Dads Army: the Story of a Very British Comedy Free
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FREE DADS ARMY: THE STORY OF A VERY BRITISH COMEDY PDF Graham McCann | 304 pages | 02 Sep 2002 | HarperCollins Publishers | 9781841153094 | English | London, United Kingdom Dad's Army - BBC1 Sitcom - British Comedy Guide The sitcom ran for nine series and 80 episodes in total; there was also a radio version based Dads Army: The Story of a Very British Comedy the television scripts, a feature film and a stage show. The series regularly gained audiences of 18 million viewers, and is still repeated worldwide. The Home Guard consisted of local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, either because of age hence the title Dad's Army or by being in Dads Army: The Story of a Very British Comedy exempt from conscription. Younger members of the cast included Ian LavenderClive Dunn who played the oldest guardsman, Lance Corporal Jones, despite being one of the Dads Army: The Story of a Very British Comedy cast membersand James Beck who died suddenly during production of the sixth series in It had been placed 13th in a list of the Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in and voted for by industry professionals. The series has influenced British popular culturewith its catchphrases and characters being well known. Perry was only 17 years old when he joined the 10th Hertfordshire Battalion. His mother did not like him being out at night, and feared he might catch cold; he partly resembled the character of Private Pike. Film historian Jeffrey Richards has cited Lancastrian comedian Robb Wilton as a key influence; [9] he portrayed a work-shy husband who joined the Home Guard in numerous comic sketches during WW2. Perry wrote the first script and gave it to David Croft while working as a minor actor in the Croft-produced sitcom Hugh and Ioriginally intending the role of the spivlater called Walker, to be his own. It was he who renamed the show Dad's Army. He did not like Brightsea-on-Sea, so the location was changed to Walmington-on-Sea. He also suggested adding a Scot. Jimmy Perry had produced the original idea but needed an experienced man to see it through. Mills suggested David Croftand so their partnership began. When an episode was shown 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 Dads Army: The Story of a Very British Comedy in-tray. He only saw it several months later, [12] after the series had been broadcast and had received great Dads Army: The Story of a Very British Comedy. The show is set in the fictional seaside town of Walmington-on-Seaon the south coast of England. The first series has a loose narrative thread, with Captain Mainwaring's platoon being formed and equipped, initially with wooden guns and LDV armbands, later Dads Army: The Story of a Very British Comedy with full army uniforms; the platoon is part of the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment. The first episode, " The Man and the Hour ", begins with a scene set in the "present day" ofin which Mainwaring addresses his old platoon as part of the contemporary '" I'm Backing Britain " campaign. The prologue opening was a condition imposed after initial concerns from Paul Foxthe BBC1 controller, that it belittled the efforts of the Home Guard. 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 has to come from another quarter and this is generally provided by Air Raid Precautions ARP Warden Hodges, and sometimes by the verger of the local church St Aldhelm's or by Captain Square and the neighbouring Eastgate Home Guard platoon. The group does have some encounters related to the enemy, such as downed German planes, a Luftwaffe pilot who parachutes into the town's clock tower, a U-boat crew and discarded parachutes that may have been German; a Viennese ornithologist appears in " Man Hunt " and IRA suspects appear in " Absent Friends ". The humour ranges from the subtle especially the class -reversed relationship between grammar school- educated Mainwaring, the local bank manager, and public school-educated Wilson, his deputy at the bank to the slapstick the antics of the elderly Jones being a prime example. Jones had several catchphrasesincluding "Don't panic! Mainwaring says "You stupid boy" to Pike in many episodes. The early series occasionally include darker humour, reflecting that, especially early in the war, the Home Guard was woefully under-equipped but was still willing to have a crack at the Wehrmacht. For instance, in the episode Dads Army: The Story of a Very British Comedy 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? 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 former cricketer Fred Trueman appeared in " The Test ". The show's opening titles were originally intended to feature footage of refugees and Nazi troops, to illustrate the threat faced by the Home Guard. There were two different versions of the closing credits for the show. The first version, used in Series 1 and 2, simply showed footage of the main cast superimposed over a still photograph, with the crew credits rolling over a black background. The more familiar closing credits, introduced in Series 3, were a homage to the end credits of the film The Way Ahead which had covered the training of a platoon during the war. In both instances, each character is shown as they walk across a smoke-filled battlefield. One of the actors in Dad's ArmyJohn Laurie, also appeared in that film and his performance in the end credits of The Way Ahead appears to be copied in the sitcom. The show's theme tune, " Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler? It was the only pastiche in the series, as the other music used was contemporary to the s. Perry wrote the lyrics himself and composed the music with Derek Taverner. Flanagan died less than a year after the recording. At the time it was widely believed to be a wartime song. The music over the opening credits was recorded at Riverside Studios, Bud Flanagan being accompanied by the Orchestra of the Band of the Coldstream Guards. The closing credits feature Dads Army: The Story of a Very British Comedy instrumental march version of the song played by the Band of the Coldstream Guards conducted by Captain later Lieutenant Colonel Trevor L. Sharpe, ending with the air-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 Dads Army: The Story of a Very British Comedy 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 series 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 The first two series were recorded and screened in black and white, while Series 3 to 9 were recorded and screened in colour. Even so, one episode in Series 3, Room at the Bottomformerly only survived in black and white and remains on the official DVDs in this form. This episode has benefited from colour recovery technology, using a buried colour signal chroma dots in the black-and-white telerecording to restore the episode back to colour and was transmitted on 13 December on BBC Two. Dad's Army was less affected than most from the wiping of videotapebut three second-series episodes remain missing: episode 9 " The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker ", episode 11 " 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. Two further series 2 episodes were believed lost until Two of the three missing episodes have since been performed as part of the latest stage show. The soundtrack of "A Stripe for Frazer" has been mixed with animation to replace the missing images. InUKTV announced plans to recreate the three missing episodes for broadcast on its Gold channel. Mercury Productions, the company responsible for Saluting Dad's ArmyGold's 50th anniversary tribute series, produced the episodes, which were directed by Ben Kellett. The recreations were broadcast in Augustcoinciding with the 50th anniversary of their original broadcast on the BBC. Inin common with many British sitcoms of that era, Dad's Army was made into a feature film. Backers Columbia Pictures imposed arbitrary changes, such as recasting Liz Fraser as Mavis Pike and filming outdoors in Chalfont St GilesBuckinghamshire rather than Thetford in Norfolkwhich made the cast unhappy.