Dad's Army is a British television sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard during the Second World War, produced by David Croft, and written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft.[1][2] Set in the fictional seaside town of Walmington-on-Sea, located near Eastbourne, it follows a well-meaning platoon of men ineligible for active service as they serve as Britain's "last line of defence".[3] The series was broadcast on BBC1 from 31 July 1968 to 13 November 1977; a total of 80 episodes, spread over nine series, including three Christmas specials and three missing episodes, were produced.[1][3] Four short Christmas sketches were also broadcast as part of Christmas Night with the Stars.[4][5]
The first two series were broadcast in black-and-white, from 31 July 1968 to 5 April 1969,[6] and the next seven series were produced in colour and broadcast from 11 September 1969 to 13 November 1977.[7] Episodes ran for 30 minutes each, with some exceptions: the 1971 Christmas special "Battle of the Giants!" aired on 27 December 1971 and ran for 60 minutes; the 1975 Christmas special "My Brother and I" aired on 26 December 1975 and ran for 40 minutes; and the final episode of series nine, "Never Too Old", aired on 13 November 1977, with a duration of 35 minutes.[3]
Five episodes of series two were not retained by the BBC Archives, but two of those episodes, "Operation Kilt" and "The Battle of Godfrey's Cottage", were located in 2001.[1][8][9][10] An audio recording of "A Stripe for Frazer", one of the three missing episodes, was discovered in 2008 and an animated version of it was released in February 2016.[11] An episode of series three, "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.[12]
All interior studio scenes for the nine series, the Christmas specials and the Christmas Night with the Stars specials were recorded in the BBC Television Centre in West London,[13] 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 completed in Norfolk,[13] with the production team basing themselves in the small Norfolk town of Thetford.
Every Dad's Army episode included the following main cast members: Arthur Lowe (died 1982, Captain George Mainwaring), John Le Mesurier (died 1983, Sergeant Arthur Wilson), Clive Dunn (died 2012, Lance Corporal Jack Jones), John Laurie (died 1980, Private James Frazer), Arnold Ridley (died 1984, Private Charles Godfrey) and Ian Lavender (died 2024, Private Frank Pike). These cast members appeared in all 80 episodes of the series, ranging from "The Man and the Hour" in 1968 to "Never Too Old" in 1977, while James Beck (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. There are currently no surviving main cast members of Dad's Army.
Of the 80 episodes and four short sketches produced from 1968 to 1977, the first twelve episodes (Series 1 and Series 2) and one sketch in 1968 were filmed in black and white. From Series 3 to Series 9, all episodes were filmed in colour.
After hearing of the formation of the Home Guard, George Mainwaring, a bank manager, takes it upon himself to form a platoon in Walmington-on-Sea. He declares himself captain, an assumption others are not so keen to make. He names his chief clerk, Arthur Wilson, sergeant. They enrol some of the townsfolk for the Local Defence Volunteers, although most are unfit and/or over the age limit of 65 years, and almost no supplies are available.
Mainwaring, worried that the Nazis could attack at any time, attempts to requisition much-needed weapons from the local Peabody Museum of Historic Army Weapons.
In exchange for weapons, Mainwaring hands over command to Colonel Square, but the weapons are muskets and Square wants the platoon to fight on horseback.
Major Regan from area headquarters decides that Jones is too old to be in the Home Guard, and announces that unless Jones can complete the assault course in fifteen minutes, he will be removed from the platoon.
The platoon is chosen to provide the guard of honour for the Prime Minister on his visit to Walmington-on-Sea, but poor performance at the shooting range causes Major Regan to have them compete with the neighbouring Eastgate platoon for the honour.
^a The episode was scheduled originally to be broadcast on 21 August 1968. However, the BBC cancelled that evening's schedule to cover the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.[27]
^b This 10-minute sketch is officially untitled, but is generally referred to as "Santa on Patrol"; however, when the sketch was animated in 2023, it was known by the title "Poles Apart".
Episodes in italics are missing ^‡ Episode reconstructed using animation and original soundtrack
Private Pike's mother agrees to take in a child evacuee, but Wilson misunderstands her and believes she is pregnant. Mainwaring orders Wilson to marry her.
Mainwaring has the opportunity to promote someone to corporal. Rather than promote Jones, he tests who has the greatest potential by temporarily promoting Private Frazer to lance corporal. Frazer's increasingly dictatorial manner soon alienates the platoon.
When Frazer spots what he believes to be a German spy who is in the act of signalling to planes, the platoon arrests a suspect who protests that he is a naturalised Englishman.
