Dad’s Army
The characters of Dad’s Army (left to right): Private Pike, Private Frazer, ARP Warden Hodges (front), Private Godfrey, Captain Mainwaring (front), Private Walker, Corporal Jones and Sergeant Wilson
Format	Situation Comedy
Created by	Jimmy Perry and David Croft
Directed by	David Croft, Harold Snoad, Bob Spiers
Starring	(listed in closing credits) Arthur Lowe John Le Mesurier Clive Dunn John Laurie James Beck Arnold Ridley Ian Lavender Bill Pertwee Frank Williams Edward Sinclair
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	83 (3 lost) (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	David Croft
Running time	30 minutes per episode
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC-1
Original run	31 July 1968 – 13 November 1977

Dad’s Army was a British sitcom about the Home Guard in the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. [1] {fair use} File links The following pages link to this file: Dads Army ... This article is about a genre of comedy. ... Jimmy Perry (1923- ) is a writer and actor, most famous for writing the BBC sitcom Dads Army with David Croft. ... David Croft (born September 7, 1922 in Sandbanks, United Kingdom) is a writer, producer and actor. ... Arthur Lowe (22 September 1915 — 15 April 1982) was a BAFTA Award winning English actor. ... John Le Mesurier (Bedford, 5 April 1912 – Ramsgate, 15 November 1983), born John Charles Elton Le Mesurier De Somerys Halliley, was a BAFTA Award winning English actor. ... Clive Dunn OBE (born 9 January 1920) is a retired English actor, singer and entertainer best known for his role as Lance-Corporal Jack Jones in the BBC sitcom, Dads Army and Sam Cobbett in the Yorkshire Television Sitcom My Old Man. ... John Laurie (25 March 1897 - 23 June 1980) was an actor born in Dumfries, Scotland. ... This article does not adequately cite its references. ... Arnold Ridley (January 7, 1896 — March 12, 1984) was a British playwright and actor. ... Ian Lavender (born 16 February 1946) is a film and television actor best known for his role as Private Frank Pike in the BBC comedy series Dads Army. ... William Desmond Anthony Pertwee (born July 21, 1926) Amersham, Buckinghamshire, is a British comedy actor. ... Frank Williams (born 1931) was a British actor. ... Edward Sinclair (1914 - 29 August 1977) was a British actor most famous for his role as the verger in Dads Army. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... This is an episode list of the British sitcom Dads Army. ... BBC One (or BBC1 as it was formerly styled) is the oldest United Kingdom, and indeed, the world. ... A British sitcom is a situation comedy (sitcom) produced in the United Kingdom. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Jimmy Perry (1923- ) is a writer and actor, most famous for writing the BBC sitcom Dads Army with David Croft. ... David Croft (born September 7, 1922 in Sandbanks, United Kingdom) is a writer, producer and actor. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ...

The British 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 Lowe (1915–82), John Le Mesurier (1912–83), Arnold Ridley (also a veteran playwright; 1896–1984) and John Laurie (1897–1980). Relative youngsters in the regular cast were Ian Lavender (b.1946), Clive Dunn (b.1920), who was made-up to play the elderly Jones, and James Beck (1929–1973), the latter dying suddenly part way through the programme’s long run despite being one of the youngest cast members. Arthur Lowe (22 September 1915 — 15 April 1982) was a BAFTA Award winning English actor. ... John Le Mesurier (Bedford, 5 April 1912 – Ramsgate, 15 November 1983), born John Charles Elton Le Mesurier De Somerys Halliley, was a BAFTA Award winning English actor. ... Arnold Ridley (January 7, 1896 — March 12, 1984) was a British playwright and actor. ... John Laurie (25 March 1897 - 23 June 1980) was an actor born in Dumfries, Scotland. ... Ian Lavender (born 16 February 1946) is a film and television actor best known for his role as Private Frank Pike in the BBC comedy series Dads Army. ... Clive Dunn OBE (born 9 January 1920) is a retired English actor, singer and entertainer best known for his role as Lance-Corporal Jack Jones in the BBC sitcom, Dads Army and Sam Cobbett in the Yorkshire Television Sitcom My Old Man. ... This article does not adequately cite its references. ...

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.^[1] Britains Best Sitcom was a poll conducted in 2003 and 2004 by the BBC to identify the United Kingdoms best situation comedy. ... 100 Greatest British Television Programmes was a list compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute (BFI) chosen by a poll of industry professionals, to determine what were the greatest British television programmes of any genre ever to have been screened. ... The British Film Institute (BFI) is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to encourage the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout the United Kingdom, to promote their use as a record of contemporary life and manners, to promote education about film, television and...

