Dad's Army - The Story of A Classic Television Show

Review by Andy Howells, October 12th 2001

By Graham McCann, Published by 4th Estate
Released: October 15th 2001
ISBN 1-84115-308-7

Dad's Army fans have been treat to more books on the show over the past five years than were ever released during the series life span between 1968-1977, so there comes a point when you have to ask, what more can be said about the series?

This historical account takes the reader not just back to the beginning of Dad's Army - the TV Series, (the Home Guard being something that Jimmy Perry remembered when he witnessed the changing of the Guard outside Buckingham Palace in Summer, 1967), but to the moment Sir Anthony Eden called for volunteers at the beginning of the LDV in May 1940. The LDV's rise and the intervention of Winston Churchill to change the name to the Home Guard plus relating incidents make fascinating reading. One is not surprised how a creative mind like Jimmy Perry's was later influenced to write a series based on this period of British history.

The Dad's Army story is told from an almost biographical angle, some stories you will have read before in various other Dad's Army books, while others will be fresh, especially quotes culled from a variety of resources as diverse as newspaper interviews to production documents. There are also new comments from Jimmy Perry, David Croft, Ian Lavender, Bill Pertwee and Frank Williams.

I particularly enjoyed reading quotes from Ian Lavender who still has the utmost respect for his fellow cast members and speaks of them all with warmth and sincerity. His recollection of returning from filming in Thetford in the car with John Laurie reciting "Tam O' Shanter" to him is very touching.

Legendary figures such as Sir Paul Fox and Sir Bill Cotton, key people who supported Jimmy Perry and David Croft at the series conception, are also given space in this book. Thus giving the reader an insight into the fact that getting the show on the air wasn't as straightforward as people imagined.

But rumours that Dad's Army was not an instant hit are put to rest with the evidence of Graham McCann's meticulous research. The chronological approach to the book is refreshing to say the least, giving the Dad's Army story a beginning, middle, an end and a hereafter. Ian Lavender's humourous recollection of a recent New Zealand Interview on if there was likely to be any more episodes of Dad's Army is included in the epilogue.

For completists, there is a full appendix and an episode guide, making this an essential read for any fan of Dad's Army or anyone who wants to study the complete story of a successful British Sitcom. Like the series, the book leaves you wanting more!