Dad's Army (sitcom)

Television series
German title	Dad's Army
Original title	Dad's Army
Country of production	United Kingdom
original language	English
Year (s)	1968-1977
length	30 minutes
Episodes	80 in 9 seasons
genre	Comedy
Theme music	Bud Flanagan : Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler?
idea	Jimmy Perry , David Croft
production	David Croft
First broadcast	July 31, 1968 to November 13, 1977 on BBC One
occupation
Arthur Lowe : Captain George Mainwaring John Le Mesurier : Sergeant Arthur Wilson Clive Dunn : Lance Corporal Jack Jones John Laurie : Private James Frazer James Beck : Private Joe Walker Arnold Ridley : Private Charles Godfrey Ian Lavender : Private Frank Pike

Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the British Home Guard during World War II . It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and firstbroadcaston BBC One between 1968 and 1977. 80 episodes were produced in nine seasons. There was also a one and a half hour film, a stage adaptation and a broadcast series on BBC Radio 4 .

The British Film Institute released a list of the Top 100 British TV Shows in 2000, with Dad's Army ranked 13th. In a 2004 BBC poll, Dad's Army was ranked fourth on Britain's Best Sitcoms . The series' memorable characters and recurring exclamations had a profound impact on UK pop culture. Acknowledging the series is seen as a memorial to the often forgotten British home defense during World War II.

action

Basic topic and structure

The series is set in the fictional town of Walmington-on-Sea on the south coast of England. A British Home Guard platoon made up of local volunteers was stationed there during World War II . The pathetic bunch of pensioners who are only partially fit for service and inexperienced greenhorns under the direction of the eager bank branch manager George Mainwaring would like to do its part to ensure that the German armed forces do not conquer England. The background to the plot is therefore the constant threat of a German invasion across the English Channel . In fact, the Dad's Army rarely comes into contact with the enemy. The men have to struggle much more with local problems.

The content of the individual episodes is only loosely related, the cross-episode plot progresses slowly. Usually the series reverts to the status quo ante at the end of an episode . The first scene of the pilot episode The Man and the Hour takes place in the present of 1968. After a brief introduction by the former Captain Mainwaring, the actual plot begins as a flashback. The narrative framework is not closed by a return to 1968 - even in the last episode. The first season describes the line-up and equipment of the train. Initially insufficiently equipped, the men later became fully uniformed members of the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment .

Characters

Captain George Mainwaring

The zealous and inflated leader of the local Home Guard platoon is a bank manager in civil life. He is politically conservative, strongly patriotic and takes himself and his social position very seriously. The fact that he never had any real combat experience - he only belonged to the Allied occupation forces after the armistice in 1918 - occasionally leads to tension with the war veterans and he is sometimes exposed to their teasing ("Hasn't got any medals!"; For example: "Hasn't got any medals!" Medals ! "). Mainwaring secretly envies Sergeant Wilson his charming and relaxed manner and therefore uses every opportunity to show him his rank as an officer. With great ambition and vigor he leads his group of volunteers, considers himself a brilliant tactician and wages his own war because of patriotic paranoia. His courage and sense of camaraderie are undisputed. He describes the moments in the troupe as the most beautiful of his day, but seems to be fleeing from an unhappy marriage with his wife Elizabeth, who does not appear in person in any episode .

Sergeant Arthur Wilson

Wilson is a charming, easygoing, but profound character. Both in the Home Guard and in his work at the bank, he ranks behind Mainwaring, although as a member of the upper class and a decorated war veteran (he served in the rank of captain in World War I ), he should actually be above him. With his calm, down-to-earth and often exuberantly polite manner, he forms the opposite pole to the overzealous captain. Often he recognizes the flaws in Mainwarings plans, which he overlooks, blinded by his excessive self-esteem; this leads to his recurring saying "Do you think that`s wise, sir? (Do you think that`s wise, sir?)". Furthermore, Wilson is a womanizer and gentleman and has an open relationship with Private Pike's mother Mavis.