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). Perry had been fifteen when he joined the 19th Hertfordshire Battalion and with a mother who didn't like him being out at night and fearing he might catch cold, he bore more than a passing resemblance to the Pike character he invented. An elderly lance corporal in the outfit was always going on about fighting for Kitchener against the "Fuzzy Wuzzies" and was a perfect role model for Jones. 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. Another influence was 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.^[2] A Home Guard is a part-time civilian reserve military force similar to a militia. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... It has been suggested that some sections of this article be split into a new article entitled Whisky Galore. ... A publicity shot for the film The Ghost of St. ... Oh, Mr Porter! (with minor variations in punctuation) can refer both to a song and a film inspired by the song. ... Born 28 August 1881 in Liverpool, Great Britain, Robb Wilton is a comedian whose work still stands up as remarkably affecting; his standard character was a procrastinating, work-shy impediment: the human face of bureaucracy. ... Hugh and I was a highly successful BBC sitcom of the 1960s in which Terry Scott and Hugh Lloyd played two friends who shared a house with the mother of one of them. ... Category: ...

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 didn't like Brightsea-on-Sea so the location was changed to Walmington-on-Sea. He was happy with the names for the characters Mainwaring, Godfrey and Pike but not with other names and he made suggestions: Private Jim Duck became Frazer, Joe Fish became Joe Walker and Jim Jones became Jack Jones. He also suggested adding a Scot to the mix. Jimmy Perry had produced the original idea but was in need of an experienced man to see it through. Mills suggested David Croft and so the successful partnership began.

Situation

The show was set in the fictional seaside town of Walmington-on-Sea, on the south coast of England. (though the external scenes were mostly filmed in and around Thetford, Norfolk).^[3] 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). Walmington-on-Sea was a fictional seaside resort where the BBC tv comedy series, BBC radio series and film Dads Army was based. ... Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland area of Norfolk, England. ... Norfolk (IPA: //) is a low-lying county in East Anglia in the east of southern England. ... For the Thoroughbred racehorse of the same name, see English Channel (horse). ... The Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment was a regiment of the British Army. ...

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.^[4] 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. // The Man and the Hour is the first & pilot episode of the British comedy series Dads Army that was originally transmitted on Wednesday 31 July 1968. ...

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 Precautions ARP 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. ARP can stand for: Address Resolution Protocol, a layer 3 computer network address discovery protocol Air Raid Precautions, in particular in the United Kingdom during World War II ARP Instruments, Inc. ...

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 "Stupid boy", in reference 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 still prepared to have a crack at the German Army. A poignant moment to this theme occurs in "The Battle of Godfrey’s Cottage" episode, during which the platoon believes an invasion to be taking place. 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 Frazer, before getting on with the task in hand. The Fuzzy Wuzzies were 19th century warriors of the Sudanese Mahdi. ...

Characters

Main article: List of characters in Dad's Army

Main characters This is a list of primary and significant recurring characters who were featured in the BBC sitcom Dads Army, which ran from 1968 - 1977. ...

• Captain George Mainwaring , pronounced “Mannering” (Arthur Lowe)—the pompous—if essentially brave and unerringly patriotic—local bank manager, Mainwaring appointed himself leader of his town’s contingent of Local Defence Volunteers. Born in Eastbourne in 1885, his father a proprietor of a modest little draper's shop in a side street (although he claimed a high class gentleman's outfitters on The Parade), his childhood was one of long struggle unlike his brash, sporty, effortlessly popular twin brother, Barry. He managed to win a scholarship to the local grammar school and afterwards joined the Eastbourne branch of Swallow's Bank as office boy and worked his way up to Chief Clerk. He did actually try to get into the war in 1914 but was rejected because of poor eyesight and after several more unsuccessful attempts was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in the Pioneer Corps in 1919. Of the platoon, he and Joe Walker were the only adult members with no prior combat experience, and, therefore, had no medals—a fact which sometimes caused tension with the other members of the Home Guard. He did, however, serve in the British Army of occupation in France, “during the whole of 1919—somebody had to clean up the mess.” In the early 1930s Mainwaring was promoted to the Manager of the Walmington-on-Sea branch of Swallow's Bank^[5] and set up home at 23, Lime Crescent in that town. Although an ensemble piece, the series focused particularly upon Mainwaring, who has invested all his efforts into the platoon as a way of escaping from an unhappy marriage to Elizabeth, daughter of a bishop, and a stalled career at the bank. Mainwaring always claimed he never got any further in his career because unlike Wilson he had not gone to the right school.

• Sergeant Arthur Wilson (John Le Mesurier)—a diffident, upper-class bank clerk who would quietly question Mainwaring's judgement ("Do you think that's wise?"). Wilson was nonetheless Mainwaring’s junior in the bank and on parade; his suave, understated social superiority, public school education and handsome looks led to a certain amount of jealousy on Mainwaring’s part. He was born in 1887 in a large rambling house in Gloucestershire and had an uncle in the House of Lords. An attentive nanny made his childhood idyllic and he got his education at the medium-sized Meadowbridge Public School. After failing the exam to enter the Indian Civil Service, he began life working in The City. After war broke out, Wilson joined the army in 1915 and served till 1918. During World War I he fought in the Royal Artillery at Mons, Gallipoli and the Somme. While in the first episode he claimed the rank of Sergeant, in the last episode he revealed that he had been a Captain. After the war he met and married one of Sir Charles Cochran's Young Ladies and she left him after the birth of their only daughter, who would grow up to serve in the WRNS. In the 1930s while working at the Weston-Super-Mare branch of Swallow's Bank, he met an attractive young widow, Mavis Pike, with whom he fathered a son. When promotion to Chief Clerk took him to Walmington-on-Sea under George Mainwaring, Mrs Pike followed with their young son, Frank.

