| Dad's Army | |
|---|---|
 Series title card | |
| Genre | |
| Created by | Jimmy Perry |
| Written by |
|
| Directed by |
|
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer |
|
| Opening theme | "Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr Hitler?" |
| Ending theme | "Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr Hitler?" (instrumental) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 9 |
| No. of episodes | 80(3 missing)(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer | David Croft |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC1 |
| Release | 31 July 1968 (1968-07-31) – 13 November 1977 (1977-11-13) |
| Related | |
Dad's Army is a British televisionsitcom about the United Kingdom'sHome Guard during theSecond World War. It was written byJimmy Perry andDavid Croft, and originally broadcast onBBC1 from 31 July 1968 to 13 November 1977. It ran for nine series and 80 episodes in total; afeature film released in 1971, astage show and aradio version based on the television scripts were also produced. The series regularly gained audiences of 18 million viewers and is still shown internationally.
The Home Guard consisted of local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, either because of age (hence the titleDad's Army), medical reasons or by being inprofessions exempt from conscription. Most of the platoon members inDad's Army are over military age and the series stars several older British actors, includingArnold Ridley,John Laurie,Arthur Lowe andJohn Le Mesurier, many of whom had served in World War II in real life. Younger members of the cast includedIan Lavender,Clive Dunn (who, despite being one of the younger cast members, played the oldest guardsman,Lance Corporal Jones) andJames Beck (who died suddenly during production of the sixth series in 1973). Other regular cast members includedFrank Williams as the vicar,Edward Sinclair as theverger, andBill Pertwee as the chief ARP warden. Following the death of Lavender in 2024, there are now no surviving principal cast members.
The series has influencedBritish popular culture, with its catchphrases and characters being widely known. TheRadio Times magazine listedCaptain Mainwaring's "You stupid boy!" among the 25 greatest put-downs on TV.[1] A 2001Channel 4 poll ranked Captain Mainwaring 21st on its list of the100 Greatest TV Characters.[2][3] In 2004,Dad's Army came fourth in a BBC poll to findBritain's Best Sitcom. It was placed 13th in a list of the100 Greatest British Television Programmes, drawn up by theBritish Film Institute in 2000, and voted for by industry professionals.[4] Asecond feature film ofDad's Army with a different cast was released in 2016.[5]
In 2019,UKTV recreatedthree missing episodes for broadcast in August that year on itsGold channel under the titleDad's Army: The Lost Episodes. It starredKevin McNally andRobert Bathurst asCaptain Mainwaring andSergeant Wilson.[6]
Originally intended to be calledThe Fighting Tigers,Dad's Army was based partly on co-writer and creatorJimmy Perry's experiences in the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV, later known as theHome Guard)[7][8] and highlighted a somewhat forgotten aspect of defence during the Second World War. Perry was only 16 when he joined the 10thHertfordshire Battalion. He partly resembled the character ofPrivate Pike, as his mother did not like him being out at night and continually feared he might catch a cold.[9] An elderlylance corporal in the 10th Hertfordshire often referred to fighting underKitchener against the "Fuzzy Wuzzies" (Hadendoa), and was the model forLance Corporal Jones.
