Dad's Army

If you can get hold of the series on DVD, do not hesitate. "Dad's Army" is a real gem that will offer you hours of intense pleasure and spark off countless outbursts of hilarious laughter.This is comedy at its best.Although the humor is essentially British with that contained form of polite sarcasm and the use of understatement, it is also so typical of human nature in general that it offers a universal appeal.The characters are all lovable in one way or the other.The pompous captain Mainwaring who's attitude is clearly based on an obvious inherent feeling of insecurity and his suave sergeant Wilson, the over-enthusiastic corporal Jones who panics at the slightest upheaval,the spooky-looking Frazer or private Godfrey who resembles Dopey in the Seven Dwarfs and the mother's-boy Pike, are but just some of the delightful individuals in this fascinating series."Dad's Army"obtained a fourth place in a recent BBC comedy poll and apparently continues to thrill both young and old.Some episodes are less entertaining than most,I admit, but on the whole the series is really worth-while. The capture of a German submarine crew for example, is hilarious!

Dad's Army is my favourite TV programme of all time. It is just a work of genius. Jimmy Perry & David Croft really knew how to write a good script. Like Perry said the cast was right, the time was right, the script was right, the tunes were right and the whole situation was right which was what made Dad's Army a miracle. All the gags, jokes, tunes and atmosphere's are all hilarious, jolly and wonderful. It's why Dad's Army has always and will be one of the most popular programmes in TV history. Set in World War II of course it shows you the hilarities of pompous kind-hearted bank manager Captain Mainweering (Arthur Lowe), charming upper-class twit cheif bank clerk Sergeant Wilson (John Le Mesurier), kind old fool and long time soldier now butcher Corporal Jones (Clive Dunn) and many other hilarious characters. With these men of course operating the Walmington-On-Sea Home Guard disasters can of course happen even if at the end of the day it turns out the the platoon is needed to pick up the pieces. The men themselves give the war a brighter atmosphere. With the platoon having the most bizarre members like Private Frazer (John Laurie) being an undertakes, Private Walker (James Beck) being a spinster, Private Godfrey (Arnold Ridley) being a retired old aged pensioner and Private Pike (Ian Lavender) being a complete pansy and mummy's boy. Also with the gay and meaning well Rev. Timothy Farthing, the sneaky Verger and the platoons arch enemy Warden & Greencrocer & common git Bill Hodges (Bill Pertwee). Even though situations that the men get into may be a bit bizarre they always come out the other end feeling victorius. And why shouldn't they having proved to the whole town that they are not just a bunch of pomous, twitish, foolish, dirty and some other stuff. My favourite episode of Dads Army has "The Deadly Attachment". Reason is that it has the men coming face to face with the Germans and seeing the hilarities of getting out of it. Also other episodes like "Time On My Hands", "Keep Young And Beautiful" and "No Spring For Frazer" I still find really hilarious and stimulating. The show will undoubtedly go on forever being known as the programme that changed the face of television forever.

Dad's Army is still played again and again, and it's easy to see why. Dad's Army created some of the most memorable characters on British television. The hilarity is still there. Even after seeing a lot of episodes 7 or 8 times over, I still laugh. That is a hard thing to achieve in comedy. Jimmy Perry and David Croft came up with something that surpassed anything created before and after. The central core actors executed their parts PERFECTLY. I still can't picture anyone than Arthur Lowe being the pompous captain, or Le Mesurier as the polite Sgt. This is the type of series where, when asked to pick your favorite character, you just can't. And that's because every character is very different from its fellow characters. There's Corporal Jones, the hilariously "wooly minded" butcher. And Private Walker, the spiv who would sell his own grandmother. Sadly James Beck died, and no matter how hard the writers tried, they couldn't replace him. There's Private Pike, the mommy's boy, who is constantly having the famous "You stupid Boy!" line directed his way. Then there's Frazer, the frugal Scottish mortician. And Godfrey, the gentleman, and the one who always needs to be excused. Then the afore mentioned Capt. Mainwaring, and Srgt. Wilson. The ARP Warden Hodges, the uncouth green grocer, who has a fierce feud with Capt. Mainwaring. The Vicar and the Verger, the troublemaker, and Mrs. Pike.

Even the more minor characters in this epic comedy are just so well done. It is a comic story set in the small seaside town of Walmington-On-Sea which is doing its bit to fight off the boche.

Dad's Army highlights a golden age for British Comedy. It's famous lines such as "Don't Panic!", have pervaded other areas of T.V. and culture. Dad's Army will keep marching on and on....

To say that I love this show is an understatement. Comedies may come and go and have their moment, such as Royle Family or One Foot in the Grave, but there are precious few thats allure and appeal are timeless. Dad's Army is one such comedy.

A mix of subtle scripting, with gentle humour and a cast that is unsurpassed in sitcom history makes even the odd mediocre episode a pure joy to watch.

The casting is a joy with the characters so broadly defined and so well rounded the episodes almost write themselves around the situation that the individual episode is based on.

Also ponder for a moment the irony of the fact that Dads Army became hugely popular after the death of the majority of the cast.

An all time classic.

When I first saw "Dad's Army" on BBC Prime I thought that this is really corny one and since it was going on and on with only few laughs I gave up. Then after few weeks when I put BBC Prime again it was "Dad's Army" again, same episodes and again it wasn't as funny as other British comedy series, so again I gave up.

But lately I've seen the whole series from the beginning (since black & white episodes) and this time it all finally began to make sense. Finally I've seen the light and what kind of approach you need to like this series - usually it isn't LOL-funny, but with more subtle kind of humor. After seeing the whole series even the episodes I've seen before and didn't like make sense and I know what was funny about it.

Now I can say that "Dad's Army" is really great series with wonderful ideas, great cast and leaves something within you - now when I watch some films with people in uniforms I usually expect to hear "do you think it's wise", "stupid boy", "they don't like up them" or "permission to worry you, sir".

A really "must see" kind of TV history!