Lance Corporal Jack Jones

Jones is the oldest in the Home Guard contingent . He has the right story ready for every situation and does not shy away from telling it with all debauchery; mostly they are based on his experiences in the Sudan war or other campaigns in which he took part under the reign of Queen Victoria . Despite his age, he develops almost childish enthusiasm in the face of impending combat operations and is always the first to volunteer for tasks. In civil life he is the local butcher and therefore has a notable position. He uses this within the Home Guard train, but also in Walmington to make himself heard, for example by threatening to cut meat rations or by pushing something outside the rationing under the counter. Despite his tried and tested combat and military experience, he is always the first (not infrequently the only one) to fall into total panic in any dangerous situation - even in moments of apparent danger. He loudly and furiously declaims: "Don´t panic, don´t panic ! (Don't panic, don't panic!) ".

Private James Frazer

Frazer is a Scottish coffin maker from the Isle of Barra and the local undertaker in later seasons. In this position he lives up to all clichés, be it his staring eyes or his regular prophecies of doom and destruction. Mostly loyal, but occasionally intrigues against Captain Mainwaring and appears as the only member of the platoon as an antagonist . Mostly Frazer mutinies against the captain and his ideas, only to then announce after the successful implementation of a plan under Mainware's direction that he has never doubted his authority. Nonetheless, he often calls the actions of others (especially the captain's) "rubbish!" And just as often calls Jones a "silly old fool!".

Private Joe Walker

The shrewd black market dealer Walker is the only one on the train who, due to his age and physical condition, should actually serve in the regular army, but (as it turns out in one of the three lost episodes of the series) was retired because of a corned beef allergy. As he himself admits in one episode, what he does is mostly "a bit over the edge of the law". However, since Walker occasionally provides the squad with useful equipment or otherwise supports them, Mainwaring often overlooks its shady activities or its sometimes lack of discipline. It is not uncommon for Walker's cunning, his organizational talent and the chutzpah shown to rescue the members of the Home Guard unit, especially Captain Mainwaring, out of a jam. Since the performer of the role, James Beck, passed away during the production of the sixth season, Walker is absent for all subsequent episodes.

Private Charles Godfrey

The tailor Godfrey is, albeit younger than Jones, the most frail member of the platoon. Associated with this are a weak bladder (often accompanied by the phrase "Excuse me, could I possibly be excused?"; For example: "Excuse me, would you excuse me?") And the tendency to doze off in the most inopportune situations. Ironically, he's the platoon's medic. As a committed and distinguished bachelor, he lives with his sisters and provides the home guard train with his sister Dolly's upside down cakes. He is also underestimated by his humble demeanor, and only one episode reveals that he was awarded a high honor for bravery in the First World War.

Private Frank Pike

At the age of 17-19, Pike is the youngest member of the Home Guard of Wlamington-on-Sea and a very naive mother's boy who is constantly pampered and admonished by his "helicopter mother". So he often gets into trouble out of stupidity or childishness or brings other members of the platoon into such, which the captain always comments with "You stupid boy!". He also reports to George Mainwaring as a bank clerk. Pike's mother obviously has an intimate relationship with Arthur Wilson ("... she keeps my ration book ..."; "... she keeps my ration book ..."), which is why Pike calls this "Uncle Arthur". The writers of the series confirmed after the end that Wilson is Pike's biological father.

ARP Warden William Hodges

The greengrocer and air raid warden ( ARP Warden ) Hodges is the main antagonist of the Home Guard and especially of Captain Mainwaring in many episodes . He enjoys raising members of the Home Guard, including a. when they get into dangerous situations, and mockingly calls the short Mainwaring Napoleon. He takes himself and the air raid very seriously and is not afraid to announce this in any way. Its main activity, however, is at most to vehemently point out the residents of Walmington to comply with the blackout measures, which serve to protect against bombing at night. This jealousy usually leads to his catchphrase "Put that light out!" - always shouted out in an aggressive tone.

