Dad's Army ''Dad's Army'' is a British television sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, and originally broadcast on BBC1 from 31 July 1968 to 13 November 1977. It ran fo ...

'' is a

British sitcom A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television. Most British sitcoms are recorded on studio sets, while some have an element of location filming. A handful are made almost exclusively on location ...

about the

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting w ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, produced by David Croft, and written by David Croft and

Jimmy Perry James Perry, (20 September 1923 – 23 October 2016)Simon Morgan-Russell, "Perry, James (Jimmy) (1923–2016)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Jan 202available online Retrieved 25 August 2020. was an Engli ...

. Set in the fictional seaside town of

Walmington-on-Sea Walmington-on-Sea is a fictional seaside resort that is the setting of ''Dad's Army'', including the BBC Television sitcom (1968-1977), the BBC Radio 4 series and two feature films (1971 and 2016). Walmington-on-Sea is on the south coast of Engl ...

, located near

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the l ...

, it follows a well-meaning platoon of men ineligible for active service as they serve as Britain's "last line of defence". The series was broadcast on BBC1 from 31 July 1968 to 13 November 1977, a total of 80 episodes spread over 9 series, including 3 Christmas specials and 3 missing episodes. 4 short Christmas sketches were also broadcast as part of ''

Christmas Night with the Stars ''Christmas Night with the Stars'' is a television show broadcast each Christmas night by the BBC from 1958 to 1972 (with the exception of 1961, 1965 and 1966). The show was hosted each year by a leading star of BBC TV and featured specially made s ...

''. The first 2 series (Series 1 to Series 2) were broadcast in black and white, from 31 July 1968 to 5 April 1969 and the next 7 series (Series 3 to Series 9) were broadcast in colour, from 11 September 1969 to 13 November 1977. Episodes ran for 30 minutes each, with some exceptions: the 1971 Christmas special "

Battle of the Giants! "Battle of the Giants!" is the first special Christmas episode of the British comedy series ''Dad's Army''. It was originally transmitted on 27 December 1971. The episode was recorded 19 October 1971. Synopsis After being insulted by Captain Squ ...

" aired on 27 December 1971 ran for 60 minutes, the 1975 Christmas special " My Brother and I" aired on 26 December 1975 ran for 40 minutes and the final ever episode of Series 9 in 1977 "

Never Too Old "Never Too Old" is the last episode of the ninth and final series of the British comedy series ''Dad's Army''. It was originally transmitted on Sunday 13 November 1977, the same day of the Remembrance Sunday 1977 Commemorations. Synopsis A we ...

" aired on 13 November 1977 ran for 35 minutes. 5 episodes of series 2 were not retained by the

BBC Archives BBC Archives are collections documenting the BBC's broadcasting history, including copies of television and radio broadcasts, internal documents, photographs, online content, sheet music, commercially available music, BBC products (including ...

, but two of those episodes, "

Operation Kilt "Operation Kilt" is an episode in the British comedy series '' Dad's Army''. It was originally transmitted on Saturday 1 March 1969. Synopsis The platoon have to defend the church hall from a platoon of Highlanders on an exercise. Plot Captain ...

" and "

The Battle of Godfrey's Cottage "The Battle of Godfrey's Cottage" is an episode in the British comedy series ''Dad's Army''. It was originally transmitted on Saturday 8 March 1969. Synopsis The church bells are to be removed to provide metal for the war effort, so the vicar h ...

", were located in 2001. An audio recording of "

A Stripe for Frazer "A Stripe for Frazer" is a missing episode of the British television comedy series '' Dad's Army''. It was originally transmitted on 29 March 1969. Of the three missing ''Dad's Army'' episodes (all from the second series) it is the only one to ...

", one of the three missing episodes, was discovered in 2008 and an animated version of it was released in February 2016. An episode of series 3, "Room at the Bottom", was broadcast in colour but only a black and white copy survives in the archives. The episode was restored in 2008 using

colour recovery Colour recovery (or colour restoration) is a process which can restore lost colour to television programmes which were originally transmitted from the colour video tape which the original master was recorded on during final production prior broadc ...

. All interior studio scenes for the nine series, Christmas specials and the Christmas Night with the Stars specials were recorded in the BBC Television Centre in West London, where the production used many of the eight main television studios there, to record the show. Many exterior scenes were filmed in a studio, but when location recordings were made, they were done in Norfolk, with the production team basing themselves in the small Norfolk town of

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , in 2015 had a population of 24, ...

