Fairly Secret Army

In the early 1980s, writer David Nobbs was offered the opportunity by Tyne Tees to pen a Fawlty Towers spin-off series featuring Manuel in the main role. Recognising that transforming the character from a support player into a central figure would not work, Nobbs rejected the opportunity. Despite this, his fondness for The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin character Major Jimmy Anderson led him to ignore his own advice when planning Fairly Secret Army.

The writer had fallen in love with his own creation, the former soldier who desired to protect Britain from 'forces of anarchy', and thus began developing a new series centred around him for the BBC. The project ran into difficulties however, when John Howard Davies balked at the right-wing theme. When Nobbs rewrote the scripts, Davies then complained that the Major had become two-dimensional and the idea was dropped.

Nobbs had though, by this time, cultivated a good relationship with Video Arts, having worked on several training videos for them. Peter Robinson and Michael Peacock become involved with Fairly Secret Army and John Cleese took on the role of script editor. A series was subsequently commissioned by Channel 4 to be broadcast in 1984.

Now, Jimmy had become Major Harry Kitchener Wellington Truscott. The name being partly down to the move away from the BBC and also due to the writer's desire to not have to explain the absence of Reggie Perrin and other family members. The central character remained largely unchanged however, with Geoffrey Palmer reprising his role. He was joined by Diane Fletcher, playing his love interest, and Jeremy Child who played her brother.

The first series was directed by Robert Young and filmed on location without a studio audience. The director's unconventional style meant that comedy scenes were occasionally filmed through the branches of trees, with the camera focused on the actors' feet or from long distance. Michael Nyman's striking theme only further added to the show standing apart from the multitude of traditional studio based sitcoms popular at the time.

Another theory, put forward by Nobbs, as to why the show didn't reach the highest of standards was the role played by script editor John Cleese. Nobbs has commented that Cleese loved the central character so much that he felt the scripts didn't need to be altered. The end result was that the series was largely plotless.

Considering all of these factors, it is perhaps not surprising that Fairly Secret Army failed to make a huge impact when it was first shown. The first series did draw a small cult following who adored Harry's unique form of clipped speech but otherwise the comedy was largely ignored.

The second series brought a new director, Roy Ward Baker, who would place the focus more on comedy and an increasingly plot driven approach from the writer. In this series Harry aimed to infiltrate a Marxist cell in order to prove the competence of his unit. Another addition was an introduction at the beginning of each episode from Harry in order to keep viewers up to date with the story.

An enforced alteration occurred due to the demolition of the house used for filming the first series. This was explained away courtesy of a large explosion and instead the army's base was moved to a disused army camp.

Despite all of these changes, the reception to the second batch of shows was very similar to the first; Fairly Secret Army continued to be ignored by the majority of the general public but adored by a hardy few. It was unsurprising therefore when Channel 4 did not recommission the sitcom.

The ex-army major did reappear though, having reverted to his original name, in The Legacy Of Reginald Perrin in 1996 with Geoffrey Palmer continuing to play the part. The failure of the series to impress either viewers or critics meant that it was shortlived, however.

Interest in the character of Reginald Perrin has continued nevertheless which led to the BBC commissioning the series Reggie Perrin in 2009. Although several of the original characters were dropped, the ex-major's perennial appeal was once again highlighted by his inclusion. Renamed William, he is now Reggie's father-in-law and played by Geoffrey Whitehead.

Fairly Secret Army is now generally forgotten by most viewers and is not currently commercially available. The small cult following that the series has has led to calls for a DVD release but this has yet to occur as, according to Nobbs, there would not be enough interest to make it financially worthwhile. Awkward coves, the British public.