Dad's Army - My British Buddy Audio Cassette Review

The eighth volume of 4 episodes from the Dad's Army Radio series was released in July 1998 and the contents of which, did not fail to disappoint. The four radio adaptations include "The King Was In His Counting House" (from radio series two) and three episodes from the third radio series "The Godiva Affair", "The Deadly Attachment" and "My British Buddy".

When listening to these episodes I had to marvel at the genius of the regular cast in transferring their characters from the medium of television to radio.

Arthur Lowe comes across just as pompous as Mainwaring, his pauses in dialogue are shown to full effect and humour in the radio series and it is understandable why Arthur has been compared to that other comic great in the past, Tony Hancock. Equally, nothing is ever lost from the performances of John Le Mesurier, Clive Dunn, John Laurie, Arnold Ridley and Ian Lavender.

Larry Martyn delivers a very competent portrayal of Private Walker in these episodes and even gets a chance to deliver some original dialogue in "The Godiva Affair" (an episode which does not feature the character in the TV counterpart).

"The Godiva Affair" is the famous episode in which Captain Mainwaring's platoon prepares for an upcoming Gala event and Lance - Corporal Jones' romance with Mrs. Fox allegedly falls apart. Also the fight of the Walmington-on-Sea's Womenfolk for the role of riding through the town as Lady Godiva!

The best thing about "The Godiva Affair" is the presentation of "The Floral Dance" sketch (adapted from the stage show but substituted for the more visually aided Morris dance sketch featured in the original TV version).

This section of the show is delivered very professionally and it sounds as though the team were having immense fun performing it. Mollie Sugden appears in this episode as Mrs. Fox, however I find Ms Sugden's performance slightly over the top and it is a shame that both Pamela Cundell (TV's Mrs. Fox) and Eric Longworth (Mr. Gordon) were absent from this episode as it really became theirs in the TV version.

The Deadly Attachment attempts to stay faithful to its TV counterpart, Mainwaring and the platoon capture a German U - Boat crew and Philip Madoc recreates his role as the German Captain here (although now he is named Muller). In this version, Muller captures the vicar (Frank Williams appears instead of Bill Pertwee). The episode flows particularly well although the famous "Don't Tell Him Pike" sequence doesn't deliver as well as the TV version.

"My British Buddy" features the welcoming from Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard of the Americans into World War II . "The King Was In His Counting House" features Captain Mainwaring's attempt at making an effort at closer comradeship in the platoon by throwing a party in his home and then been alerted that a bomb has fallen on the bank.

These two episodes demonstrate the extremes radio comedy can go to by portraying the programme in a different medium, for instance a goldfish swimming in Captain Mainwaring's snowstorm curio after Walker hastily repairs Pike's damage and the fight that elapses between the platoon and the Americans.

All in all, the latest Dad's Army release on audio is a very worthy addition to all collections and perhaps an excellent introduction if you have never listened to the radio series before.

Andrew Howells, August 1998.