• Lance-Corporal Jack Jones (Clive Dunn)—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 of Khartoum in the Sudan between 1896 and 1898, and also fought in World War I. By 1940 he worked as the town butcher, which occasionally enabled him to supplement his superiors’ meat ration. Jones was leader of the platoon’s first section. He has a story for every occasion, and will never hesitate in telling it, regardless of how long-winded or irrelevant it is. Despite being the oldest member of the platoon, Jones demonstrates an almost boyish enthusiasm for combat and is the first to volunteer for anything, no matter how ill-advised that may be. In the episode "Museum Piece" we find that Jones' 88 year old father is still alive and is watchman at the Peabody Museum of Historical Weapons. There is a mention of Jones' Elsie, so probably a wife^[6].

• Private Joe Walker (James Beck)—a black market “spiv,” Walker was the only fit, able-bodied man of military age in Walmington-on-Sea’s Home Guard. His absence from the regular armed forces was due to a corned beef allergy, evidenced in the episode “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker.” Mainwaring often turned a blind eye to his profiteering as he could sometimes supply the platoon (and Mainwaring) with useful items. On more than one occasion, Walker’s willingness to use underhand tactics allowed Mainwaring’s platoon to triumph over rivals in the Home Guard, Army and ARP. A chain-smoker of black market cigarettes, even when on parade, he was disciplined several times by Captain Mainwaring for making jokes at inappropriate times.

• Private Frank Pike (Ian Lavender)—a cosseted mother’s boy, constantly wearing a thick scarf with his uniform to prevent illness, and often the target of Mainwaring’s derision (“Stupid boy!”), Pike was a junior bank clerk. He called Wilson “Uncle Arthur,” and although never explicitly stated, it was often implied that Wilson and Pike’s mother were having a relationship. It was also occasionally suggested that Wilson was Pike’s father (although the writers only acknowledged this in interviews after the programme ended). He frequently threatens to set his mother on Mainwaring or Wilson whenever he is shouted at or forced to do anything he doesn’t want to do.

• Private James Frazer (John Laurie)—a dour Scottish coffin maker and a Chief Petty Officer on the HMS Defiant in the Royal Navy who fought at the Battle of Jutland (although his main duty was cooking), Frazer was tight with money, had wild staring eyes, and was known for issuing regular pronouncements of doom ("We're all doomed...aye"). In the early episodes Frazer was the keeper of a philately shop, but by series four the writers had decided that he should become the local undertaker, in keeping with his gloomy nature. He sometimes led rebellions against Mainwaring and was the only member of the platoon to be portrayed as a villain in episodes such as “A Soldier’s Farewell” and “The Two and a Half Feathers,” though for the most part he was loyal and well-intentioned.

• Private Charles Godfrey (Arnold Ridley)—the platoon’s medical orderly, who had served in World War I as a conscientious-objecting medical orderly, winning the Military Medal at the Battle of the Somme where he went out into No Man’s Land and saved several lives (as mentioned in the episode “Branded”) before becoming a tailor at the Army & Navy Stores where he had worked for 25 years. Godfrey said to be in his mid-late eighties was an amiable, vague, lifelong bachelor who lived with his sisters Dolly and Cissy in an idyllic cottage (Cherry Tree Cottage), and was a martyr to his weak bladder, leading to many requests to be “excused.” He was very loyal to Captain Mainwaring, except on one occasion when he took part in a plot to make Mainwaring’s feet hurt.

• ARP Warden William Hodges (Bill Pertwee)—the platoon’s major rival and nemesis. An uncompromising, grumpy greengrocer by day, and pompous and officious 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 was fiercely protective of Pike, to the point that she was accused of “mollycoddling” him—not without justification—by Captain Mainwaring. It is stated that Mrs. Pike met Arthur Wilson prior to Frank Pike’s birth, and also lived in Weston Super-Mare at the same time as Wilson, lending credence to the theory that Wilson is Pike’s father.

• 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.

• Private Sponge (Colin Bean)—Private Sponge had the thankless job of representing those members of the platoon not in Corporal Jones’ “first section.” A farmer by day, the long-suffering Sponge had few lines, but was a recognizable member of the platoon for most episodes in the series.

• Private Cheeseman (Talfryn Thomas)—The Welsh Private Cheeseman joined the Walmington-on-Sea platoon during the seventh series to compensate for the death of James Beck who played Private Walker. He joins the platoon as a “war correspondent” (W.C.) with the aim to write a series of articles on the local Home Guard units.

