Dad's Army

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Classic comedy brought to stage
Anthony O'Connell
Neath Guardian
Feb 7 2008

FEBRUARY sees Swansea’s Grand Theatre present Dad’s Army – The Lost Episodes. Staring Leslie Grantham, best known for playing “Dirty” Den Watts in BBC’s Eastenders, the production breathes new life into the misadventures of the UK’s favourite Home Guard platoon. Set in the fictional South Coast town of Walmington-on-Sea, it features four of the original episodes, plus two previously lost episodes.

Paul Hopkins, of the Grand Theatre, said: “Dad’s Army – The Lost Episodes is an hilarious stage adaptation of the hit BBC comedy brimming with bulldog spirit and a star-studded cast. The highlight of the evening is the inclusion of two very rare and real gems – the lost episodes. Not seen since 1969, the two classics have been completely lost since the originals were carelessly erased by BBC engineers.”

Leslie Grantham plays the racketeering cockney Private Walker. Dad’s Army – The Lost Episodes will be performed between February 18 and 23. For more information or tickets, telephone the box office on 01792 475715.

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I'd love to see this - I hope they are touring it. I didn't like Dad's Army as a kid, but these days I really appreciate it.

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Tomorrow (31st) marks the 40th anniversary of the first TV episode of Dad's Army being broadcast. It ran as a radio show before then of course, and I'll be uploading them all (67 episodes) to the streaming audio section over the next day or so...

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Godfrey 'tried to strangle his son' when he had a flashback to the horrors of the Somme
By Nigel Blundell
20th September 2008

Millions loved him as the mild-mannered Private Godfrey in TV comedy Dad’s Army. But actor Arnold Ridley’s son Nicholas has revealed his father once tried to strangle him while suffering a terrifying flashback to the horrors of the Somme.

‘Yes, my father was a hero – and one who paid the price throughout his life,’ says Nicholas, talking for the first time about the almost unspoken subject that coloured his childhood. ‘He suffered nightmares and would awake drenched in sweat. He needed his afternoon sleep and I remember, as a child of five or six, waking him up suddenly. He instantly had his hands round my throat. It was a most appalling moment for both of us.

‘We could never wake him suddenly because he’d go straight into “trench mode’’, even in his 80s. We would have to knock on the sitting room door first and warn him that we were coming in. The involuntary reactions were still there.’

In Dad’s Army, Godfrey was a former conscientious objector. In reality, Arnold had been a battle-hardened lance corporal with the 6th Somerset Light Infantry, who went over the top on the morning of September 16, 1916. He later wrote about his experiences: ‘I went round one of the traverses and someone hit me on the head with a rifle butt.

Fact and fiction: Arnold Ridley (far right) with his Dad's Army comrades

'A chap came at me with a bayonet aiming for a very critical part. I remember wrestling with another German and the next thing it appeared to me that my left hand had gone.’ Ridley suffered bayonet wounds to his groin and hand and his skull was badly fractured by the rifle butt. He was trapped in No Man’s Land under shell and machine-gun fire for hours. ‘I always remember my disappointment the next morning when I found my hand was still on,’ he wrote. ‘I hoped I’d been maimed for life because I knew that they couldn’t send me back. I was 20 then, and it’s not a right thought for a young man to hope he’s been maimed for life.’

When later examined by a surgeon, he was asked whether his hand wound had been self-inflicted. He recalled: ‘I was still suffering from shell shock, blue with cold and in considerable pain. “Yes sir,” I replied. “My battalion is famous for self-inflicted wounds, and just to make sure, I cracked my skull with a rifle butt as well and ran a bayonet into my groin.”’

Nicholas Ridley, now a 61-year-old father of three, says: ‘My father’s injuries and mental trauma caused him to suffer throughout his life. He had bad feet – “twisted like a tramp’s”, he’d say – caused by conditions in the trenches. He had terrible headaches and he’d awake from sleep drenched in sweat. He lost all his teeth. He lost the use of three fingers in his left hand. And he had shrapnel coming out of his back for years. As for the psychological damage, he used to say: “The mental suffering was far in excess of the physical.”’

Arnold Ridley, who died aged 88 in 1984, was invalided out of the Army in 1917 profoundly shell-shocked and thereafter suffered terrifying nightmares and occasional blackouts. ‘He was angry and bitter for some time after the First World War and the horrors of trench warfare stayed with him all his life,’ says Nicholas. ‘But a mark of his great courage was that he found a way to deal with an awful lot of it. He survived, both mentally and morally, because he was a thoroughly kind, gentle, decent man.’

Despite the trauma he suffered in the First World War, Arnold selflessly volunteered for action as a major in intelligence with the British Expeditionary Force in the Second World War. ‘His experiences in France were as bad and possibly worse than the First World War,’ says Nicholas. ‘He confessed that within minutes of landing at Cherbourg in September 1939, he was again suffering acute shell shock. He described it as ‘‘a form of mental suffering like an inverted nightmare’’. I have no inkling of what happened to him in those months before he was rescued, as it was apparently too appalling for words.