Other influences included the work of comedians such asWill Hay, whose filmOh, Mr Porter! featured a pompous ass, an old man and a young man; together, this gave Perry the ideas for Mainwaring, Godfrey and Pike. Film historianJeffrey Richards has citedLancastrian comedianRobb Wilton as a key influence;[10] Wilton portrayed a work-shy husband who joined the Home Guard in numerous comic sketches during World War II.[11]
Perry wrote the first script and sent it to David Croft while working as a minor actor in the Croft-produced sitcomHugh and I, originally intending the role of thespiv, later called Walker, to be his own.[9] Croft was impressed and sent the script toMichael Mills, the BBC's head of comedy, and the series was commissioned.[12]
In his bookDad's Army: The Story of a Classic Television Show,Graham McCann explains that the show owes much to Michael Mills. It was he who renamed the showDad's Army.[13][14][15] He did not like Brightsea-on-Sea, so the location was changed toWalmington-on-Sea.[13] He was happy with the names for the characters Mainwaring,Godfrey andPike, but not with other names, and he made suggestions:[13] Private Jim Duck becameJames Frazer, Joe Fish becameJoe Walker and Jim Jones became Jack Jones. He also suggested adding aScot. Jimmy Perry had produced the original idea, but needed a more experienced partner to see it through, so Mills suggested David Croft and this launched the beginning of their professional association.[14]
When an episode was screened to members of the public to gauge audience reaction prior to broadcast of the first series, the majority of the audience thought it was very poor. The production team put the report containing the negative comments at the bottom of David Croft's in-tray. He only saw it several months later,[16] after the series had been broadcast and received a positive response.[17][18]
The series is set in the fictional seaside town ofWalmington-on-Sea, located on the south coast of England, not far fromEastbourne.[8] The exterior scenes were mostly filmed in and around theStanford Training Area (STANTA), nearThetford,Norfolk.[19] Walmington, and its Home Guard platoon, would be on the frontline in the event of a German invasion across theEnglish Channel. The first series has a loose narrative thread, with Captain Mainwaring'splatoon being formed and equipped, initially with wooden guns and LDV armbands, later on with full army uniforms; the platoon is part of theQueen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment.
The first episode, "The Man and the Hour", begins with a scene set in the then-present day of 1968, in which Mainwaring addresses his old platoon as part of the contemporary '"I'm Backing Britain" campaign.[13] The prologue opening was a condition imposed after initial concerns fromPaul Fox, the BBC1 controller, that it belittled the efforts of the Home Guard.[20] After Mainwaring relates how he had backed Britain in 1940, the episode proper begins;Dad's Army is thus told inflashback,[13] although the final episode does not return to 1968. Later episodes are largely self-contained, albeit referring to previous events and with additional character development.
As the comedy in many ways relies on the platoon's lack of participation in the Second World War, opposition to their activities must come from another quarter, and this is generally provided by ChiefAir Raid Precautions (ARP) Warden Hodges, and sometimes by theverger of the local church (St Aldhelm's) or by Captain Square and the neighbouring Eastgate Home Guard platoon. The group, however, does have some encounters related to the enemy, such as downedGerman planes, aLuftwaffe pilot who parachutes into the town's clock tower, aU-boat crew and discarded parachutes that may have been German; a Viennese ornithologist appears in "Man Hunt" and anIRA suspect appears in "Absent Friends".
The humour ranges from the subtle (especially theclass-reversed relationship between grammar school-educated Mainwaring, the local bank manager, and public school-educated Wilson, his deputy at the bank) to theslapstick (the antics of the elderly Jones being a prime example). Jones had severalcatchphrases, including "Don't panic!" (while panicking himself), "They don't like it up 'em!", "Permission to speak, sir?", "Handy-hock!" and his tales about the "Fuzzy-Wuzzies".[8] Mainwaring's catchphrase to Pike is "You stupid boy", which he uses in many episodes.[8] Other cast members used catchphrases, including Sergeant Wilson, who regularly asked, "Do you think that's wise, sir?" when Captain Mainwaring made a suggestion.
The early series occasionally included darker humour, reflecting that, especially early in the war, the Home Guard was woefully under-equipped but was still willing to resist theWehrmacht. For instance, in the episode "The Battle of Godfrey's Cottage", the platoon believes the enemy has invaded Britain. Mainwaring, Godfrey, Frazer and Jones (along with Godfrey's sisters, who are completely unaware of the invasion) decide to stay at the cottage to delay the German advance, buying the regular army time to arrive with reinforcements; "It'll probably be the end of us, but we're ready for that, aren't we, men?" says Mainwaring. "Of course," replies Frazer.
Other actors who appeared in small roles includeTimothy Carlton,Don Estelle,Nigel Hawthorne,Geoffrey Hughes,Neville Hughes,Michael Knowles,John Ringham,Fulton Mackay,Jean Gilpin,Anthony Sagar,Anthony Sharp,Carmen Silvera andBarbara Windsor.
