THE STORY IN A NUTSHELL

      While travelling by train to the East London suburb of Stratford East, actor-turned-scriptwriter Jimmy Perry dreamt up an idea that would not only alter the course of his career but provide the rest of us with something rather special.

      At the time, Perry was treading the boards at Stratford East’s Theatre Royal, working for stage director Joan Littlewood; but for some time he’d harboured dreams of writing for television, despite having only written for pantomimes and comedy sketches. Although he’d never penned material for the small screen, he was driven by the desire to write something in order to create a significant part for himself.

      On his daily commutes across London, he began formulating a premise. Realising it would be judicious to write about something he’d experienced and understood, and backed by the knowledge that service-based comedies like Bilko and The Army Game had been successful, he turned his attention to the Home Guard.

      Using the Home Guard as the foundations for a sitcom hadn’t been tackled before. But having served with units in Barnes and Watford as a teenager, it seemed the best course of action. This was 1967, however, more than two decades since the Second World War had finished, and Perry’s enthusiasm was initially dampened by doubts regarding whether anyone would remember the Home Guard’s contribution during the war; his mood wasn’t helped when he visited the local library. When he asked the librarian for books about the Home Guard, his request was met with a quizzical stare.

      Unperturbed, Perry began work on a synopsis and a draft script, inspired by the Will Hay film, Oh! Mr Porter. The balance of characters, comprising a pompous man, a boy and an old man was, in Perry’s eyes, the perfect combination. Influenced by this screen classic, Perry wrote a script, titled The Fighting Tigers, but didn’t actively market the work for many weeks,

      ‘Don’t panic!’ (Jones)

      concentrating, instead, on his work with Joan Littlewood. It wasn’t until 1967, during a summer break with the theatre, that Perry proactively tried selling his Home Guard effort. While appearing in an episode of the TV series, Beggar My Neighbour, Perry grasped the opportunity of approaching the director of the sitcom, David Croft, and telling him about his idea for a Home Guard-based sitcom. Croft agreed to read it and was suitably impressed. When a second script had been written, Croft discussed the would-be project with Michael Mills, the BBC’s then Head of Light Entertainment, who was prepared to green light the project so long as David Croft – who was an experienced TV writer – co-wrote the sitcom; it was also Mills who, disliking Perry’s proposed title, dreamt up the name, Dad’s Army.

      Although a few concerns were expressed within the BBC regarding whether the project was taking the mickey out of the Home Guard, most people supported the idea as Perry and

      Did you know?

      Writers Jimmy Perry and David Croft considered calling time on the sitcom in 1975 until David Attenborough, the then Controller of BBC1, persuaded them to continue. The show ran for another two Christmas Specials and a complete series.

      Croft’s attention turned to refining the characters, among them a spiv, a common wartime character, and an ageing war veteran, based on a man who served with Jimmy Perry in the Home Guard and fought at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898.

      The character of Godfrey, meanwhile, stemmed from the writers’ wish to create a gentle character, while the mollycoddled Pike was based on Perry’s experiences as a boy and Hodges introduced to upset the pompous Captain Mainwaring, thereby generating many situations from which comedy could be mined.

      When it was time for casting, Jimmy Perry hoped to play Walker, the spiv, a role he’d created for himself; sadly, for him, director and co-writer David Croft had other ideas. Wanting Perry behind the camera, Jimmy Beck was recruited, although Perry suggested Arthur English. While Michael Mills acquired the services of John Le Mesurier and John Laurie, Perry claims the credit for securing Arthur Lowe as Mainwaring, even though it was a struggle convincing some quarters. Lowe had made his name on the small screen playing Mr Swindley in Coronation Street: but that was commercial TV. Unsure about his suitability, film actor Thorley Walters and Jon Pertwee, whose later credits included Doctor Who, were offered the part before Arthur Lowe was invited to the BBC to discuss the role and subsequently offered the job, quickly making it his own.

      Arnold Ridley had worked for Croft on Hugh and I while Jones, the butcher, was originally offered to Jack Haig. But when he accepted a 26-episode children’s series, Wacky Jacky, instead, Clive Dunn was offered the role which, after some deliberation, he accepted. With Ian Lavender enrolled to play young Frank Pike, Bill Pertwee as Hodges, Frank Williams as the Vicar and the underrated Edward Sinclair as the Verger, the main cast was in place and the cameras were ready to roll.

      Location filming took place in and around Thetford, Norfolk, using the open spaces of the military training grounds. After the interior scenes were recorded at BBC Television Centre, the first episode, ‘The Man And The Hour’, was transmitted on 31st July 1968 and met with a mixed reaction from the press. Meanwhile, the results from an audience survey requested by David Croft were so negative he prevented the results reaching his bosses, fearing they would pull the plug on the show. Thankfully, the sitcom was given the chance to mature and before long its popularity was growing.

      The show ran for nine series, plus Christmas Specials, over a period of nine years but there was a moment, in 1975, when its future was uncertain. Perry and Croft were enjoying success with the Dad’s Army stage show, which afforded them the opportunity to assess whether they wanted to continue with the TV series. Fortunately for the show’s many fans, the then controller of BBC1, David Attenborough, wined and dined Perry and Croft and persuaded them to continue.

      The last series ran through Autumn 1977, culminating in ‘Never Too Old’, an episode which saw Corporal Jones and Mrs Fox finally tie the knot. It was the end of an era but little did anyone know that the programme would carry on entertaining millions for decades to come.