Captain George Mainwaring (pronounced Mannering) is a fictional bank manager and Home Guard platoon commander portrayed by Arthur Lowe on the BBC television sitcom Dads Army, set in the fictional seaside town of Walmington-on-Sea during World War II. He has become widely accepted and regarded as a... Arthur Lowe (22 September 1915 — 15 April 1982) was a BAFTA Award winning English actor. ... Mrs Elizabeth Mainwaring was the highly-strung and reclusive fictional wife of Captain George Mainwaring, of the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard, in the BBC TV comedy series Dads Army (1968-77). ... 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 Dads Army. ... John Le Mesurier (Bedford, 5 April 1912 – Ramsgate, 15 November 1983), born John Charles Elton Le Mesurier De Somerys Halliley, was a BAFTA Award winning English actor. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... The Royal Regiment of Artillery, generally known as the Royal Artillery (RA), is, despite its name, a corps of the British Army It is made up of a number of regiments. ... Combatants United Kingdom German Empire Commanders Sir John French Alexander von Kluck Strength 4 divisions 8 divisions Casualties 1,600 5,000 (estimate) The Battle of Mons (Dutch name for Mons is Bergen) was the first major action of the British Expeditionary Force in World War I. // Following the surrender... Combatants British Empire Australia British India Newfoundland New Zealand United Kingdom Egyptian labourers[1] France Senegal  Ottoman Empire Commanders Sir Ian Hamilton Lord Kitchener John de Robeck Otto von Sanders Mustafa Kemal Strength 5 divisions (initial) 16 divisions (final) 6 divisions (initial) 15 divisions (final) Casualties 252,000[2] 195... Somme is a French département, named after the Somme River, located in the north of France. ... Lance Corporal Jack Jones is a fictional Home Guard platoon lance-corporal and butcher portrayed by Clive Dunn in the BBC television sitcom Dads Army. ... Clive Dunn OBE (born 9 January 1920) is a retired English actor, singer and entertainer best known for his role as Lance-Corporal Jack Jones in the BBC sitcom, Dads Army and Sam Cobbett in the Yorkshire Television Sitcom My Old Man. ... Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum PC, KBE, KCB, ADC ( June 24, 1850 - June 5, 1916) was a British Field Marshal and statesman. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... // Preface At the beginning of World War II Britain imported 55 million tons of foodstuffs per year, including more than 50% of its meat, 70% of its cheese and sugar, nearly 80% of fruits and about 90% of cereals and fats. ... Private Joe Walker is a fictional black market spiv (or Wholesales Trader, as he politely puts it) and Home Guard platoon member portrayed by actor James Beck on the BBC television sitcom Dads Army. ... This article does not adequately cite its references. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into underground economy. ... Category: ... Corned beef is a cut of beef (usually brisket, but sometimes round or silverside) cured or pickled in a seasoned brine. ... The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker is an episode in the British comedy series Dads Army. ... The stupid boy Private Frank Pike is a fictional junior bank clerk and Home Guard platoon member portrayed by Ian Lavender on the BBC television sitcom Dads Army, set in the fictional seaside town of Walmington-On-Sea during World War Two. ... Ian Lavender (born 16 February 1946) is a film and television actor best known for his role as Private Frank Pike in the BBC comedy series Dads Army. ... Private James Frazer is a fictional Home Guard platoon member and undertaker portrayed by John Laurie on the BBC television sitcom Dads Army. ... John Laurie (25 March 1897 - 23 June 1980) was an actor born in Dumfries, Scotland. ... This article is about the country. ... Chief Petty Officer is a non-commissioned officer or equivalent in many navies. ... This article is about the navy of the United Kingdom. ... Combatants Grand Fleet of the Royal Navy High Seas Fleet of the Kaiserliche Marine Commanders Sir John Jellicoe Sir David Beatty Reinhard Scheer Franz von Hipper Strength 28 battleships 9 battlecruisers 8 heavy cruisers 26 light cruisers 78 destroyers 1 minelayer 1 seaplane carrier 16 battleships 5 battlecruisers 6 pre... Close examination of the Penny Red, left, reveals a 148 in the margin, indicating that it was printed with plate #148. ... This article is about the vocation of a mortician and the death metal band; for the World Wrestling Entertainment superstar, see The Undertaker. ... A Soldiers Farewell is the third episode of the fifth series of the British television sitcom Dads Army that was originally transmitted on 13 October 1972. ... The Two and a Half Feathers is the eighth episode of the fourth series of the British comedy series Dads Army that was originally transmitted on Friday 13 November 1970. ... Private Charles Godfrey MM is a fictional Home Guard platoon member and retired tailor portrayed by Arnold Ridley on the BBC television sitcom Dads Army. ... Arnold Ridley (January 7, 1896 — March 12, 1984) was a British playwright and actor. ... John T. Neufeld was a WWI conscientious objector sentenced to 15 years hard labour in the military prison at Leavenworth. ... The Military Medal was (until 1993) 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. ... Army & Navy Stores was the name of a department store group in the United Kingdom, the flagship of which was located on Victoria Street in London, England. ... Chief ARP Warden William Hodges, nearly always referred to as Hodges, is a fictional greengrocer and Chief Air Raid Warden portrayed by Bill Pertwee in the BBC television sitcom Dads Army. ... William Desmond Anthony Pertwee (born July 21, 1926) Amersham, Buckinghamshire, is a British comedy actor. ... Air Raid Precautions (ARP) was an organisation in the United Kingdom dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air-raids. ... Mrs. ... Janet Davies (1927–22 September 1986) was a British actress. ... The Reverend Timothy Farthing, nearly always referred to simply as The Vicar, is a fictional vicar portrayed by Frank Williams in the BBC television sitcom Dads Army. ... Frank Williams (born 1931) was a British actor. ... Vicariate redirects here. ... Mr Maurice Yeatman, played by Edward (“Teddy”) Sinclair (1914-77), was the obsequious verger of St Aldhelm’s Church, Walmington-on-Sea in the BBC TV comedy series, Dads Army (1968-77), set during the Second World War. ... Edward Sinclair (1914 - 29 August 1977) was a British actor most famous for his role as the verger in Dads Army. ... This is a traditional verger gown. ... Sea scouts are members of the international scouting movement, with a particular emphasis on sea-based activities. ... Colin Bean (b. ... Talfryn Thomas was a Welsh character actor best known for a variety of supporting rôles on British television of the 1970s. ... This article is about the country. ...