Larry Martyn appeared as an unnamed private in four episodes, and later took over the part of Walker in the radio series following the death of James Beck. The formercricketerFred Trueman appeared in "The Test".
The show's opening titles were originally intended to feature footage of refugees andNazi troops, to illustrate the threat faced by the Home Guard. Despite opposition from the BBC's head of comedy Michael Mills, Paul Fox, the controller ofBBC1, ordered that these be removed on the grounds that they were offensive.[23][24] The replacement titles featured the animated sequence ofswastika-headed arrows approaching Britain.[25] Originally in black and white,[26] the opening titles were updated twice; firstly in series three, adding colour and improved animation,[27] and once again in series six, which made further improvements to the animation.
There were two different versions of the closing credits used in the show. The first version, used in series one and two, simply showed footage of the main cast superimposed over a still photograph, with the crew credits rolling over a black background.[28] The better-known closing credits, introduced in series three, were a homage to the end credits ofThe Way Ahead (1944), a film which had covered the training of a platoon during theSecond World War.[29] In both instances, each character is shown as they walk across a smoke-filled battlefield.[29][30] One of the actors inDad's Army, John Laurie, also appeared in that film, and his performance in the end credits ofThe Way Ahead appears to be copied in the sitcom.[29] Coincidentally, the film's lead character (played byDavid Niven) is named Lieutenant Jim Perry.[31] Following this sequence, the end credits roll, and the platoon is shown in a wide angle shot as, armed, they run towards the camera, while bombs explode behind them. As the credits come to an end, the platoon run past the camera and theall clear siren rings, before the screen fades to black.[30]
The show's theme tune, "Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr Hitler?", was Jimmy Perry's idea, written especially for the show and intended as a gentlepastiche of wartime songs.[8] The other songs were authentic 1940s music recordings. Perry wrote the lyrics and composed the music with Derek Taverner. Perry persuaded one of his childhood idols, wartime entertainerBud Flanagan, to sing the theme for 100 guineas (equivalent to £2,400 in 2023). Flanagan died less than a year after the recording. At the time it was widely believed to be a wartime song.[32] The music over the opening credits was recorded at Riverside Studios, Flanagan being accompanied by the Orchestra of the Band of theColdstream Guards.
The version played over the opening credits differs slightly from the full version recorded by Flanagan; an edit removes, for timing reasons, two lines of lyric with the "middle eight" tune: "So watch out Mr Hitler, you have met your match in us/If you think you can crush us, we're afraid you've missed the bus." (The latter lyric is a reference to a speech byNeville Chamberlain.) Bud Flanagan's full version appears as anEaster egg on the first series DVD release and on the authorised soundtrack CD issued by CD41.[33] Arthur Lowe also recorded a full version of the theme.[34]
The closing credits feature an instrumentalmarch version of the song played by the Band of the Coldstream Guards conducted by Captain (later Lieutenant Colonel)Trevor L. Sharpe, ending with theair-raid warning siren sounding all-clear. It is accompanied by a style of credits that became a trademark of David Croft: the caption "You have been watching", followed by vignettes of the main cast.
The series also contains genuine wartime and period songs between scenes, usually brief quotations that have some reference to the theme of the episode or the scene. Many appear on the CD soundtrack issued by CD41, being the same versions used in the series.
The television programme lasted nine series and was broadcast over nine years, with 80 episodes in total, including three Christmas specials and an hour-long special. At its peak, the programme regularly gained audiences of 18.5 million.[35] There were also four short specials broadcast as part ofChristmas Night with the Stars in 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1972; one of which was also restaged as part of the Royal Variety Performance 1975.
