David Croft (I)

Radio Times review

This episode, about guarding PoWs, isn't top-drawer Dad's but does feature Mainwaring stuck down a hole "like Winnie the Pooh", Godfrey delivering the unimaginable line "Your tiny hand is frozen" to an Italian soldier, and more heroic sentence-mangling from Jones. Plus another of those typically sunny location shoots. As Jimmy Perry recently recalled for Radio Times, "Usually the weather was very good. We called it David Croft Weather."

Jimmy Perry turns 90: a tribute to the genius

Is there anyone living in Britain today who has contributed more to our Gross National Happiness than Jimmy Perry? This is the man who not only created and co-wrote the nation's best loved and most enduring comedy series, Dad's Army, but who also, along with his writing partner David Croft, gave us two other hugely popular shows, It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Hi-De-Hi! as well as the witty Upstairs, Downstairs pastiche, You Rang, M'Lord?.

Mainwaring has allowed Welsh journalist Mr Cheeseman (Talfryn Thomas) to join the Home Guard in order to help him write an article entitled Captain Mainwaring: Man of Action. "There's no question mark," Mainwaring quickly points out to his troops. And when Pike gets his head stuck in the park railings and a bomb explodes near Walmington, the captain's forced to live up to the headline.

The character of Cheeseman, who was brought in to fill the gap created when James Beck (Private Walker) died, was described as "irritating without being funny" by writer David Croft. However, the "bath permit" scene between Jones and Mr Bluett is one to savour.

Here's a play about the friendship that grew between the two lead actors in Dad's Army, John Le Mesurier (played by Anton Lesser) and Arthur Lowe (Robert Daws), which began on the TV series and lasted all their lives. Playwright Roy Smiles switches between the letters the pair exchanged in the 1980s, remembering how they got to know each other making the show, and afterwards, showing why such different people remained such pals. Maybe part of it was the integrity of the David Croft and Jimmy Perry scripts which, 40 years on, still shine.

Video: Celebration marks life of David Croft

A service to celebrate the life of comedy writer David Croft, co-creator of the TV classic Dad's Army, has been held in London.

The writer, who lived in Suffolk, died last year at the age of 89. At St Martin in the Fields some of the stars from his shows gathered to celebrate his life.

David Croft, who died in September, will go down as one of the most influential behind-the-scenes figures in the history of British TV comedy, having co-written and produced a raft of our most popular sitcoms, including Dad's Army, 'Allo! 'Allo! and Are You Being Served? This hour-long documentary celebrates his work, alongside that of long-term collaborators Jimmy Perry and Jeremy Lloyd - and features more than a few riotously funny clips from the shows themselves.

Jeffrey Holland Remembers David Croft

The much-loved actor looks back on his time working with the celebrated comedy writer, who died last month.

Dad's Army: behind the lines of a comedy classic

Jimmy Perry, who with the late David Croft formed one of Britain's greatest sitcom-writing teams, recalls their 50-year partnership.

David Mitchell: David Croft came from golden age of TV

David Croft came from the golden age of television, when it was a unifying medium with enormous power.

Video: David Croft discusses complexity of 'Allo 'Allo

With the passing of David Croft on Sunday, 27 September, at age 89, more from our 1999 interview for the public television program, Salute to British Comedy on American Public Television. When host Penelope Keith introduces the 'Allo 'Allo! segment, we come to realize that the series was not only complex for the audience, but for both David Croft and co-creator/writer, Jeremy Lloyd. As you'll see, thank goodness David Croft's secretary was able to follow the plot line.