‘But to build yourself up again and become a sane, relatively healthy person with only minor neuroses, a man with compassion and sensitivity, and concern for others, is such an astounding achievement. That, in my eyes, made him a great man.’

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Dad's Army board game banned from eBay for 'inciting racial hatred'
28th January 2010

A family board game based on the popular TV sitcom Dad's Army has been bizarrely banned from sale on eBay because of its 'association with Nazis'. The game was described as 'offensive material' by the online auction website which could 'promote violence, hatred and racial or religious intolerance' as it had a swastika on its front cover.

Seller Dave Davidson, who bought the game at a car boot sale, only listed the game for 99p - but was outraged to see it removed from the auction site after a few days for breaching the company's offensive material policy.

The box of the 1970s game shows the famous cast of the comic TV show, such as Captain Mainwaring and Sergeant Wilson, alongside arrows of swastikas and one of a Union Flag, as seen in the opening credits of the programme. But despite its apparent family-friendly content, where players attempt to get their platoon to one location on the board, eBay stuck by their decision to ban the auction, declaring: 'We don't allow the sale of memorabilia associated with the Nazi Party.'

Mr Davidson said: 'I couldn't believe it when they sent me an email telling me my Dad's Army board game could insight violence and hatred. Its so annoying because any human being with an ounce of common sense can see Dad's Army is the most harmless TV programme in the world. There's no swearing, sex or violence - its not like I'm trying to flog a piece of Nazi memorabilia here. They allow coins and stamps with swastikas and there are hundreds of novels which are war stories that have them.'

Mr Davidson, from Droitwich, Worcestershire, discovered his item had been removed from the site last Saturday when he received an e-mail from eBay. It said his listing breached the company's offensive material policy and added: 'We don't allow sellers on eBay to list items that promote violence, hatred, racial or religious intolerance, or items from organisations that promote these views. We don't allow items or memorabilia associated with the Nazi Party.'

The 'Dad's Army Board Game' was released in the mid-1970s when the TV series was at the height of its popularity. The game contains all the famous characters from the TV series, including Captain Mainwaring, Sergeant Wilson, Corporal Jones, Pike, Fraser, Godfrey, Hodges and even the Vicar and the Verge.

Jenny Thomas, spokesman for eBay UK, said: 'eBay will remove listings that bear the marks of organisations that promote hatred and racial intolerance and we are strict and unapologetic in adhering to this policy. With 100 million listings globally we have to apply this rule to any item bearing such insignia, regardless of whether it is an innocent item like a board game.'

Mr Davidson,a retired bank worker who is in his early 50s, added: 'I've amassed a lot of junk over the years and just wanted to make a bit of room. But instead of making a few quid and clearing some space, I've been made to look like I'm a racist or Nazi sympathiser. I'm very annoyed.'

eBay's stance was supported by Peter Oteng, chief executive of the Worcestershire Racial Equality Council. He said: 'You can't joke with this because you are joking with millions of people killed. It's not a laughing matter at all. It's very serious.' Mr Oteng said there were strict laws about advertising discriminatory material and eBay, as the advertiser, was protecting itself. However, he added a compromise could have been to advertise the board game without showing the swastika image.

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Who do you think you're kidding? Mr Hitler?

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Teenager turns shed into shrine to Dad's Army TV heroes
11th June 2011

A teenager has turned his garden shed into an incredible shrine to the classic BBC comedy Dad's Army. Now dedicated Darren Stride, 19, is hoping his five-year labour of love will storm to victory in this year's National Shed of the Year competition.

The student is up against a garden 'pub' where smoking is still permitted, a pink palace summer house, a Noah's Ark creation and even a Doctor Who Tardis. But the Dad's Army fanatic is confident his astonishing tribute to the brave men of Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard will give him a shed start. Darren, of Scratby, near Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, said: 'I'm just hoping for the best but I'm sure we can do it.'

His bottom-of-the garden Bygones Museum first hit the national spotlight four years ago and has become an established local landmark. He has now made the final shortlist of nine from more than 1,500 sheds entered nationwide in the Cuprinol-sponsored contest.

And it is not just one shed that is being judged. Darren's shrine to Capt Mainwaring, Sgt Wilson, Jonesy, Private Pike and the team has spread to three huts. The talented teenager has even installed a donated Second World War Anderson shelter in the family's garden.

Darren, who has just finished his A-levels at East Norfolk Sixth Form College, Gorleston, said: 'Ever since my museum became known we have had people knocking on the door and asking to look round. I have even given conducted tours to Scout groups.' No one could accuse him of being a 'stupid boy', in the immortal words of Arthur Lowe's Capt Mainwaring, for Darren aims to turn his grand obsession into a career. He said:'My idea is to give Second World War talks dressed up in uniform.'

Darren said: 'I would just like to thank everyone who has supported me from day one - especially my late grandfather who got me into this obsession of mine. I'd like to think he's up there smiling on what I have achieved so far as well as chuckling away with me at episodes of Dad's Army.'

In that second pic he looks like a chubby Jimmy Carr...