The first two series were recorded and screened in black-and-white, while series three to nine were recorded and screened in colour. Even so, one episode in series three, "Room at the Bottom", formerly survived only as a 16mm black-and-white film telerecording, made for overseas sales to countries not yet broadcasting in colour; and remains on the official DVD releases in this form. This episode has benefited fromcolour recovery technology, using a buried colour signal (chroma dots) in the black-and-white film print to restore the episode to colour and was transmitted on 13 December 2008 on BBC Two. The newly restored colour version of "Room at the Bottom" was eventually made commercially available in 2023, when it appeared as an extra on the DVD releaseDad's Army: The Missing Episodes, with a specially filmed introduction by Ian Lavender.
Dad's Army was less affected than most from thewiping ofvideotape, but three second-series episodes remain missing: episode nine "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker", episode eleven "A Stripe for Frazer" and episode 12"Under Fire". (All three missing episodes were among those remade for BBC Radio with most of the original cast, adapted from the original TV scripts. Audio recordings of all three were included as bonus features onThe Complete Series DVD Collection.) Two further series two episodes, "Operation Kilt" and "The Battle of Godfrey's Cottage", were thought lost until 2001.[8] Two of the three missing episodes have since been performed as part of the latest stage show.
In 2008, soundtracks of the missing episode "A Stripe for Frazer" and the 1968Christmas Night with the Stars segment "Present Arms" were recovered. The soundtrack of "A Stripe for Frazer" has been mixed with animation to replace the missing images.[36] The audio soundtrack for the"Cornish Floral Dance" sketch, from the 1970 episode ofChristmas Night with the Stars, has also been recovered.
In 2018,UKTV announced plans to recreate the three missing episodes for broadcast on itsGold channel. Mercury Productions, the company responsible forSaluting Dad's Army, Gold's 50th anniversary tribute series, produced the episodes, which were directed by Ben Kellett. The recreations were broadcast in August 2019, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of their original broadcast by the BBC.[37]Kevin McNally andRobert Bathurst were the initial casting announcements asCaptain Mainwaring andSergeant Wilson,[6] withBernard Cribbins portrayingPrivate Godfrey.[38] The full cast was announced in January 2019, with McNally, Bathurst and Cribbins joined byKevin Eldon,Mathew Horne,David Hayman andTom Rosenthal.[39] However, Bernard Cribbins subsequently withdrew from the project, and was replaced as Godfrey byTimothy West.[40]
In common withmany British sitcoms of that era,Dad's Army was spun-off as a feature film which was released in 1971.[8] BackersColumbia Pictures imposed arbitrary changes, such as recastingLiz Fraser as Mavis Pike[8] and filming locations inChalfont St Giles,Buckinghamshire, rather thanThetford inNorfolk, which made the cast unhappy. The director,Norman Cohen, whose idea it was to make the film, was nearly sacked by the studio.[41]: 168
Jimmy Perry and David Croft wrote the original screenplay. This was expanded by Cohen to try to make it more cinematic; Columbia executives made more changes to plot and pacing. As finally realised, two-thirds of the film consists of the creation of the platoon; this was the contribution of Perry and Croft, and differs in a number of ways from the formation of the platoon as seen in the first series of the television version. The final third shows the platoon in action, rescuing hostages from the church hall where they had been held captive by the crewmen of a downed German aircraft.
Neither the cast nor Perry and Croft were happy with the result. Perry argued for changes to try to reproduce the style of the television series, but with mixed results.
Filming took place from 10 August to 25 September 1970 atShepperton Studios and on location. After shooting the film, the cast returned to working on the fourth television series.