Reverend Timothy Farthing

Farthing is the local vicar . With the honorable intention of helping the success of the war, he is making the Church meeting room and office available to the Home Guard as headquarters. Displeasure causes him that he never gets the premises when he needs them, as the air raid troops sometimes use the room for official events.

Kind of humor

The series draws much of its comedy from the ever-threatening but never occurring German invasion and the resulting non-participation of the Walmingtons Home Guard in World War II. The composition of the troop itself also provides material for funny interludes. The humor ranges from subtle British wit, which is particularly evident in the relationship between Mainwaring and Wilson, to pure slapstick ; the latter expresses itself z. B. in the fact that Jones always carries out the captain's instructions with a slight delay during formal duty or when he arrives and is therefore always the last to "stand still". As in many sitcoms, the Dad's Army characters often use repetitive sentences and running gags. Lance-Corporal Jones talks about his participation in the Sudan war and the local " fuzzy wuzzies " (for example: " Hottentots "), while Captain Mainwaring Private Pike in many episodes with " You stupid boy! "(" You stupid boy! ") Berated.

Very loving humor arises from the fact that Mainwaring in particular thinks through every problem with great seriousness and his “idiot” troop then want to help him with the solution with witty inspiration. Success is only achieved at the lowest level; at least they manage to stock up on rifles and also to capture two shot down German pilots. Overall, however, there is no relationship between effort and result.

production

Idea and Influences

In the late 1960s, Jimmy Perry wrote the script for the pilot episode of a series about the British Home Guard called The Fighting Tigers and showed it to David Croft, who was producing Hugh and I at the time, in which Perry also had a small role. " I remember handing him the script and a look of despair clouding over his face, as if to say, 'Oh no, not another one.' "(" I remember handing him the script and a look of despair on his face as if to say, 'Oh, no, not one more.' ") Perry described Croft's first reaction later of The Observer newspaper .

However, Croft's opinion changed after reading the script. He sent Perry's script to Michael Mills, the BBC's comedy program director, who commissioned the series. Mills was a major influence on the sitcom's early design; so he suggested, among other things, the title Dad's Army and renamed the scene from Brightsea-on-Sea to Walmington-on-Sea.

Since both Perry and Croft had served in the Home Guard and Air Raid Precautions (ARP) during World War II , they woven real experiences into the scripts. Croft later attributed the success of the series to this fact: “ I think our shows were successful because they were based on real-life. We never tried too hard to be funny. "(" I think our show was successful because it was based on what we actually experienced. We never tried with all our might to be funny. ")

occupation

In Perry and Croft's first deliberations, Thorley Walters had been planned as Captain Mainwaring. He and the second choice, Jon Pertwee , turned down the role. Arthur Lowe was thus only the third choice of the authors and was also rejected by Michael Mills, but completely filled the character that was more and more attributed to him. The character of Lance corporal Jack Jones was initially intended for another actor, namely Jack Haig . In the absence of Clive Dunn, Haig Jones impersonated half of the performances as part of the stage adaptation.

Perry initially intended the role of Joe Walker for himself in his script drafts, but then focused on writing the series and did not take on any role himself. Private Joe Walker has been cast with James Beck. This died surprisingly shortly after the completion of the shooting of the sixth season in 1973. His role was not re-cast, Walker was mentioned occasionally, but did not appear again. In the radio series produced at that time, his character was first voiced by Graham Stark, later by Larry Martyn. In the 1975 theater adaptation, John Bardon and not Larry Martyn surprisingly took over the role.