Note: This was the last episode to be produced in black and white.
^b The series was scheduled originally to be broadcast in January 1969. Instead, the BBC decided to repeat the first series in January 1969 because they believed many people had missed the series when it had started in the summer of 1968.[34]
Jones donates his van as a troop transport, but Walker wants to use it for his black market activities. Both men are sent with the van to work with Air Raid Precautions during an exercise.
Note: This was the first episode to be produced and transmitted in colour, but the full colour television service on BBC One did not commence until Saturday 15 November 1969.
Mainwaring teaches the men to use the public telephone system as emergency communication. Jones and Hodges attempt to phone general headquarters when a German aeroplane crashes in the reservoir.
The platoon's supply of ammunition is used up when engaging a low-flying German plane, and Mainwaring sets up a court of inquiry to determine who should be held responsible. The inquiry descends into farce when the platoon attempts to re-enact the event.
The bank takes a direct hit during an air-raid, but the bomb fails to explode, leaving Mainwaring and Wilson stuck in the vault with it. When the bomb disposal officer leaves to collect the right tools, the platoon members take matters into their own hands.
General headquarters determines that Mainwaring has never held a commission, and he is demoted to private. Wilson temporarily leads the platoon while Mainwaring attempts to regain his command.
The platoon is given a heavy naval artillery piece but the town's bandstand, a rare example of Victorian ironwork, stands in its field of fire. The town council insists it must be preserved but Mainwaring reasons that a demonstration of the gun's capabilities will quiet any protests.
Mainwaring announces that a dance will be held to raise morale. He is less than pleased when Pike announces that his date for the evening will be the daughter of Mainwaring's cleaning woman.
The platoon is placed on guard duty, and mans a machine gun post at the end of the pier. When Pike loses the food and the boat, morale begins to fall. The situation worsens when they spot a drifting sea mine.
When Private Godfrey admits to having been a conscientious objector during the Great War, he is branded a coward, sent home in disgrace and thereafter ostracised by the platoon. When he saves Mainwaring's life, though, and it emerges that he holds the Military Medal for bravery under fire as a medical orderly, he is forgiven and reinstated.
Note: This was the very first colour episode of Dad's Army to officially air in colour, for the BBC One colour television service commenced transmission on Saturday 15 November 1969 (Colour tests, which included earlier episodes of series 3, had been taking place for some weeks).
Mainwaring uses Walker's new tracking dog to locate a discarded parachute. After finding dozens of ladies' undergarments made from the parachute's silk, an enemy airman is finally cornered.
The platoon requisitions a boat and sets off to guard the local river. After getting lost in what they think is the English Channel, they believe themselves to be stranded behind enemy lines.
The platoon are rehearsing their performance for the upcoming pageant to raise money for "War Weapons Week". Broadcast as part of Christmas Night with the Stars.[26]
The platoon joins the Spitfire Week parade, but has to compete with the Sea Scouts and the ARP wardens for pole position. Mainwaring thinks a mascot will help their chances.
Note: The platoon have ceased using the original "Denim overalls, 1939 pattern" uniforms that they had worn since "The Showing Up of Corporal Jones", and are now wearing Battledress uniforms made of wool serge. This includes the first use of the "CP1" formation badge on the tunic arm.
The platoon takes part in an exercise with Captain Square's men. Square's men will defend a windmill and the platoon must plant a dummy bomb inside. The platoon devises a plan which involves putting Jones in a fake tree trunk and pushing him up the river.
Pike is caught in barbed wire in the middle of a mine field on the beach. The army engineers are slow to arrive so the platoon takes action to save him.
The platoon is sent to guard a camp full of Italian prisoners of war, but Walker's attitude toward them makes Mainwaring wonder if he is a fifth columnist.
In Mainwaring's absence, the platoon foregoes parade to compete in a darts match against the ARP wardens. Upon his return, Mainwaring orders Wilson to bring them back. With two pints for the winners, though, the platoon refuses to leave.
The ARP wardens challenge the Home Guard to a game of cricket. While Mainwaring is happy to play fairly, Hodges recruits Ernie Egan, a professional cricketeer.
Mainwaring is shocked to discover that Wilson has been both made manager of the Eastgate branch of the bank and commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant of the Eastgate platoon. Mainwaring is left with Pike as his chief clerk and Jones as his sergeant.
Captain Square gets Mainwaring drunk in the officers' mess, damaging Mainwaring's reputation in the eyes of the platoon. Mainwaring must repair his image.
