My dad’s army pals

dads army

Dads Army cast (Image: BBC)

IT was the sitcom that made catchphrases of lines such as “We’re all doomed!”, “They don’t like it up ‘em”, and “Don’t panic!” Home Guard classic Dad’s Army, which first appeared on the BBC on July 31, 1968 ran for nine series and 80 episodes and drew audiences of more than 18 million at its peak, turning actors such as Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier into household names.

Even today’s regular Saturday night repeats attract around two million viewers.

More recently the wonderful characters created by the late Jimmy Perry and David Croft have been commemorated for the 50th anniversary in a new set of Royal Mail stamps.

So what can we put the series’ extraordinary longevity down to?

dads army

GOLD: Writers Jimmy Perry, left, and David Croft (Image: BBC)

“I think there’s a number of reasons,” says Frank Williams, who at 87 is, along with Ian Lavender (Private Pike), one of only two surviving regular cast members.

“The first is that Jimmy and David set all their comedies in the past so they never really date. Second, they wrote splendid scripts.

I’ve been in sitcoms when we’ve spent about two rehearsals rewriting.

In Dad’s Army the scripts were so good they didn’t need any amendments.

“Not only that but they created some wonderful characters whom you grew to love. You cared about them. Everyone had their favourites.”

He adds: “Jimmy and David were also very clever with the casting. They took the actor’s idiosyncrasies into account. The casting of Arthur Lowe as a slightly pompous grammar school man as the Captain, along with John Le Mesurier as his public school sergeant, led to some great comedy.”

Unlike many of today’s sitcoms which are primarily geared to a younger audience, Dad’s Army appeals to all generations.

“Every year we have Dad’s Army Appreciation Society events in Thetford, Norfolk (where the location scenes were shot) and the age range is tremendous.

It’s a show that can be enjoyed by old and young, grandparents and grandchildren alike,” says Williams.

“We have a great appetite for nostalgia. I think we long for a more tranquil time because, even though there was a war going on, in the show England was at peace with itself.”

Here the actor, who will always be best known as Rev Farthing, fondly remembers the platoon who made up Dad’s Army.

arthur lowe

ARTHUR LOWE (Captain Mainwaring) (Image: Royal Mail)

ARTHUR LOWE (Captain Mainwaring)

Arthur was a very funny mixture.

He could appear to be pompous, like Captain Mainwaring himself, but I don’t think he was. He certainly didn’t suffer fools gladly and there were occasions when he did take himself quite seriously.

There was one time when we were filming and fans came up for autographs.

Arthur’s response was “No, no, I don’t do that sort of thing when I’m working”.

Later that day some more fans came and Bill Pertwee [the ARP warden] overheard them discussing whom they should approach for autographs.

“‘Oh, there’s Arthur Lowe,” one of them said.

“Don’t ask him, he’s a miserable old toad,” another said.

Bill told this story at dinner with Arthur and his wife Joan present.

“There you go,” Joan said to Arthur, “that’s the impression you give people.”

But I always found him friendly.

He was generous too.

Arthur, Joan, me and Pamela Cundell [Mrs Fox] used to go out to dinner together and when it was time to pay, Arthur would invariably say “No, it’s on me, I’ve just done a commercial and the money’s very good.”

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JOHN LE MESURIER (Sergeant Wilson) (Image: Royal Mail)

JOHN LE MESURIER (Sergeant Wilson)

He was one of my favourite actors and one of the most delightful men you could ever wish to meet.

He was wonderfully laid-back and the lovely, gentle character he played was so much a part of him.

I remember one time we were on tour doing the stage version of Dad’s Army and John asked me what I did with my dirty washing.

“I take it to the laundrette,” I replied.

He then asked Teddy Sinclair, who played the verger, what he did.

He also said he took it to the laundrette.

“Oh, I don’t think I could do that, sit there and watch it all go round,” John said.

So I asked him what he did.

“I just leave it lying around and some kind person always sorts it out,” he replied.

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CLIVE DUNN (Lance-Corporal Jones) (Image: Royal Mail)

CLIVE DUNN (Lance-Corporal Jones)

I think the long rambling stories of Corporal Jones and the cut-away shots to Captain Mainwaring’s face and his bored expressions were one of the highlights of the series.

Clive was absolutely marvellous to do all that falling about.

He played one of the oldest members of the platoon and specialised in playing veterans but was actually one of the youngest members of the cast.

He was very experienced, having played in series such as Bootsie And Snudge and in The Tony Hancock Show.

I first met Clive and his wife Cilla when he was with the Players’ Theatre.

He was very popular there and I remember going for a meal with them and everyone buying him drinks.

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JAMES BECK (Private Walker) (Image: Royal Mail)

JAMES BECK (Private Walker)

He was a lovely actor and it was a great loss when he died so young [at the age of 44] in the summer of 1973.

I’ve no doubt that if he had lived he would have gone on to be one of our leading character actors as his career was really taking off.

He wasn’t a spiv like the character he played.

But like Walker he possessed enormous Cockney charm.

He was totally right for the part.

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ARNOLD RIDLEY (Private Godfrey) (Image: Royal Mail)

ARNOLD RIDLEY (Private Godfrey)

His son Nicholas wrote a book called Godfrey’s Ghost because he wanted Arnold’s grandchildren to know how their grandfather had served with distinction in two world wars.

Arnold also had an illustrious career as an actor and playwright, writing the very popular play The Ghost Train in the 1920s.

I can’t recall him ever “dropping off” to sleep during production, as Godfrey did, but he did say to me once when we doing the last series: “I don’t seem to do as much running about now as when we started!”

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IAN LAVENDER (Private Pike) (Image: Royal Mail)

IAN LAVENDER (Private Pike)

He did very well coming into the cast and giving such a good performance in what I believe was his first television series.

It would have been so easy for him to have been overawed at working with such experienced actors but he integrated very well with the others despite the age differences.

Ian was very much part of the team.

He was particularly friendly with John Laurie, whom I believe became the godfather to one of his children.

AND ME (Reverend Timothy Farthing)

I appeared in the first episode of series three in 1969, which was the first one in colour.

And right from the start I knew I was involved in something special.

All the cast got on very well together but I was particularly close friends with Teddy Sinclair, who played the verger and Bill Pertwee (ARP warden).

We were all antagonists of Captain Mainwaring and I think the conflict between him and us added to the comedy.

When we went on tour in 1976 Teddy, Bill, myself and an actor called Ronnie Grainge, who appeared in the stage show, went out a lot together and had a great time.

The years in which I appeared in Dad’s Army were the happiest in my life.

It was a wonderful experience.

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Post Author: martin

Martin is an enthusiastic programmer, a webdeveloper and a young entrepreneur. He is intereted into computers for a long time. In the age of 10 he has programmed his first website and since then he has been working on web technologies until now. He is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of BriefNews.eu and PCHealthBoost.info Online Magazines. His colleagues appreciate him as a passionate workhorse, a fan of new technologies, an eternal optimist and a dreamer, but especially the soul of the team for whom he can do anything in the world.

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