John Laurie was the only actor who actually served in the real-life Home Guard . Dunn, Lowe and Le Mesurier served in the regular Army during World War II, Laurie and Ridley during World War I.

role	actor
	series	Movie (1971)	Movie (2016)	radio	Theater (1975)
Captain George Mainwaring	Arthur Lowe	Arthur Lowe	Toby Jones	Arthur Lowe	Arthur Lowe
Sergeant Arthur Wilson	John Le Mesurier	John Le Mesurier	Bill Nighy	John Le Mesurier	John Le Mesurier
Lance Corporal Jack Jones	Clive Dunn	Clive Dunn	Tom Courtenay	Clive Dunn	Clive Dunn / Jack Haig
Private James Frazer	John Laurie	John Laurie	Bill Paterson	John Laurie	Hamish Roughead
Private Joe Walker	James Beck	James Beck	Daniel Mays	James Beck / Graham Stark / Larry Martyn	John Bardon
Private Charles Godfrey	Arnold Ridley	Arnold Ridley	Michael Gambon	Arnold Ridley	Arnold Ridley
Private Frank Pike	Ian Lavender	Ian Lavender	Blake Harrison	Ian Lavender	Ian Lavender
ARP Warden William Hodges	Bill Pertwee	Bill Pertwee	Martin Savage	Bill Pertwee	Bill Pertwee
Reverend Timothy Farthing	Frank Williams	Frank Williams	Frank Williams	Frank Williams	Frank Williams
Mrs. Mavis Pike	Janet Davies	Liz Fraser	Sarah Lancashire	Pearl Hackney	Janet Davies
Maurice Yeatman	Edward Sinclair	Edward Sinclair	-	Edward Sinclair	Edward Sinclair
Rose Winters	-	-	Catherine Zeta-Jones	-	-

Filming

The interior recordings of the episodes were made on a weekly basis in the studios of the TV Center in London. The average shooting time per episode was an hour and a half. The exterior shots of the town of Walmington-on-Sea were mostly filmed in Thetford, Norfolk, over a period of six weeks per season. During this time, the actors and crew stayed at the Bell and Old Anchor Hotel there .

The shooting of most of the seasons was also divided into two phases: one half of the season was carried out in spring between April and July, the second in autumn between October and November. During the Christmas season there was sometimes only a week between the recording and the broadcast of an episode.

David Croft originally planned to underlay the opening credits of the series with original recordings of fighting troops in World War II. The BBC managing director Paul Fox found this unsuitable for a comedy series. Instead, it was decided to use an animation made up of arrows with a swastika symbol trying to cross the English Channel on a map of the English Channel and being pushed back by an arrowhead with a Union Jack pattern.

→ see web links

music

The idea for the theme song Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler? by Jimmy Perry, it pays homage to wartime marching songs. The song is a composition by Perry and Derek Taverner and was recorded by Bud Flanagan , who died less than a year later. Lead actor Arthur Lowe recorded his own version of the song in 1969.

Occasionally, between the scenes, short excerpts from war songs are played that take up the topic of the respective situation.

Episodes

Dad's Army comprised a total of 80 episodes in nine seasons, which were broadcast over nine years mainly in the months of November and December on BBC One . The seasons were usually recorded in two phases from May to July and parallel to the broadcast from October to December of the respective year. At its peak in the early 1970s, the series had up to 18.5 million viewers.

Due to high material and storage costs, the BBC did not keep a proper archive until 1978. In addition to many other programs, some Dad's Army episodes were overwritten after the first broadcast and were lost. While the first season was copied on 16mm film for international marketing and was preserved, five episodes of the second season were not copied for further use before the originals recorded on quadruplex were transferred. The sixth episode of the second season, Sgt. Wilson's Little Secret , was recorded on 35mm film for reasons that were not fully understood and was thus retained.

Two of the five episodes believed to be lost were found in private collections in 2001 via the BBC Archive Treasure Hunt, which deals with the retrieval of destroyed programs, and given to the BBC. Another episode from the third season ( Room at the Bottom ) is only available in black and white on 16 mm film, but was digitally colorized in 2008. In the same year the soundtrack of the episode A Stripe for Frazer from season 2 was discovered . Only the soundtrack of the two short episodes from the Christmas special program Christmas with the Stars from 1968 and 1970 has been preserved.

