DAD'S
ARMY - The Story of a Classic Television Show
 by
GRAHAM MCCANN
Publication
date: 15th October 2001
Hardback
Price £16.99
In
the summer of 1968, BBC1 screened the pilot edition of a situation-comedy
about the British Home Guard called Dad's Army. It was not widely
expected to catch on and yet Walmington-on-Sea's community of
comic characters was brought to life in such a way that has made
it an institution.
A
brilliant ensemble of performers with a mixture of temperament
and design, became more and more like the characters they played.
Arthur Lowe, unforgettable as the pompous Captain Mainwaring,
had it written into his contract that he should not be obliged
to remove his trousers in any scene, and refused to take his script
home to study because 'I'm not having that rubbish in the house',
while the urbane John Le Mesurier, who relaxed by listening to
jazz at Ronnie Scott's and savouring vintage wines and spirits,
exhibited an elective affinity for Sergeant Wilson. The writers,
in turn, were inspired to make the characters more like the actors.
McCann has enjoyed unique access to the people who brought us
Dad's Army.
As
you'll see, in the early days, the show's success was by no
means assured. · The book is crammed with amusing stories. Other
chapters reveal how the original Home Guard ignited the passion
of Winston Churchill, with hilarious consequences.
Among the many obstacles that writers Jimmy Perry and David Croft
had to overcome to bring Dad's Army to the screen, they had to
contend with Arthur Lowe's reluctance to drop his trousers or
study his script or, indeed, do anything he considered 'common';
the relaxed approach of John Le Mesurier (four-hour journeys
to location would take two days, via racecourses and drinking
haunts); John Laurie's (a.k.a. the dour Scot, Private Frazer)
horror that he, the self-proclaimed 'finest speaker of verse
in the country', should end up famous for 'this crap'.
·
Then
there were the perennial problems of a cast that were elderly
at the beginning of the show's ten-year run, such as Arthur Lowe's
narcolepsy, which caused him to become drowsy at the most inappropriate
moments (he would lift his face, dripping, from a bowl of soup,
and comment 'the mulligatawny's not as good as it was').
Unlike
previous books on the subject Graham has unearthed fresh material
to produce the comprehensive account of a show that became television's
most successful sit-com. He takes us behind the scenes of Walmington-on-Sea's
war effort to bring alive the men and women who defied initial
scepticism to create the matchless comedy that still, more than
twenty years after the last episode was recorded, attracts millions
of viewers whenever and wherever it is repeated. And why is
this? Perhaps it is because great sit-coms project back into
our homes a wryly exaggerated vision of what it is that makes
us who we have no choice but to be; when we laugh at Dad's Army
we laugh at ourselves…
In
Dad's Army acclaimed author Graham McCann provides an entertaining
and meticulously researched account of the show's history and
an insightful analysis of its enduring appeal. With contributions
from the people who planned, produced and performed in the programme,
and material drawn from the BBC archives, Dad's Army is the definitive
story of a very British comedy.
Graham
McCann is one of Britain's leading film and TV writers. His
two previous biographies include , Cary Grant: A Class Apart
and Morecambe & Wise. In Dad's Army: The Story of a Classic
Television Show, his witty, affectionate style is perfectly
married to its subject. It is clever, accessible, artful and
very, very funny.
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