The platoon have joined forces with the ARP warden and the local WRVS to form a choir for an upcoming Christmas concert. Broadcast as part of Christmas Night with the Stars.[50]
Episodes in italics are missing ^‡ Episode reconstructed using animation and original soundtrack
The platoon is challenged to a test by the Eastgate platoon, with Hodges, the vicar and the verger as judges. They seem unlikely to win and their chances worsen when Jones has a bout of malaria.
Godfrey and Walker are trapped when a bomb falls on the local pumping station. When Hodges and the others try to free them, they all become trapped. A pipe bursts and the room begins rapidly filling with water. Jones, trapped in the other room, tries desperately to turn the water off.
When GHQ announce swapping members of the home guard and the ARP, Jones, Godfrey and Frazer use Frazer's embalming equipment to make themselves look younger to avoid transfer to the ARP. Walker tricks Hodges into dying his hair with ceiling paint, with Hodges believing the 'Dye" will make him look old enough to stay in the ARP.
Mainwaring, unhappy because his men are not living up to his expectations, and believing his leadership to be unappreciated, dreams he is Napoleon after eating too much toasted cheese.
Wilson goes AWOL and is seen with his arm round a younger woman, who turns out be his daughter. Walker acquires 250 pigeons for Jones to sell as off-the-ration meat. When Jones then hears of an unexplained shortage of pigeons in Trafalgar Square, he changes his mind.
The platoon is to guard a barn near another that is the target for artillery practice and after a mix-up over map coordinates end up in the wrong one. Jones can't phone a correction from HQ due to Godfrey cutting the wire by mistake. With the van broken, Jones and Godfrey must drive two cars there; as Godfrey can't drive, Jones tows his car along.
After Frazer complains that Mainwaring is wasting his time with irrelevant lectures, Mainwaring allows Frazer to act as captain for a couple of days. Frazer begins abusing his power by firing Jones and promoting Walker. A Scottish General asks "Captain" Frazer to play the bagpipes, but Mainwaring has a hidden talent.
To boost morale, Mainwaring holds a party in his home. A bomb hits the bank during the party; thousands of pounds must be counted and guarded by the party guests, then taken to the Eastgate branch by horse-and-cart. Pike scares the horse, and it bolts – with Mainwaring on board.
Private Godfrey requests leave in order to help his widowed friend Mrs Prentice gather the harvest – and Mainwaring, citing the harvest as vital to the war effort, offers the assistance of the platoon. Hodges wants to turn over a new leaf, and comes to help as well. Jones loses his trousers in the threshing machine and the platoon get drunk on Mrs Prentice's homemade wine, after which they fight with an equally drunk Hodges during the vicar's harvest blessing.
When Jones arrives at the bank to deposit £500 from local shopkeepers for the servicemen's canteen, he realises his packet contains half a pound of sausages instead of the money.
The platoon is challenged to plant a dummy bomb in the officer commanding's office. They disguise themselves as firemen travelling in an old fire engine, but Hodges spots a real fire. Wilson and Walker then reveal their contingency plan.
Mainwaring is charged with showing a light and is taken to court by a gleeful Hodges. When Mr Yeatman tries to admit his responsibility to Hodges, he is blackmailed into remaining silent. Walker then blackmails the judge, Captain Square, into freeing Mainwaring due to Walker observing the light being switched on at the time he brought Square some illegal whiskey. Mr Yeatman then admits in court that he had switched on the light.
Operation Catherine Wheel is the testing of the War Office's new, radio-controlled explosive wheel. The platoon is chosen for fatigues, but Pike and Walker sneak off to listen to the radio; unbeknownst to them, the radio waves push the wheel out of control. (This episode appears to be loosely based on the Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development project The Great Panjandrum.)
An enemy pilot has bailed out and is trapped on the town hall clock. The platoon climbs up the precarious ladder to reach him, but getting down becomes more difficult when Jones breaks the ladder. After bringing the terrified German pilot to safety, the vicar comes to the platoon's rescue.
The platoon is ordered to guard the crew of a sunken U-boat until the escort arrives. The escort is delayed, though, and the platoon must guard the crew all night.
A group of American soldiers arrives at Walmington-on-Sea, but their presence is unappreciated when they begin flirting with the platoon's girlfriends.
The platoon will provide a guard of honour for George VI as he passes through Walmington-on-Sea. A mix-up stops another train in the station, though, blocking the King's route.
The platoon takes an efficiency test that will promote the platoon to twelve stars if successful. The Warden and Verger try and steal their onions from the platoon.
