‘Dad’s Army’
Several of the actors in the sitcom ‘Dad’s Army‘ died shortly after the last episode in 1977, since they were already of mature years when it began in 1968. They had been selected to play members of Britain’s WW2 ‘Home Guard’. In actuality, this was hastily set up in 1940 to accommodate those too old, medically unfit or in ‘reserved occupations’ but keen to “do their bit” for the defence of the country. ‘Dad’s Army’ accurately portrayed the ad-hoc establishment of local units, initially with no weapons or uniforms, led by men with wartime experience.
The series was brilliantly written by Jimmy Perry (1923-2016) and David Croft (1922-2011) and Perry co-wrote the theme tune:-
The main characters were:-
- Capt. Mainwaring – played by Arthur Lowe (1915-82)
- Sgt. Wilson – John Le Mesurier (1912-83)
- L.Cpl. Jones – Clive Dunn (1920-2012)
- Pte. Frazer – John Laurie (1897-1980)
- Pte. Walker – James Beck (1929-73)
- Pte. Godfrey – Arnold Ridley (1896-1984)
- Pte. Pike – Ian Lavender (1946-2024)
- Chief Warden Hodges – Bill Pertwee (1926-2013)
- Mrs Pike – Janet Davies (1927-86)
The show attracted an average audience of 18.5 million for each of its 80 episodes. “Put that light out!”, “Do you think that’s wise, sir?”, “Don’t panic!”, “You stupid boy” and “We’re doomed” were some of its catchphrases and the fairly obvious secret was that Pike was Wilson’s son.
(Image: Matt Tilke at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)