The film's UK première was on 12 March 1971 at the Columbia Theatre, London. Critical reviews were mixed, but it performed well at the UK box-office. Discussions were held about a possible sequel, to be calledDad's Army and the Secret U-Boat Base, but the project never came to fruition.[41]: 164–169
A second film, written byHamish McColl and directed byOliver Parker, was released in 2016. The cast includedToby Jones as Captain Mainwaring,Bill Nighy as Sergeant Wilson,Tom Courtenay as Lance Corporal Jones,Michael Gambon as Private Godfrey,Blake Harrison as Private Pike,Daniel Mays as Private Walker andBill Paterson as Private Frazer.Catherine Zeta-Jones,Sarah Lancashire andMark Gatiss also featured. The film was primarily shot on location in Yorkshire. Filming took place on the beach at North Landing,Flamborough Head, Yorkshire and at nearbyBridlington. It opened in February 2016 to mainly negative reviews.[42][43][44][45][46]
In 1975,Dad's Army transferred to the stage as a revue, with songs, familiar scenes from the show and individual "turns" for cast members. It was created by Roger Redfarn, who shared the same agent as the series' writers. Most of the principal cast transferred with it, with the exception of John Laurie, who was replaced by Hamish Roughead.[8] Following James Beck's death two years earlier, Walker was played byJohn Bardon.[8]
Dad's Army: A Nostalgic Music and Laughter Show of Britain's Finest Hour opened atBillingham inTeesside on 4 September 1975 for a two-week tryout. After cuts and revisions, the show transferred to London'sWest End and opened at theShaftesbury Theatre on 2 October 1975. On the opening night there was a surprise appearance byChesney Allen, singing the oldFlanagan and Allen songHometown with Arthur Lowe.
The show ran in the West End until 21 February 1976, disrupted twice by bomb scares and then toured the country until 4 September 1976. Clive Dunn was replaced for half the tour byJack Haig (David Croft's original first choice for the role of Corporal Jones on television).Jeffrey Holland, who went on to star in several later Croft sitcoms, also had a number of roles in the production.[41]: 178–180
The stage show, billed asDad's Army—The Musical, was staged in Australia and toured New Zealand in 2004–2005, starringJon English. Several sections of this stage show were filmed and have subsequently been included as extras on the finalDad's Army DVD.
In April 2007, a new stage show was announced with cast members includingLeslie Grantham asPrivate Walker andEmmerdale actorPeter Martin asCaptain Mainwaring.[47] The production contained the episodes "A Stripe for Frazer", "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker", "Room at the Bottom" and "The Deadly Attachment".
In August 2017, a new two-man stage show titled,Dad's Army Radio Hour, opened at theEdinburgh Festival Fringe It starredDavid Benson and Jack Lane. Between them, the pair voiced the entire cast ofDad's Army, including incidental characters. The episodes adapted from the original radio scripts were "The Deadly Attachment", "The Day the Balloon Went Up", "Brain Versus Brawn", "My British Buddy", "Round and Round Went the Great Big Wheel" and "Mum's Army". The production featured three episodes not adapted for the radio series "When You've Got to Go", "My Brother and I" and "Never Too Old". The show was well received by critics and the David Croft estate for its respectful and uncanny performances. In 2019, the production changed its name toDad's Army Radio Show and continued to tour nationally throughout the UK until the end of 2021.[48]
The majority of the television scripts were adapted forBBC Radio 4 with the original cast,[8] although other actors played Walker after James Beck's death (which took place soon after recording and before transmission of the first radio series).Harold Snoad andMichael Knowles were responsible for the adaptation,[8] while wartime BBC announcerJohn Snagge set the scene for each episode. Different actors were used for some of the minor parts: for exampleMollie Sugden played the role ofMrs Fox, andPearl Hackney played Mrs Pike. The first episode was based on the revised version of events seen in the opening of the film version, rather than on the television pilot. The series ran for three series and 67 episodes from 1974–76.[8] The entire radio series has been released on CD.[49]
