We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story

We're Doomed: The Dad's Army Story review

We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story is touching, humorous and ultimately heartwarming piece of television...

We're Doomed!, review: 'wonderfully witty'

This warm making-of drama delivered a top-quality ensemble cast, a lovely script and lashings of nostalgia, says Gerard O'Donovan.

Review: How the Beeb nearly doomed Dad's Army

For years, the cry has gone up: why can't the Beeb give us an old-fashioned sitcom? Something good, something genuinely funny -- not just a showcase for a stand-up comic, such as Peter Kay's Car Share, or a childish collection of bottom jokes, such as Mrs Brown's Boys. We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story (BBC Two) delivered the answer. The BBC doesn't know the formula for great comedy, and it never did. All the execs can do is give licence to writers, and hope.

Preview: We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story, BBC2

There is so much to squeeze into an hour some pretty good roles barely get a few lines.

We're Doomed: The Dad's Army Story (22 December) is good fun, although the perennial doubts about the factual liberties taken by this genre are alarmingly raised by the producers having to apologise in advance to the family of Dad's Army co-creator David Croft for depicting him as a chain-smoker rather than the fanatical anti-fags campaigner he was.

Doomed comedy that was rescued from the stupid boys

A new dramatisation shows how the bigwigs at the BBC nearly canned Dad's Army before the balloon went up, says Jasper Rees.

Radio Times review

From the animated-arrow captions to the church hall set re-creation, this knockabout biopic envelopes Dad's Army fans in a very warm embrace. It charts the meeting, partnership and battles with the Beeb of two of our finest comedy writers, Jimmy Perry and David Croft, whisking us back to the smoke-wreathed 60s - all brown and beige, big specs and high hems.

Writer Stephen Russell holds your hand through the who's who and what's what, but with a lightness of touch and a deep affection for the imperishable Home Guard sitcom. There are lump-in-the-throat moments, too: Perry overseeing his hero Bud Flanagan record the theme tune is a beauty (Bud died shortly afterwards), and the whole thing ends with the perfect pop song.

Paul Ritter and Richard Dormer are superb as flamboyant Perry and commanding Croft. Just as this drama is a tribute to them, so is Dad's Army's longevity. Frank Williams, 84, the show's original vicar, recently told RT, "People have often asked me whether there was a lot of re-writing? No there wasn't, because there wasn't any need to. They produced the goods."

You have been watching their work for four decades, and will be for many years to come.

New BBC2 show explores the origins of Dad's Army

A new BBC Two comedy drama explores the surprisingly shaky origins of one of TV's best-loved comedies.

We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story review

With all the season's comfort and joy but none of the mawkishness, We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story dramatised the delightful, cocklewarming story of how two middle-aged has-beens called Jimmy Perry and David Croft triumphed over adversity to create the greatest British sitcom of all time.

How Dad's Army came to the screen

"I won't lie," admits Charlotte Surtees, the TV drama's executive producer. "We were keeping an eye on what they were doing. We felt that our project was complementary and not at odds with what the feature film was attempting to create."