In March 2019, the remaining three episodes "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Walker" (Season 2.3), "A Stripe for Frazer" (Season 2.5) and "Under Fire" (Season 2.6) were released by UKTV based on the original scripts newly filmed and broadcast for the first time in August 2019. The new line-up included a. Kevin McNally as Cpt. Mainwaring, Robert Bathurst as Sgt. Wilson and Kevin Eldon as Cprl. Jones.

Remarks

1. ↑ Since the beginning of the third season, the series has only been produced and broadcast in color.
2. ↑ Christmas Night with the Stars was a show broadcast exclusively at Christmas, in which short episodes of various BBC programs were shown. Dad's Army appeared on four of these specials (1968, 1969, 1970 and 1972).
3. ↑ Three episodes of the series were broadcast as "Christmas Special" regardless of the season. The first special aired BBC One after the fourth season, the other two between the eighth and ninth season. The Christmas Specials bridged longer breaks between the seasons.

Spin-offs

Movie

Movie
Original title	Dad's Army
Country of production	United Kingdom
original language	English
Publishing year	1971
length	95 minutes
Rod
Director	Norman Cohen
script	Jimmy Perry & David Croft
production	John R. Sloan
music	Wilfred Burns
camera	Terry Maher
cut	Willy Kemplen
occupation
see cast

In 1971, like many sitcoms of the time, a film about Dad's Army was made . He first describes the formation of the Home Guard and thus begins chronologically during the first season. The train then frees the residents of Walmington from being held hostage by German Wehrmacht soldiers.

Directed by Norman Cohen and originally written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft. Cohen and the production company Columbia Pictures added certain plot elements to give the film more speed and to adapt it to the demands of cinema. Neither the actors nor Perry and Croft were particularly pleased with the result.

There were also changes to the series in production: The role of Mavis Pike was cast with Liz Fraser instead of Janet Davies, and much to the displeasure of the actors, the outdoor shots took place in Chalfont St. Giles , not in Thetford. The rest of the recordings were made between August 10 and September 25, 1970 mainly in Shepperton Studios . The film premiered on March 12, 1971 at the Columbia Theater in London . The plan for a sequel under the title Dad's Army and the Secret U-Boat Base was not implemented.

In 2016 Oliver Parker shot another movie adaptation with Bill Nighy , Toby Jones and Catherine Zeta-Jones in the leading roles.

Broadcast series

67 of the 80 television episodes were recorded as radio versions for BBC Radio 4 between 1973 and 1975 with the voices of the original cast . Harold Snoad, who directed several episodes of the sitcom, and Michael Knowles directed production; the newscaster and commentator John Snagge acted as the narrator to help the listeners understand the situation of the episodes. The entire series was available in sixteen parts of four episodes each on cassette and CD . Since 2003 there has been a Collector's Edition for all three seasons of the radio series .

In the early 1980s, Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles planned a sequel to the radio series. A few years after the war it was to play in neighboring Frambourne-on-Sea. Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier were delighted to play their roles again. However, the former died after the pilot was recorded. Without Lowe, a total of 13 episodes were recorded, which also included Ian Lavender and Bill Pertwee. Le Mesurier died shortly after the recording work was finished.

Stage adaptation

Under the title Dad's Army: A Nostalgic Music and Laughter Show of Britain's Finest Hour , the series was adapted as a theatrical revue in 1975 due to its great success. The play was commissioned by impresario Bernard Delfont , Perry and Croft took over some of the sitcom's original scripts. The cast of the production in two acts was largely identical to that of the series; the role of Private Frazer was played by Hamish Roughead, not John Laurie, the late James Beck was replaced by John Bardon.

It premiered on September 4, 1975 at the Forum Theater in Billingham . After a two-week test phase and some subsequent changes, Roger Redfarn's production was relocated to the Shaftesbury Theater in London's West End . Between March and September 1976 a tour of ten stations followed through England. In 2004 the play was performed in Australia and New Zealand with Jon English in the leading role and under the title Dad's Army - The Musical . Another stage adaptation has been seen in the UK since 2007.

aftermath

criticism

The first episodes of the series were followed with great skepticism, as it was feared that they might make fun of the real Home Guard . Instead, the series became an accurate depiction and an honorable tribute.

