Wuzzies"
and proved to be a perfect model for Jones as played by the wonderful
Clive Dunn. Other influences were the film Whisky Galore!, 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.
The new film comes from a script by Hamish McColl and will be directed by Oliver Parker who recently scored hits with the new St. Trinian's movies.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this one, and I'm starting to feel that this one could be a hit. After all as a franchise Dad's Army is perfectly suited to the big screen. Back in the day a lot of Brit Sit-coms had spin off movies made and the Dad's Army movie was one of the better big screen outings for small screen sitcoms.
Ahh well, only time will tell.
Below, courtesy of You Tube, are some of Dad's Army's best moments
Well it's very nearly the entire collection - most of the second series are missing from the archives and only three episodes are included here, though the missing episodes do exist as audio and these recordings are included as special features. The show ran from 1968 - 1977, for 9 seasons with 80 episodes including a couple of Christmas specials And excluding the missing episodes I've watched them all since Christmas. It really does stand up as one of the best sit-coms ever made.
Season 7 is a the only weak season - perhaps because of the death of James Beck (Walker) towards the end of season six. A new character is brought in, the dippy welsh photographer Private Cheeseman. The problem is that the character's lines sound like Walker lines and sometimes the character is just too silly. Even in the slapstick world of Walmington-on-Sea the Taffy stands out like a sore thumb. Interestingly the episode in season six that they were working on when James Beck died, should have been canned as the episode makes no sense. Beck had shot the location footage but not the studio work, which results in him suddenly popping up mid episode when he wasn't seen earlier.
Season eight was a return to form, the Welsh character having vanished, and once again the group dynamic is correct - though James Beck's absence is noticed. Still season eight contains some classic episodes as did the following season, the last, when the actors really were showing their ages. John Le Mesurier especially seems to have aged by season 9. Ironically Godfrey, both the oldest actor and charater, doesn't seemed to have aged a day since the first episode.
And speaking of classic episodes - Keep Young and Beautiful always reduces me to tears of laughter. In this episode the older members of the troop use Fraiser's embalming fluid in order to hide their wrinkles. Menace from the Deep is another classic that showcases the Jones character, played wonderfully by Clive Dunn who, despite playing the aged butcher, was actually the third youngest member of the cast. The actor recently celebrated his 90th birthday which means he would have been in his forties when the show started. All in all there are too many classic episodes to bring attention to them all, but with the exception of the one poor season the show never missed.
The show was set during World War II and concentrated on the Home Guard (Originally called the local defence volunteers before the name was changed because the press claimed LDV stood for look, duck and vanish.) and although many real life men who had been members of the home guard initially objected to the show, it went onto become a national institution. The show was responsible for several catchphrases that entered the British lexicon - 'they don't like it up em', 'stupid boy', 'you're entering the realms of fantasy now', or the wonderfully pessimistic, 'we're doomed.'
The success of the show is in the characters and the fact that the viewer loves them all - Mainwaring, always the most pompous, shows his human side in several episodes and comes across as a decent man living in strange times, Sgt Wilson, brilliantly laid back but with hidden depths, Jones, the bloodthirsty veteran with a love of the cold steel, Godfrey so polite that he'd apologise after shooting a Nazi, Walker, the wide boy with a heart of gold, Fraiser the wild eyed undertaker with a penchant for idle gossip and Pike, the stupid boy. All in all its an ensemble made in comedy heaven.
Tesco's currently have the entire box set on offer for £35 which is an absolute giveaway - sitcom doesn't come much better than this.
They sure don't make em like they used to - more the pity. Dad's Army ran from 1968-1977 and featured one of the best known ensemble casts ever to appear on British television. I'm not sure how well known the series is in other countries, though I suspect it's Brutishness would make it unsuitable for most other territories.
The show centered around the Home Guard - initially called Local Defence Volunteers until an act of Parliament changed the name to the Home Guard because the press were making cracks that L.D.V actually stood for Look, Duck and Vanish. The leader of the squad is the pompous Captain Mannering, played wonderfully by Arthur Lowe. But Dad's Army's strength, and what makes it still watchable, is that all the supporting cast were so well realised. Clive Dunn was exceptional as Jonsey while John Laurie played the Scottish undertaker, Fraizer as a kind of Celtic Bela Lugosi. Other semi -regulars characters were the vicar, the church warden and the ARP Warden played by Bill Pertwee, cousin of Dr Who Jon Pertwee who was actually first choice to play Captain Mannering.
The first series, rarely shown on televison perhaps because it was made in black and white is well worth seeing - We see the initial troop coming together, including some fresh faces who didn't stay the course and were written out or simply vanished from the screen. The core group of characters though are all present and correct in the first episode. The DVD also contains the surviving three episodes of series three - these were the days when the BBC wiped shelves and shelves of tape losing many shows forever - and sound recordings of the remaining three episodes which do not exist in any other form. There is also an interesting documentary that looks at the policy of wiping old shows in order to reuse the tape.
Dad's Army is one of the greatest UK sit-coms ever made and all of the series are currently available on DVD but these formative episodes, rarely seen, are especially welcome.
