"Shooting Pains" is the sixth and final episode of the first series of the
British comedy series
Television comedy is a category of broadcasting that has been present since the early days of entertainment media. While there are several genres of comedy, some of the first ones aired were variety shows. One of the first Television in the United ...
Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on Wednesday 11 September 1968.
Synopsis
The
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 E ...
platoon is selected to provide the guard of honour for
Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
's visit to the review the area's coastal fortifications, but a poor show at the shooting range prompts the irascible Major Regan to consider using the Eastgate platoon instead. A shooting contest between Walmington and Eastgate will settle the matter.
Plot
Captain Mainwaring and
Sergeant Wilson are in the bank manager's office. Mainwaring is carrying a pistol on a ridiculous improvised holster, which is supposed to allow a
fast draw, but it does not work when he tries a demonstration, and he is then subsequently forced to take the pistol out in order to sit down. They are discussing the upcoming shooting practice (the previous session was a disaster; the platoon having shot out all the tyres, including the spare, on the Major's car) when Mainwaring opens a letter from General
Headquarters
Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...
(GHQ). He reads it excitedly; it says that the
Walmington platoon will be escorting the Prime Minister in a tour of local
coastal defences
Coastal management is defence against flooding and erosion, and techniques that stop erosion to claim lands. Protection against rising sea levels in the 21st century is crucial, as sea level rise accelerates due to climate change. Changes in s ...
. Mainwaring is very excited, implying the honour is based on his reputation, but Wilson drolly points out that the letter says it is only because they were the first platoon formed in the area. Mainwaring dismisses Wilson, and whilst fooling around with his pistol, discharges it accidentally at the same time as the secretary is bringing in the coffee, and the tray and its contents ends up going everywhere.
At the shooting practice,
Corporal Jones,
Private Pike,
Private Walker and
Private Frazer are sent by Regan to man the target equipment. Jones tells Pike to take charge of the flag, which is used to denote a miss, telling him to use it for every shot as no-one from the platoon will hit the target. Unbeknownst to Jones, Regan has decided to show them how it is done and is exasperated to get flagged a miss on every shot. Furious, he orders Mainwaring and Wilson down to the target and it is obvious he has hit near the centre of the target on every shot. Mainwaring is very annoyed and embarrassed by his men's behaviour.
After
Private Godfrey has taken his shots and missed the target completely, Regan makes Mainwaring shoot using his pistol, but after nearly being knocked over by the recoil and spraying shots wildly, Regan says that not only did he not hit the target, but he also actually missed the firing range. Next, he forces Wilson to use a
Tommy gun
The Thompson submachine gun (also known as the "Tommy Gun", "Chicago Typewriter", "Chicago Piano", “Trench Sweeper” or "Trench Broom") is a blowback-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed selective-fire submachine gun, invented by United Stat ...
. Wilson is clearly terrified; he closes his eyes to do the shooting and is still shaking rhythmically long after the clip is emptied.
After the practice, the platoon return to the church hall, where
Mrs Pike has made tea, sandwiches and some rather firm
rock cakes. Major Regan enters the hall, and says that following the shooting practice, he had decided that the platoon were unfit to escort the Prime Minister. However, the Area Commander has given them a second chance in that there should be a shooting contest to determine which platoon should form the escort. After Regan leaves, Mainwaring is at a low ebb, fearing the worst for his platoon's chances. To cheer everyone up, Walker invites everyone to come to the
hippodrome that evening to see the
variety performance by "The Cheerful Chump", Charlie Cheeseman, a variety entertainer, in order to raise their spirits. Reluctantly, Wilson and Mainwaring agree to attend, spurred on by Mrs Pike.
At the performance, Cheeseman is telling some inappropriate jokes of the time and performing some songs. Wilson and Mainwaring are not enjoying it at all. After Cheeseman, the next act – Laura La Paz – performs some amazing feats of trick shooting. Subsequently, Walker disappears making his apologies. At the church hall the next morning Mainwaring and Wilson have been summoned by Walker who has recruited a new platoon member. Frazer is also there and tries to discuss something with the Captain, but is interrupted when Walker and Jones appear with a new platoon member – one Laura La Paz. Walker has "recruited" her to take part in the shooting range competition. Jones and Walker dress her in an ill-fitting uniform, bottle glasses and fake moustache as a disguise. Mainwaring and Wilson are unconvinced, but when Regan enters unexpectedly, Mainwaring is forced to introduce the new recruit whom Wilson hastily names "Private Paderewski".
Having gone first, the Eastgate platoon have set a high mark. Pike is first and has made a reasonable start, and it is now down to Private Paderewski. Unfortunately, though she hits the bull on her first shot from an unorthodox standing position, the next two she attempts to take in full trick shot mode but is made by Mainwaring to assume the proper prone firing position. As a result, the next shots are only "outers", putting the platoon behind. Taken aside, she explains she only ever practises doing her normal routine. Meanwhile, Frazer, who is last to shoot, hits five consecutive bulls, much to everyone's surprise. It turns out Frazer was not able to take part in practice as there was no more ammunition when it was his turn and that he is a crack shot from his days in
World War I when he used to shoot at
mines from a
minesweeper.
A few days later, the platoon are proudly and faultlessly seen being the honour guard for Winston Churchill.
Cast
*
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 ''Dad' ...
as
Captain Mainwaring
*
John Le Mesurier as
Sergeant 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 ' ...
as
Lance Corporal Jones
*
John Laurie as
Private Frazer
*
James Beck as
Private Walker
*
Arnold Ridley as
Private Godfrey
*
Ian Lavender as
Private Pike
*
Barbara Windsor as Laura La Plaz / Private Paderewski
*
Janet Davies as
Mrs Pike
*
Caroline Dowdeswell
Caroline Dowdeswell (born 7 March 1945, Oldham, Lancashire) is a former English television actress.
Career
She attended theatre school from age 12 and joined the Bromley Rep at 17. Dowdeswell first appeared on television in 1961, and her first ...
as
Janet King
*
Martin Wyldeck as Major Regan
*
Jimmy Perry as Charlie Cheeseman
*
Thérèse McMurray
Thérèse Ellen McMurray (born 6 July 1947) is an Irish-British television actor.
Biography
McMurray comes from a variety theatre background as both her parents, grandparents and aunts were renowned variety artistes represented by the agents Lew ...
as Girl at the Window
Notes
#Co-writer Jimmy Perry performs a
cameo appearance as the entertainer Charlie Cheeseman.
#This episode was shown as part of the BBC's programmes commemorating the 50th anniversary of
VE Day on 8 May 1995.
#Despite being asked to fire five shots in rapid succession, Mainwaring actually shoots six, meaning his revolver has fired a magical seven shots, including his accidental first shot.
#Despite being a key part of the plot, no-one from the Eastgate platoon appears in the episode.
#Pike licks his thumb and wipes the foresight of his rifle before firing, explaining that "I saw
Gary Cooper do it in a film once." Cooper did this in the 1941 film
''Sergeant York'', including a scene at a firing range with sliding targets similar to those shown in this episode.
#Although Frazer is shown to be an expert shot with a rifle due to experience shooting mines, in the later episode
Menace from the Deep he is unable to destroy a floating mine with a
Lewis gun.
#This episode was planned for transmission on Wednesday 10 July.
References
External links
*
{{Dad's Army
Dad's Army (series 1) episodes
1968 British television episodes