Dolly ( Amy Dalby and Joan Cooper) and Cissy Godfrey ( Nan Braunton and Kathleen Saintsbury), Private Godfrey's spinster sisters, who reside with him at their cottage. Dad's Army is a British television sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, and originally broadcast on BBC1 from 31 July 1968 to 13 November 1977. It ran for nine series and 80 episodes in total; a feature film released in 1971, a stage show and a radio version based on the television scripts were also produced. The series regularly gained audiences of 18 million viewers and is still shown internationally. The platoon is chosen to play Germans in a training film. After arriving on the set a week early, they are mistaken for real Germans on the way home. Walker is called up into the army. The platoon, anxious at how they will obtain off-the-ration supplies without him, fight to keep him.

Pelican Crossings – Dad's Army 2 (1977)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016 . Retrieved 12 July 2016. Mainwaring allows women into his platoon but rumours begin to circulate that he has become personally involved with one of the new members. Colin Bean: Actor best known for playing Private Sponge in". Independent.co.uk. 29 June 2009 . Retrieved 15 October 2017. In June 2018 the Royal Mail issued a set of 8 stamps, featuring the main characters and their catchphrases, to mark the comedy's 50th anniversary. [48]Coi: Pelican Crossings – Dad's Army – Hodges' Van (1977)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016 . Retrieved 12 July 2016. The platoon is placed on guard duty, and mans a machine gun post at the end of the pier. When Pike loses the food and the boat, morale begins to fall. The situation worsens when they spot a drifting sea mine. The Times Digital Archive - Mr. Robb Wilton". The Times. 2 May 1957. p.15 . Retrieved 3 March 2020. To raise money for the Comforts for the Troops Fund, the vicar organises a bazaar to which each member of the platoon donates something. Hodges, the greengrocer, donates three oranges, rare due to wartime rationing. Mainwaring is determined to buy one of the oranges for his wife. Lowe, Le Mesurier, Dunn, Lavender and Pertwee, and Jones's van, appeared in character at the finish of the 1974 London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.

The platoon requisitions a boat and sets off to guard the local river. After getting lost in what they think is the English Channel, they believe themselves to be stranded behind enemy lines. Bernard Cribbins, the new Private Godfrey". The Oldie. 12 November 2018. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019 . Retrieved 3 March 2019. Lowe, Le Mesurier and Laurie again made a cameo appearance as their Dad's Army characters in the 1977 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special. As Elton John is following incomprehensible instructions to find the BBC studios, he encounters them in a steam room. On leaving, Mainwaring calls him a "stupid boy". [40] Note: This was the very first colour episode of Dad's Army to air in colour, as the BBC One colour television service commenced transmission on Saturday 15 November 1969.Schilder, Niles. "fanfiction". www.dadsarmy.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021 . Retrieved 22 February 2021. The platoon's supply of ammunition is used up when engaging a low-flying German plane, and Mainwaring sets up a court of inquiry to determine who should be held responsible. The inquiry descends into farce when the platoon attempts to re-enact the event. MacDonald, Deirdre (18 March 1972). "Arthur Lowe, cheerful on parade as Mr. Drake the eccentric sleuth". Radio Times . Retrieved 4 June 2006.

The platoon is chosen to provide the guard of honour for the Prime Minister on his visit to Walmington-on-Sea, but poor performance at the shooting range causes Major Regan to have them compete with the neighbouring Eastgate platoon for the honour.Perry wrote the first script and gave it to David Croft while working as a minor actor in the Croft-produced sitcom Hugh and I, originally intending the role of the spiv, later called Walker, to be his own. [8] Croft was impressed and sent the script to Michael Mills, the BBC's Head of Comedy and the series was commissioned. [11] Elizabeth Mainwaring ( unseen character), Mainwaring's reclusive, paranoid and domineering wife who is never seen onscreen. (In the episode " A Soldier's Farewell" her "shape" is seen sleeping in the bunk above the captain while in their Anderson Shelter.) Her marriage with Mainwaring is not a happy one and Mainwaring does his best to avoid her at any opportunity. They have no children. Mainwaring puts the platoon on a foot-toughening regime, including 20 miles (32km) route marches and playing football in bare feet.

Mills, Michael (23 May 1968). "Argument about Opening Titles of 'Dad's Army' ". BBC . Retrieved 14 December 2016. After Jones mistakenly shoots a turkey on patrol and its owner cannot be found, the platoon decides to hold a turkey dinner and treat the town's senior citizens. General headquarters determines that Mainwaring has never held a commission, and he is demoted to private. Wilson temporarily leads the platoon while Mainwaring attempts to regain his command. In the end, Wilson and Mainwaring agree that the platoon are to raise their glasses for a toast-raising ceremony to say in unison "To Britain’s Home Guard!"Braxton, Mark (22 December 2015). "Dad's Army is comedy gold – but the BBC wasn't always so sure". Radio Times . Retrieved 12 July 2016. A pilot episode for an American remake called The Rear Guard was produced by ABC and broadcast on 10 August 1976, based on the episode " The Deadly Attachment". However, it failed to make it past the pilot stage. [41]