The series still enjoys a large fan base today, as proven by various Internet portals, the sales figures for DVD publications and surveys.

Awards

In 1971, Dad's Army won the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA Television Award) in the Best Light Entertainment Production Team category. In 1973, 1974 and 1975 the series was nominated for Best Situation Comedy . Arthur Lowe was also nominated five times between 1970 and 1977 in the Best Light Entertainment Performance category for his role as Captain Mainwaring .

British Academy of Film and Television Arts Prize 1971

• BAFTA Television Award for Best Light Entertainment Production Team

Dad's Army was ranked 13th on the British Film Institute's list of the Top 100 British TV Shows in 2000. In a 2004 BBC poll, Dad's Army was ranked fourth on Britain's Best Sitcoms with 174,138 votes .

recognition

Captain George Mainwaring statue in Thetford, England

In December 2007, plans were released for a statue depicting Arthur Lowe in his role as Captain George Mainwaring. The life-size bronze sculpture, the work of sculptor Sean Hedges-Quinn, was unveiled on June 19, 2010 by Dad's Army author David Croft in Thetford , England . Most of the outdoor scenes in the series were taken there. The image was financed by the local Friends of Dad's Army Museum .

literature

• David Croft, Jimmy Perry, Richard Webber: The Complete AZ of Dad's Army . Orion, 2000, ISBN 0-7528-1838-4 .
• David Croft, Jimmy Perry, Richard Webber: Dad's Army: The Complete Scripts . Orion, 2003, ISBN 0-7528-6024-0 .
• Graham McCann: Dad's Army: The story of a classic television show . Fourth Estate, 2001, ISBN 1-84115-308-7 .

Web links

• Dad's Army in the Internet Movie Database (series)
• Dad's Army in the Internet Movie Database (film)
• Dad's Army (film) in the All Movie Guide (English)
• BBC Comedy - Dad's Army
• The Dad's Army Appreciation Society
• Opening credits of the series with title song in black and white and in color

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} The BFI TV 100. 2004, accessed on August 31, 2010 (English). 
2. ↑ ^{a b} BBC - Britain's Best Sitcoms. March 2004, accessed August 31, 2010 . 
3. ^ ^{A b} Stephanie Dennison: Life Support. In: The Observer. December 16, 2001, accessed August 31, 2010 . 
4. ^ Graham McCann, Dad's Army: The story of a classic television show . Fourth Estate, 2001, ISBN 1-84115-308-7 .
5. ↑ Dave Homewood: Dad's Army Invades The Stage! Retrieved August 31, 2010 . 
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Trivia on Dad's Army . Retrieved August 31, 2010 . 
7. ↑ Bless' Em All! by Arthur Lowe. Retrieved August 31, 2010 . 
8. ^ Lance Pettit: The Museum of Broadcast Communications: Dad's Army. Retrieved August 31, 2010 . 
9. ↑ Lost Dad's Army shows found. June 1, 2001, accessed August 31, 2010 . 
10. ↑ Dad's Army episode to be seen in color for first time in nearly 40 years. December 9, 2008, accessed August 20, 2010 . 
11. ^ The Missing Dad's Army. Retrieved August 31, 2010 . 
12. ^ Richard Webber: Dad's Army: A Celebration . Virgin Publishing, 1997, ISBN 0-7535-0307-7 .
13. ↑ It Sticks Out Half A Mile. Retrieved August 31, 2010 . 
14. ↑ Dominic Cavendish: Don't panic! Dad's Army on stage. September 29, 2007, accessed August 31, 2010 . 
15. ↑ Dad's Army to be revived on stage. April 18, 2007, accessed August 31, 2010 . 
16. ↑ dadsarmy.tv - Introduction. Retrieved August 31, 2010 . 
17. ^ Awards for Dad's Army. Retrieved August 31, 2010 . 
18. ↑ Dad's Army captain statue unveiled in Thetford. June 20, 2010, accessed August 31, 2010 .