British Comedy Guide
Dad's Army. Image shows from L to R: Private Godfrey (Arnold Ridley), Lance Corporal Jones (Clive Dunn), Private Walker (James Beck), Captain Mainwaring (Arthur Lowe), Private Frazer (John Laurie), Sergeant Wilson (John Le Mesurier), Private Pike (Ian Lavender)
Dad's Army

Dad's Army

  • TV sitcom
  • BBC One
  • 1968 - 1977
  • 80 episodes (9 series)

Beloved sitcom about the struggles of a Home Guard platoon during World War II who are fighting incompetence, age and pomposity more than Nazis. Stars Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Clive Dunn, John Laurie, Arnold Ridley and more.

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Press clippings Page 21

I cannot say I cracked a rib, split my sides, or even raised a belly-laugh - but asome instinct is still telling me that the BBC is about to come up with a classic comedy series... The script mercifully avoided all the tempting cliche traps... Give it a week or two and I'll tell you whether this really is comedy's finest half-hour. All I say now is that the possibilities are tremendous.

Ron Boyle, The Daily Express, 1st August 1968

It seemed to me to blend sentiment and humour rather uneasily as if afraid of making too much fun of a hallowed wartime institution... The one solid pleasure last night was watching the performance of Arthur Lowe as the organizing hero.

Michael Billington, The Times, 1st August 1968

It is nice to see a comedy like Dad's Army, which has enough confidence in its actors to force the pace. It is a humorous recollection of the Home Guard of 1940, but it is played in such an easy-going natural fashion that one imagines even the most hard-bitten professional anti-patriots must find it amusing.

Stanley Reynolds, The Guardian, 31st July 1968

The trouble with this, though, is that it isn't situation or character comedy, it's only gag comedy, the easiest to write and the quickest wearing on the ear.

Peter Black, Daily Mail, 31st July 1968

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