Arthur Lowe

Comedy oddities: The Rise And Rise Of Michael Rimmer

Given that this is a film with a screenplay from Monty Python's John Cleese and Graham Chapman, along with Peter Cook and the director Kevin Billington, and that it stars Cook, Denholm Elliot and Harold Pinter, you would think this would be an enormously well known film even if it wasn't any good. As it happens it's not exactly a classic, and some of the humour is a little broad, but most of the time it is a pleasantly amusing satire and so it's surprising it has largely been forgotten about.

It says much for the fuzzy nostalgia surrounding Dad's Army that this is the third of four retrospective docs to mark the sitcom's 50th anniversary. This time, Alexander Armstrong goes behind the scenes and learns how the lovably pompous Arthur Lowe had much in common with Captain Mainwaring.

Dad's Army at 50: sitcom celebrates half-century

BBC's classic Second World War comedy centred around pompous Captain Mainwaring's attempts to instil strict discipline into ageing band of brothers.

Dad's Army at 50: the history of 'comedy's finest hour'

The leads hated the script and the BBC was terrified of offending veterans. But Dad's Army became a TV phenomenon. We reveal how the Walmington warriors seized victory.

Preview - Dad's Army: The Love of Three Oranges

People often complain of there being too many repeats, especially over Christmas. However, the old favourites feel as much as a tradition now as the Queen's Christmas Message, naff cracker jokes and rows over the afternoon game of Monopoly.

Why Dad's Army has never been beaten in British comedy

They wouldn't get away with it today. No black faces, nor any character remotely ethnic other than John Laurie's tetchy Scotsman. Women only in subsidiary roles. And certainly no suggestion of sexual ambiguity beyond a wet clergyman. The BBC's modern cultural commissars wouldn't give the pilot script a second glance. White. Middle class. Home Counties. Show him the door, Doris.

Dad's Army soldiers on - and it's still a sitcom master

It has an antiquated look and Arthur Lowe may occasionally fluff his lines, but the historical setting of Dad's Army has helped it endure, and rank as some of the finest British farce.

Don't panic, it is funny... in parts

Nobody could ever make a better Captain Mainwaring than the late, great Arthur Lowe, but Toby Jones pulls off the pomposity, the middle-class chippiness and, above all, the comic timing, to something close to perfection.

Dad's Army soldiers on: it's still a sitcom masterclass

It has an antiquated look and Arthur Lowe may occasionally fluff his lines, but the historical setting of Dad's Army has helped it endure, and rank as some of the finest British farce.

We're Doomed: The Dad's Army Story dramatises the tale of jobbing actor Jimmy Perry (Paul Ritter) who together with his agent's husband David Croft (Richard Dormer) wrote one of the nation's favourite sitcoms. When I first started watching We're Doomed I thought that writer Stephen Russell's work would be up there with other making of dramas such as The Road to Coronation Street and An Adventure in Space and Time. However I gradually realised that We're Doomed lacked the bite of both of those shows and it was a little bit too light for its own good. One of the main problems with We're Doomed was that Dad's Army wasn't beset with many problems aside from a sceptical BBC Boss and an audience who may not have been ready for a comedy about a recently fought war. But what We're Doomed lacked in edge it made up for in two sympathetic lead characters who were played by a couple of fine performers. Paul Ritter perfectly portrayed Perry as the wannabe star who became an accidental sitcom writer after trying to net himself the role of Walker. Ritter's animated turn was perfectly balanced by Richard Dormer's very dry interpretation of the grounded David Croft. The action started to pick up when the familiar faces of the actors started to appear on screen most notably Arthur Lowe who was convincingly portrayed by John Sessions. Sessions made Lowe the star of the show both on and off camera especially when Croft and Perry worried that he'd struggle to remember any of his lines. The humour of the piece was perfectly offset by a couple of more emotional moments such as when Perry realised he wasn't going to play Walker and when later he watched his hero Bud Flanagan perform the iconic Dad's Army theme tune. Even though it was a little rushed, I felt that We're Doomed told its story well primarily due to its combination of wit and sympathetic characters. Ultimately the drama was the perfect fit for the festive schedules and also provided the perfect taster for the upcoming Dad's Army film.