. Every ''Dad’s Army'' episode comprises the following cast members:

Arthur Lowe Arthur Lowe (22 September 1915 – 15 April 1982) was an English actor. His acting career spanned 36 years, including starring roles in numerous theatre and television productions. He played Captain Mainwaring in the British sitcom '' D ...

(Captain George Mainwaring)

John Le Mesurier John Le Mesurier (, born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley; 5 April 191215 November 1983) was an English actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his comedic role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the BBC television situation c ...

(Sergeant Arthur Wilson),

Clive Dunn Clive Robert Benjamin Dunn (9 January 19206 November 2012) was an English actor. Although he was only 48 and one of the youngest cast members, he was cast in a role many years his senior, as the elderly Lance Corporal Jones in the BBC sitcom ' ...

(Lance Corporal Jack Jones),

John Laurie John Paton Laurie (25 March 1897 – 23 June 1980) was a Scottish actor. In the course of his career, Laurie performed on the stage and in films as well as television. He is perhaps best remembered for his role in the sitcom '' Dad's Army'' (19 ...

(Private James Frazer),

Arnold Ridley William Arnold Ridley, OBE (7 January 1896 – 12 March 1984) was an English playwright and actor, earlier in his career known for writing the play '' The Ghost Train'' and later in life in the British TV sitcom ''Dad's Army'' (1968–1977) as ...

(Private Charles Godfrey) and

Ian Lavender Arthur Ian Lavender (born 16 February 1946) is an English stage, film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Private Pike in the BBC sitcom '' Dad's Army'', and is the last surviving major cast member of the series following t ...

(Private Frank Pike) appeared in all 80 episodes of the wartime sitcom, ranging from " The Man and the Hour" in 1968 to "

" in 1977, while

James Beck Stanley James Carroll Beck (21 February 1929 – 6 August 1973) was an English actor who played the role of Private Walker, a cockney spiv, in the BBC sitcom ''Dad's Army'' from the show's beginning in 1968 until his sudden death in 1973. Ea ...

(Private Joe Walker) appeared in 59 episodes leading up to his sudden death in 1973, ranging from "The Man and the Hour" in 1968 to " Things that Go Bump in the Night" in 1973.

Series overview

Episodes

Black and White Series (1968-1969)

Series 1 (1968)

Series 2 (1969)

Colour Series (1969-1977)

Series 3 (1969)

Series 4 (1970)

Christmas Special (1971)

Series 5 (1972)

Series 6 (1973)

Series 7 (1974)

Series 8 (1975)

Christmas Specials (1975–1976)

Series 9 (1977)

Sketches and short films

'', broadcast annually on BBC One on Christmas Day, included sketches from ''Dad's Army'' in four years: * '' Untitled Christmas Short'' in 1968 * '' Resisting the Aggressor Down the Ages'' in 1969 * '' Cornish Floral Dance'' in 1970 * '' Broadcast to the Empire'' in 1972. The 1968 sketch was broadcast in black and white, and the others were broadcast in colour. The 1968 and 1970 sketches are lost from the BBC Archives but they survive in audio. The 1968 sketch ran for nine minutes. The 1969 sketch ran for twenty minutes, whilst the 1970 and 1972 sketches ran for ten minutes each. The '' Cornish Floral Dance'' was again performed for the

Royal Variety Performance The ''Royal Variety Performance'' is a televised variety show held annually in the United Kingdom to raise money for the Royal Variety Charity (of which King Charles III is life-patron). It is attended by senior members of the British royal ...

of 1975. This version is extant and can be found online. In 1974 and 1977, the cast of ''Dad's Army'' appeared in-character for

public information film Public information films (PIFs) are a series of government-commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the United Kingdom. The name is sometimes also applied, ''faute de mieux'', to similar films from other countries, ...

s commissioned by the

Central Office of Information The Central Office of Information (COI) was the UK government's marketing and communications agency. Its Chief Executive reported to the Minister for the Cabinet Office. It was a non-ministerial department, and became an executive agency and a ...

to instruct viewers how to successfully use

pelican crossing A pelican crossing, or archaically pelicon crossing (PEdestrian LIght CONtrolled), is a type of pedestrian crossing with traffic signals for both pedestrians and vehicular traffic, activated by call buttons for pedestrians, with the walk signal ...

References

Sources

* *

External links

''Dad's Army'' homepage on the BBC website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dad's Army episodes, List of Dad's Army Lists of British sitcom episodes