The platoon runs out of petrol and spends the night in a deserted – and apparently haunted – house.
Note: Last regular appearance of James Beck as Private Joe Walker. Walker only appears in the external scenes as Beck was taken ill shortly before the studio scenes were recorded.
When Mainwaring takes leave due to an ingrown toenail, Wilson takes charge. He angers the rest of the platoon, though, by allowing the vicar and Mr Yeatman to join.
Note: This is the first episode not to feature James Beck as Private Joe Walker, although Beck is still included in the closing credits.
The platoon is given the job of signposting the area for an Army exercise, but a steam engine is blocking the route. When Jones tries to drive round it, his van becomes stuck, blocking both Hodges in his van and Mr Farthing with his bus of pensioners.
Note: This is the first series not to feature James Beck as Private Joe Walker, following his death the previous year.
A landmine has destroyed 100 yards (92 m) of railway track, along with the water and gas mains, and the telephone line. Compounding the problem, Pike gets his head stuck between the bars of a gate. Mainwaring declares martial law.
On a field exercise acting as commandos meeting a secret agent (represented by Mainwaring), the platoon must trust no one for GHQ has sent out counter agents to catch them. The appearance of a gorilla compounds their problem.
The platoon dresses up as morris dancers as part of a carnival to raise money for the town's Spitfire fund, which is still £2,000 short. A Lady Godiva figure will lead the parade but there is confusion over who this will be.
Lady Maltby donates her Rolls-Royce for use as a staff car. Wilson and Pike are assigned to paint it for camouflage, but instead Jones mistakenly paints the Mayor's Rolls-Royce, just before a French general is due to visit the town.
After Jones mistakenly shoots a turkey on patrol and its owner cannot be found, the platoon decides to hold a turkey dinner and treat the town's senior citizens.
Despite his bad chest, blocked sinuses, weak ankles and a recently acquired facial tic, Pike passes the medical exam and is set to join the Royal Air Force.
The platoon goes camping and discovers three German airmen in a dinghy on the reservoir. Pike wants to shoot through the dinghy and sink them, but Mainwaring dismisses this as unfair. Wilson must devise a more civilised strategy.
Mainwaring stops Jones from cashing any more cheques because his bank balance is in the red. An investigation reveals an increasing train of debtors, leading back through an orphanage, to which Jones has been supplying meat, to Hodges.
Mainwaring prepares a poster for a recruitment drive, eager to increase his platoon to a company and so gain promotion to Major. A mix-up at the printer, though, lands the platoon in trouble and Jones, the face of the recruitment drive, in a prisoner of war camp.
Mainwaring's drunken brother Barry arrives in Walmington-on-Sea claiming that their father's pocket watch, held by Mainwaring, belongs to him. Mainwaring gives him the pocket watch to assuage him, but Barry gatecrashes Mainwaring's party for local dignitaries.
To raise money for the Comforts for the Troops Fund, the vicar organises a bazaar to which each member of the platoon donates something. Hodges, the greengrocer, donates three oranges, rare due to wartime rationing. Mainwaring is determined to buy one of the oranges for his wife.
As the threat of invasion lessens, the towns people become lax. Mainwaring orders Operation Wake-Up, dressing up the platoon members as fifth columnists and telling them to act suspiciously. Eventually, the Eastgate platoon is called in to deal with them.
Pike borrows Mainwaring's recently acquired staff car to drive his new girlfriend to Eastgate, but it runs out of petrol on the way home, forcing Pike to spend all night pushing it back.
Frazer, distrustful of banks, keeps his savings in the form of gold sovereigns, but Mainwaring believes his hoard would be better in the bank. Rumours spread about the savings and when Frazer is seen carrying a box to the graveyard, the platoon follows.
Jones marries Mrs Fox but the party after the service is interrupted when an invasion warning is sounded. In the end, Wilson and Mainwaring agree that the platoon are to raise their glasses for a toast-raising ceremony to say in unison "To Britain's Home Guard!"
The 1968 sketch was broadcast in black and white, and the others were broadcast in colour.[5] The 1968 and 1970 sketches are lost from the BBC Archives but survive as audio recordings.[5] The 1968 sketch ran for nine minutes.[5] The 1969 sketch ran for twenty minutes, whilst the 1970 and 1972 sketches ran for fifteen minutes each.[5]
^"Televiewpoint". Daily Mirror. 1 February 1969. p. 11. Retrieved 7 November 2022 – via British Newspaper Archive. A new series of Dad's Army starts in March. We are repeating the first series now because we think a lot of people missed it when it began in the summer.