Dad's Army

[kg redhead]

gentle wartime comedy with the Walmington-on-Sea homeguard platoon...

[kg redhead]

Dad’s Army was a British sitcom about the Home Guard in World War II, written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. 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 13th.

Dad's Army was based partly on Jimmy Perry's experiences in the Local Defence Volunteers (later known as the Home Guard), partly on the film Whisky Galore!, and partly on the work of comedians such as Will Hay and Robb Wilton. 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 (1929-73), the last dying suddenly part way through the programme's long run despite being one of the youngest cast members.

Dad's Army was often repeated several years after it was originally shown, and during the 1990s it became widely regarded (along with Morecambe and Wise) as representing a "Golden Age" of British television.

Although later episodes were self-contained, 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 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. [1] After relating 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.

The show was set in the fictional seaside town of Warmington-on-Sea. The county was never specified, but it was near another town called Eastgate, and was also mentioned as being near Hastings on the south coast of England. The cap badges of the various Home Guard platoons are those of The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) (The colonel, Captain Square) and The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment (Captain Mainwaring etc).

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, 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.

The show's 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 from that recorded by Flanagan. There is an abrupt but inconspicuous edit removing, 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". The closing credits featured the same song played as a march by the band of the Coldstream Guards conducted by Trevor L. Sharpe.