Knowles and Snoad developed a radio series,It Sticks Out Half a Mile, which followed Sergeant Wilson, Private Pike and Warden Hodges's attempts to renovate a pier in the fictional town of Frambourne-on-Sea following the end of the war.[8] It was originally intended to star Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier, but Lowe died after recording the pilot episode in 1981. In consequence, Bill Pertwee and Ian Lavender were brought in to replace him.[50] In the event the revised cast recorded a 13-episode series.[8][50] John Le Mesurier died in November 1983, making another series impossible.[50]
The last radio recording ofDad's Army occurred in 1995, when Jimmy Perry wrote a radio sketch entitledThe Boy Who Saved England for the "Full Steam A-Hudd" evening broadcast onBBC Radio 2, transmitted on 3 June 1995 on the occasion of the closure of the BBC'sParis studios in Lower Regent Street.[51][52][53][54] It featured Ian Lavender as Pike, Bill Pertwee as Hodges, Frank Williams as the Vicar and Jimmy Perry as General Haverlock-Seabag.[53][54]
A pilot episode for an American remake calledThe Rear Guard, adapted for American viewers byArthur Julian, was produced by theABC and broadcast on 10 August 1976, based on theDad's Army episode "The Deadly Attachment".[8] Set inLong Island, the pilot starredCliff Norton as Captain Rosatti,Lou Jacobi as Sergeant Raskin andEddie Foy Jr. as Lance Corporal Wagner. The pilot was considered a failure, so the original tapes werewiped. However, directorHal Cooper kept a copy of the pilot, which was returned to several collectors in 1998.[55] Though further storylines were planned, the series failed to make it past the pilot stage.[55]
Lowe, Le Mesurier, Laurie, Beck, Ridley and Lavender (wearing Pike's signature scarf) appeared as guests in the 22 April 1971 edition ofThe Morecambe & Wise Show onBBC2 in the "Monty on the Bonty" sketch, with Lowe asCaptain Bligh and the others as crewmen onHMS Bounty.[8][29] Lowe, Le Mesurier and Laurie again made a cameo appearance as theirDad's Army characters in the 1977Morecambe & Wise Christmas Special. WhileElton John is following incomprehensible instructions to find the BBC studios, he encounters them in a steam room. On leaving, Mainwaring calls him a "stupid boy".[29][56]
Arthur Lowe twice appeared on the BBC children's programmeBlue Peter. The first time, in 1973, was with John Le Mesurier, in which the two appeared in costume and in character as Captain Mainwaring and Sergeant Wilson. Together they viewed and discussed a mural painted by schoolchildren, featuring the characters from the show at a Christmas party, among whom was Mainwaring's unseen wife Elizabeth – or rather, what the children thought she looked like (Mainwaring remarks "Good grief. What a remarkable likeness!").[57] Arthur Lowe made a second appearance as Captain Mainwaring onBlue Peter with theDad's Army van, which would appear in the forthcoming London-Brighton run, and showed presenterJohn Noakes the vehicle's hidden anti-Nazi defences.[29][58] Later that year, Lowe, Le Mesurier, Dunn, Lavender and Pertwee, along withJones's van, appeared in character at the finish of the 1974London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.[58][59]
The cast appeared in a 1974public information film, in character but set in the modern day, in which the platoon demonstrated how to cross the road safely atPelican crossings.[60][61] Lowe and Le Mesurier made a final appearance as theirDad's Army characters for a 1982 television commercial advertisingWispa chocolate bars.[62]Clive Dunn made occasional appearances asLance Corporal Jones at 1940s themed events in the 1980s and 1990s and on television on the BBC Saturday night entertainment showNoel's House Party on 27 November 1993.[63]
During its original television run,Dad's Army was nominated for multipleBritish Academy Television Awards, although only won "Best Light Entertainment Programme" in 1971.[64] It was nominated as "Best Situation Comedy" in 1973, 1974 and 1975.[65] In addition, Arthur Lowe was frequently nominated for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" in 1970, 1971, 1973, 1975 and 1978.[66][65]
In 2000, the show was voted 13th in aBritish Film Institute poll of industry professionals of the100 Greatest British Television Programmes.[67] In 2004, championed byPhill Jupitus, it came fourth in the BBC poll to findBritain's Best Sitcom with 174,138 votes.[68]
