"Dad's Army": The Story of a Classic Television Show

Unless you crave page after page about the likes of Harold Bennett - the old man who popped up in the odd episode to say things like 'Oi, where's me chicken gorn?' - this book will more than satisfy your curiosity about this wonderful sitcom. It puts the programme in its context, it goes behind the scenes, it analyses the relationships and it celebrates the great writing and acting that made the show so enduringly popular and critically admired. Superb.

'Dad's Army' deserves better... (0/8 people found this helpful)

Sorry folks, but I found this book mostly disappointing. It passes muster as an introduction to the show, but a TV programme of Dad's Army's status merits a `biography' of much greater breadth and detail than we have here. There is lots of stuff about what BBC-Tv executives thought of the show, and about the audience viewing figures that DA purportedly scored. But there is scandalously little about key considerations - for example, the contribution made to the show by supporting characters played by Janet Davies (Mrs Pike), Pamela Cundell (Mrs Fox), and Harold Bennett (Mr Blewitt).
The inter-character dynamics - that to an extent really hold carry forward DA plotlines so seamlessly - are largely unacknowledged in this book. There is scant examination of some of the individual shows that really lifted the sitcom quality out of the genre-rut it was inclined toward in the 1960s and `70s. Croft & Perry crafted scripts that frequently crossed the line into comedy drama, and back into knockabout burlesque, and you couldn't see the joins.
Very little is said about the way in which special effects were used so superbly to comedic effect - such as Series Five's `Asleep In The Deep', which the platoon and Chief Warden Hodges (Bill Pertwee) play a long scene in a waterlogged set. It's nigh impossible to imagine any other TV comedy pulling this off with the aplomb that DA so effortlessly achieved time and again.
Even more annoying are the pointless and irrelevant quotations that Mr McCann is apt to shove under each chapter heading. These serve no real purpose in adding value to the main text.
The recent series-by-series DA DVD releases have revealed beyond doubt just what a pinnacle of creative excellence Dad's Army achieved; it deserves a much more considered tribute than Mr McCann gives.

Awfully good! (17/17 people found this helpful)

This book about the tv show explains how Jimmy Perry first thought up the idea of a sitcom about the Home Guard,and how he came to collaborate with director David Croft and the BBC to create one of the most effective and endearing tv programmes of the past 30 years.The author has clearly double-checked all of his facts(unlike the other writers who've produced books on this topic)and talked to all of the right people.I loved it.

A GREAT BOOK FOR ALL AGES (15/16 people found this helpful)

I read this book,then my father read it,then so did my grandfather,and we all enjoyed it enormously.That is the kind of book it is:like the show itself,it has a wonderfully broad appeal,working hard to entertain all without patronising any.I agree with the other reviewers:this is a delightful biography.

A TRIUMPH (22/23 people found this helpful)

I got hold of a copy of this book as soon as it came out, d the author's previous efforts on Cary Gant and Morecambe and Wise.I wasn't disappointed.He researches his books so diligently,and writes so well and so intelligently,they are a pleasure to read as well as a uniquely entertaining education.This latest book tells the riveting story of how a bright idea evolved into a classic television show.It captures an entire era in popular entertainment,and makes you love the show even more than you did before.As books on TV go,this,to borrow a phrase from the author,is a class apart.

"Dad's Army": The Story of a Classic Television Show

Graham McCann

Reader Reviews:

Dad's Army gets the book it deserves (4/4 people found this helpful)

'Dad's Army' deserves better... (0/8 people found this helpful)

Awfully good! (17/17 people found this helpful)

A GREAT BOOK FOR ALL AGES (15/16 people found this helpful)

A TRIUMPH (22/23 people found this helpful)

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