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. Bud Flanagan was a popular Wartime entertainer, born Chaim Reuven Weintrop 14th October 1896 in Whitechapel, the East End, London, England and died 20th October 1968. ...

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 of the theme appears as an Easter egg on the first series DVD release. ^[7] Arthur Lowe also recorded a full version of the theme.^[8] A virtual Easter egg is a hidden message or feature in an object such as a movie, book, CD, DVD, computer program, or video game. ...

The closing credits feature 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 sounding the 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. A 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. ... The Coldstream Guards is a regiment of the British Army, part of the Guards Division or Household Division. ... Thunderbolt 1000/1000T Civil Defense 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

Main article: List of Dad's Army 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.^[9] There were also four short specials broadcast as part of Christmas Night with the Stars in 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1972. This is an episode list of the British sitcom Dads Army. ...

The missing episodes

Main article: Dad's Army missing episodes

Up until 1978 the BBC did not have proper archival facilities for programmes recorded on video tape resulting in much material being wiped. While the Corporation has recovered many recordings from overseas broadcasters and private collectors, many are still missing. Dad's Army is less affected than most, but three second-series episodes of the show are now lost, and one third-series episode was filmed in colour but only exists in black and white. Two further series two episodes were believed to be lost until 2001. Two of the lost episodes have since been performed as part of the latest stage show. A few episodes of the long-running British sitcom television programme Dads Army are missing, with no known film or videotape copies existing. ... The video cassette recorder (or VCR, less popularly video tape recorder) is a type of video tape recorder that uses removable cassettes containing magnetic tape to record audio and video from a television broadcast so it can be played back later. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...

The film

Main article: Dad's Army (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 Fraser 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.^[10] Dads Army was a 1971 feature film based on the BBC television sitcom Dads Army. ... This is a list of British television sitcoms that have been adapted into cinema films, either during their original television run or afterwards. ... The Columbia Pictures logo from 1993 to the present Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. ... Liz Fraser (born August 14, 1933) is a British actress, from London. ... , Chalfont St Giles is a village in south east Buckinghamshire in the United Kingdom, on the edge of the Chilterns, 25 miles from London, and near to Seer Green, Jordans, Chalfont St Peter, Little Chalfont and Amersham. ... Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland area of Norfolk, England. ...

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 shooting the film, the cast immediately returned to working on the fourth television series. is the 222nd day of the year (223rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 268th day of the year (269th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Shepperton Studios, located in Shepperton, Middlesex, England is a film studio with a long history of film making. ...

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.^[11] is the 71st day of the year (72nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar, known as the year of cyclohexanol. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ...

The stage show

A poster advertising the stage show

Main article: Dad's Army (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 Bardon. Image File history File links Dad's_Army_SSposter. ... Image File history File links Dad's_Army_SSposter. ... A poster advertising the stage show Dads Army: A Nostalgic Music and Laughter Show of Britain’s Finest Hour was a 1975 stage adaptation of the BBC sitcom Dads Army. ... John Bardon, (born John Michael Jones, August 25, 1939 in Brentford, Middlesex) is an English stage and television actor. ...

Dad’s Army: A Nostalgic Music and Laughter Show of Britain’s Finest Hour opened at Billingham in County Durham 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. For people named Billingham, see Billingham (surname). ... County Durham is a county in north-east England. ... is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre in London, England, or sometimes more specifically for shows staged in the large theatres of Londons Theatreland. Along with New Yorks Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre... The Shaftesbury Theatre is located on Shaftesbury Ave in London, England. ... is the 275th day of the year (276th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Chesney Allen (April 5, 1893 _ November 13, 1982) was a popular British entertainer of the Second World War period. ... Flanagan and Allen were a British singing and comedy double act popular during World War II. Its members were Bud Flanagan (1896 - 1968) and Chesney Allen (1893 - 1982). ...