In June 2010, a statue of Captain Mainwaring was erected in theNorfolk town ofThetford where most of the exteriors for the TV series were filmed. The statue features Captain Mainwaring sitting to attention on a simple bench in Home Guard uniform, with hisswagger stick across his knees. The statue is mounted at the end of a winding brick pathway with aUnion Flag patterned arrowhead to reflect the opening credits of the TV series and the sculpture has been designed so that members of the public can sit beside Captain Mainwaring and have their photograph taken. The statue was vandalised not long after the unveiling by a 10-year-old boy, who kicked it for ten minutes and broke off the statue's glasses, throwing them into a nearby river. The statue has since been fixed.[69]
Several references toDad's Army have been made in other television series. In a 1995 episode ofBottom, titled "Hole", Richie shouts Lance Corporal Jones's catchphrase while stuck up aFerris wheel set to be demolished the following day.[70] The British sitcomGoodnight Sweetheart paid tribute toDad's Army in episode one of its second series in 1995, "Don't Get Around Much Any More". Here, lead characterGary Sparrow (Nicholas Lyndhurst) – a time-traveller from the 1990s – goes into a bank in 1941 and meets a bank manager named Mainwaring (Alec Linstead) and his chief clerk, Wilson (Terrence Hardiman), both of whom are in theHome Guard. When he hears the names Mainwaring and Wilson, Gary begins singing theDad's Army theme song.[71] In addition, a brief visual tribute toDad's Army is made at the start of the episode "Rag Week" fromBen Elton's 1990s sitcomThe Thin Blue Line: a shopfront bears the name "Mainwaring's".[72]
In June 2018, theRoyal Mail issued a set of eight stamps, featuring the main characters and their catchphrases, to mark the comedy's 50th anniversary.[73]
In 2020, Niles Schilder, for theDad's Army Appreciation Society, wrote four short scripts which detailed how the characters from the series would have, in the author's opinion, dealt with the events of that year. Titles of the scripts includedDad's Army Negotiates Brexit andAn Unauthorised Gathering.[74]
The characters of Edward Lowe and John Le Breton in the book seriesThe Lowe and Le Breton Mysteries byStuart Douglas are based on Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier at the time they were makingDad's Army.[75]
The characters ofDad's Army and their catchphrases are well known in the UK due to the popularity of the series when originally shown and the frequency of repeats.
Jimmy Perry recalls that before writing the sitcom, the Home Guard was a largely forgotten aspect of Britain's defence in the Second World War, something which the series rectified.[41]: 12 In a 1972Radio Times interview, Arthur Lowe expressed surprise at the programme's success:
We expected the show to have limited appeal, to the age group that lived through the war and the Home Guard. We didn't expect what has happened – that children from the age of five upwards would enjoy it too.[76]
By focusing on the comic aspects of the Home Guard in a cosy south coast setting, the television series distorted the popular perception of the organisation. Its characters represented the older volunteers within the Home Guard, but largely ignored the large numbers of teenagers and factory workers who also served. Accounts from Home Guard members and their regimental publications inspiredNorman Longmate's historyThe Real Dad's Army (1974).[77]
The firstDVD releases ofDad's Army were two "best of" collections, released by the BBC and distributed by2 Entertain, in October 2001 and September 2002.[78][79] The first series and the surviving episodes of the second series, along with the documentaryDad's Army: Missing Presumed Wiped, were released in September 2004,[80] while the final series was released in May 2007.[81] In November 2007, the final episodes, the three specials "Battle of the Giants!", "My Brother and I" and"The Love of Three Oranges", were released, along withDad's Army: The Passing Years documentary, severalChristmas Night with the Stars sketches, and excerpts from the 1975–76stage show.[82] From the third series DVD,We Are the Boys..., a short individual biographical documentary about the main actors and the characters they portrayed on the programme, was included as a special feature.[83]
TheColumbia film adaptation is separately available; as this is not a BBC production, it is not included in the boxed set.
In 1973, the series was adapted into a comic strip, drawn by Bill Titcombe, which was published in daily newspapers in the UK.[84][85] These cartoon strips were subsequently collected together and published in book form, by Piccolo Books, in paperback.[86]
At the end of the last episode, I said to David Croft, 'I just have to ask you one thing: is Uncle Arthur my father?' And he looked at me and said, 'Of course he is!'