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.^[12] is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1976 Pick up sticks(MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jack Haig (1913–1989) was a British actor who specialised in supporting roles, mainly in TV comedy. ... Jeffrey Holland (born17 July 1946 in Walsall) is a British actor well known for roles in television sitcoms. ...

The stage show, billed as Dad’s Army—The Musical, was staged in Australia and toured New Zealand in 2004-2005, starring Jon English. Jon English. ...

In April 2007, a new stage show was announced with cast members including Leslie Grantham as Private Walker and Emmerdale actor Peter Martin as Captain Mainwaring.^[13] The production contains the episodes 'A Stripe for Frazer', 'Loneliness of the Long-Distance Walker', 'Room at the Bottom' and 'The Deadly Attachment'. Leslie Michael Grantham (born April 30, 1947, in Camberwell, England) is a British actor best known for playing Dirty Den Watts in the BBC soap opera EastEnders from 1985 to 1989 and again in 2003 to 2005. ... Private Joe Walker is a fictional black market spiv (or Wholesales Trader, as he politely puts it) and Home Guard platoon member portrayed by actor James Beck on the BBC television sitcom Dads Army. ... For the 1994 debut album by The Cardigans, see Emmerdale (album). ... Peter Martin is an English actor who was very famous in the 1980s for the slew of TV commercials for Jewsons Hardware. ... Captain George Mainwaring (pronounced Mannering) is a fictional bank manager and Home Guard platoon commander portrayed by Arthur Lowe on the BBC television sitcom Dads Army, set in the fictional seaside town of Walmington-on-Sea during World War II. He has become widely accepted and regarded as a...

The radio series

Main article: List of Dad's Army radio episodes

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 role of Mrs Fox and Pearl Hackney played the role of Mrs. Pike for example. The pilot episode was actually based on the revised version of events seen in the opening of the film version rather than the TV pilot. The entire radio series has been released on CD.^[14] This is an radio episode list of the British sitcom Dads Army. ... old Radio 4 logo BBC Radio 4 is a UK domestic radio station which broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. ... Harold Snoad (born August 28, 1935) is the creator of the British sitcom, Keeping Up Appearances. ... Michael Knowles (born in Spondon, Derbyshire, date unknown) is an English actor and scriptwriter, best know for his role as Captain Jonathan Ashwood, in the 1970s sitcom It Aint Half Hot Mum. He also played The Honourable Teddy Meldrum in the 1980s, in the BBC comedy drama You Rang... John Snagge reading the news c1944. ... Mollie Sugden (born Mary Isobel Sugden on 21 July 1922, in Keighley, Yorkshire) is an English comedy actress who found fame as saleswoman Betty Slocombe in the popular British sitcom Are You Being Served? (1972 - 1985). ... Mrs Fox is a minor character, played by the popular actress[1] Pamela Cundell[2] in Dads Army, a hugely popular situation comedy depicting life in wartime England that ran between 1968 and 1977 on BBC TV. In the first episode in which she appears[3] she is seen...

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. It 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 Dads Army, for which Snoad and Knowles had written radio adaptations. ...

Jimmy Perry wrote a one off 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. is the 154th day of the year (155th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ...

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 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.”^[15]. Earlier, Le Mesurier, Laurie, Beck, Ridley and Lavender had appeared as guests in the 22 April 1971 edition of The Morecambe and Wise Show on BBC2 playing pirates to Lowe’s captain in the Monty on the Bonty sketch. The cast also appeared in a 1970s public information film, in character but set in the modern day, showing how to cross the road safely at traffic lights. Morecambe and Wise were a famous British comic double act comprising Eric Morecambe OBE and Ernie Wise OBE. The act lasted four decades until Morecambes death in 1984. ... Sir Elton Hercules[1] John CBE[2] (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is a five-time Grammy and one-time Academy Award-winning English pop/rock singer, composer and pianist. ... is the 112th day of the year (113th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar, known as the year of cyclohexanol. ... For the BBC radio station, see BBC Radio 2. ... This article is about maritime piracy. ... Public Information Films (known as PIFs) are a series of government commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the UK. The US equivalent is the Public Service Announcement (PSAs). ... This article is about a traffic control device. ...

A pilot episode for an American remake called The Rear Guard was produced by ABC and broadcast on 10 August 1976, based on the episode “The Deadly Attachment.” However, it failed to make it past the pilot stage^[16]—probably due to the fact there was never a realistic chance of a German invasion of America, unlike Britain which faced the very real prospects of enemy landings, especially during 1940. 2002 identity of the ABC Circle logo, designed by Paul Rand in 1962. ... The Deadly Attachment is the first episode of the sixth series of the British television sitcom Dads Army. ...

Clive Dunn made occasional appearances as Corporal Jones at 1940s themed events in the 1980s and 1990s. Clive Dunn OBE (born 9 January 1920) is a retired English actor, singer and entertainer best known for his role as Lance-Corporal Jack Jones in the BBC sitcom, Dads Army and Sam Cobbett in the Yorkshire Television Sitcom My Old Man. ... Lance Corporal Jack Jones is a fictional Home Guard platoon lance-corporal and butcher portrayed by Clive Dunn in the BBC television sitcom Dads Army. ...

Memorabilia

As was common with popular TV series, various forms of memorabilia and merchandise were released throughout the run and continued many years after.

• At least 10 jigsaw puzzles with pictures from the TV series.
• A set of 25 cigarette cards featuring scenes from the film was released in 1971.
• Two board games, one as a promotion by Ovaltine in 1971 and another in 1974.
• A Pan/Piccolo book of their adventures in comic form with storylines by R.A.G Clarke and pictures by Bill Titcombe. It was released in 1973 and cost 20p in the UK. It contained six stories.
• Models of Jones’ and Hodges’ vans, a Walmington-on-Sea taxi, and a Walmington newspaper van were part of a Radio Times promotion.
• Corgi released 1:50 scale models of a Thornycroft van as Jones’ butcher van and Bedford 0 Series as Hodges’ van. Each came with a figurine of the character.
• The Imar Models series of 1:32 scale WW2 figurines includes a “Home Guard Captain” which, although not advertised as such, bears a striking resemblance to Captain Mainwaring.
• Foundry Models released a series of Home Guard figurines as part of the “England Invaded!” series. Although not directly advertised as such, the figurines were clearly based on characters from the series. Available were different models depicting members of the platoon (Mainwaring, Wilson, Pike, Frazer, Jones and Godfrey) in various poses, along with a “civilian” collection featuring figurines based on Hodges, the Vicar, Verger and Mrs Pike ^[17].

A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of numerous small, often oddly shaped, interlocking and tesellating pieces. ... Cigarette Cards were issued by tobacco manufacturers both to protect the cigarettes by stiffening the pack, and also to gain customer loyalty to their particular brand of cigarettes. ... A board game is any game played with a premarked surface, with counters or pieces that are moved across the board. ... Ovaltine is a brand of sweetened milk flavoring product made with sugar (except in Switzerland), malt extract, cocoa, and whey. ... Current Radio Times logo Radio Times is the BBCs weekly television and radio programme listings magazine. ... The Corgi logo A Corgi Citroën 2CV Corgi Cars was launched in 1956 as a new range of die cast toy model cars by Mettoy Playcraft LTD, the toy car company founded in 1936. ... Thornycroft was a United Kingdom-based vehicle manufacturer which built coaches, buses, and trucks from 1896 until 1977. ... Lance Corporal Jack Jones is a fictional Home Guard platoon lance-corporal and butcher portrayed by Clive Dunn in the BBC television sitcom Dads Army. ... Bedford was the first to use the Griffin logo Bedford Six WLG 2. ... Chief ARP Warden Bert Hodges, nearly always referred to as Hodges, is a fictional greengrocer and Chief Air Raid Warden portrayed by Bill Pertwee in the BBC television sitcom Dads Army. ... Captain George Mainwaring (pronounced Mannering) is a fictional bank manager and Home Guard platoon commander portrayed by Arthur Lowe on the BBC television sitcom Dads Army, set in the fictional seaside town of Walmington-on-Sea during World War II. He has become widely accepted and regarded as a...

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.^[18] The British Academy Television Awards, also known as the BAFTAs or, to differentiate them from the BAFTA Film Awards, the BAFTA Television Awards, are the most prestigious awards given in the British television industry, analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States. ...

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.^[19] The British Film Institute (BFI) is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to encourage the development of the arts of film, television and the moving image throughout the United Kingdom, to promote their use as a record of contemporary life and manners, to promote education about film, television and... 100 Greatest British Television Programmes was a list compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute (BFI) chosen by a poll of industry professionals, to determine what were the greatest British television programmes of any genre ever to have been screened. ... Phill Jupitus (born March 6, 1962 in Newport, Isle of Wight) is a British comedian. ... Britains Best Sitcom was a poll conducted in 2003 and 2004 by the BBC to identify the United Kingdoms best situation comedy. ...

Cultural Influence

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Dad's Army

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. Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is one of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation, running on MediaWiki software. ...

Jimmy Perry recalls that before writing the sitcom, the Home Guard was a largely forgotten aspect of Britain's defence in World War II, something which the series has certainly rectified.^[20] In a 1972 Radio Times interview, Arthur Lowe expresses surprise at the programme’s success; Current Radio Times logo Radio Times is the BBCs weekly television and radio programme listings magazine. ...

“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.”^[21]

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. Similarly, 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. Some of the characters have also appeared in the comic book Jack Staff in flashbacks to the hero’s activities during the war. I personally think that this is one of the best memoir of war films that you could ever watch. ... US Marine Corps barrage balloon, Parris Island, May 1942 A barrage balloon is a large balloon tethered with metal cables, used to defend against bombardment by aircraft by damaging the aircraft on collision with the cables. ... Terrence Hardiman (born 6th April, 1937 in London) is a British actor, sometimes wrongly credited as Terence Hardiman (his autograph clearly shows the correct spelling). ... Time travel is a concept that has long fascinated humanity—whether it is Merlin experiencing time backwards, or religious traditions like Mohammeds trip to Jerusalem and ascent to heaven, returning before a glass knocked over had spilt its contents. ... A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. ... Goodnight Sweetheart was a British sitcom starring Nicholas Lyndhurst as Gary Sparrow, an ordinary modern man who discovers a time portal in Stepney, in the East End of London that allows him to travel back to the Second World War. ... Nicholas Lyndhurst (born April 21, 1961 in Emsworth, Hampshire) is an English actor. ... Jack Staff is a British superhero created by comic book writer/artist Paul Grist. ...

Several of Ben Elton’s productions have featured characters inspired by Dad’s Army. In the Blackadder Goes Forth episode “Corporal Punishment,” two minor characters named Corporal Jones and Private Frazer are introduced. Also in this series, the title and credit music are performed by an army marching band (The Band of the 3rd Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment), as in Dad’s Army. 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.” Benjamin Charles Elton (born 3 May 1959) is an English comedian, writer and director. ... Blackadder Goes Forth was the fourth and final series of the BBC situation comedy Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 28 September to 2 November 1989. ... Benjamin Charles Elton (born 3 May 1959) is an English comedian, writer and director. ... This article is about the British sitcom. ...

In addition, 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. Douglas Noël Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author, comic radio dramatist, and musician. ... The cover of the first novel in the Hitchhikers series, from a late 1990s printing. ...

Bressingham Steam & Gardens in Norfolk, England has a large Dad’s Army-themed display with replicas of the church hall and vicar’s office, Frazer’s Workshop and Funeral Directors, Swallow’s Bank, Jones’ butcher's shop, Post Office and stores, Francis Cupiss printers and David Cooke toyshop. The museum now has many of the vehicles used in the TV series in its collection including Jones’ butcher's van, motorcycles, traction engines and fire engines. 70013, Oliver Cromwell, at Bressingham, May 2004 Bressingham Steam & Gardens is a steam museum and garden centre located at Bressingham, west of Diss in Norfolk, England. ... Norfolk (IPA: //) is a low-lying county in East Anglia in the east of southern England. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ...

Ian Botham famously referred to the Australian national cricket team as a Dad's Army before the 2006-2007 Ashes series, suggesting the Australian players were too old. Australia won the series 5-0. The Arsenal defence of the 1990s was, as an ageing group of long-established players, also called Dad's Army by numerous TV summarisers. Sir Ian Terence Botham, OBE, (born 24 November 1955) is a retired England Test cricketer and Test team captain, and current cricket commentator. ... The Australian cricket team is today regarded as the dominant team in world cricket. ... See English cricket team in Australia in 2006-07 for an overview of the entire English tour The logo for the 2006/7 Ashes Series The 2006-07 cricket series between Australia and England for The Ashes is currently being played in Australia, from 23 November 2006 to 6 January... Arsenal Football Club (also known as Arsenal, The Arsenal or The Gunners) are an English professional football club based in Holloway, north London. ...

Media releases

Main articles: Dad’s Army books, Dad’s Army DVD and video releases and Dad’s Army audio releases

The BBC released two "Best of" DVD sets in October 2001 and September 2002, but it wasn’t 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. 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. // Publishing annuals based on a popular television series was common in the 1970s. ... Below is a list of all the Dads Army DVD and video releases so far. ... Since the 1990s, the BBC have been releasing the original radio episodes. ... DVD (also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is a popular optical disc storage media format. ...

References

The Bank of Liverpool was founded in 1831 in Liverpool, England. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Mrs Fox is a minor character, played by the popular actress[1] Pamela Cundell[2] in Dads Army, a hugely popular situation comedy depicting life in wartime England that ran between 1968 and 1977 on BBC TV. In the first episode in which she appears[3] she is seen...

Further reading

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

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Dad's Army

BBC Portal

Guides Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is one of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation, running on MediaWiki software. ... Image File history File links Portal. ...

• Dad’s Army at the BBC Guide to Comedy
• Dad’s Army at the Internet Movie Database
• Dad’s Army at TV.com
• Dad’s Army at the British Film Institute Screen Online
• Dad’s Army at the Encyclopedia of Television
• Whispers from Walmington, the Dad’s Army web site
• - Dad's Army

Miscellaneous

• BBC Treasure Hunt site
• Guardian article—Jimmy Perry & David Croft talk about their writing relationship
• Home Guard history and photographs of UK World War II invasion defences
• Bressingham Steam and Gardens Dad’s Army exhibition
• Dad's Army Appreciation Society