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Dads Army - favourite episodes / scenes

With recent discussions about Only Fools, Fawlty Towers, Michael Caine films etc, how about one of the best comedy series ever

I can happily watch Dads Army over and over again - brilliantly funny, with an excellent cast of very good actors and actresses - so many superbly written characters and incidents / storylines

I can’t pick a favourite, although I suspect the ‘Deadly Attachment’ will feature as most people’s most memorable, but for me .....

The Test - when they take on the Wardens at cricket

We know our onions - when they have to go on an efficiency test and fire the Smith Gun using onions

High Finance - when Jones has an overdraft at the bank, and it transpires that there is a trail of debt around the village

Face on the poster - when Jones’ face is mistakenly used on an escaped POW poster

Round and round went the great big wheel - when Pike’s home made radio wrecks the test of a new wonder weapon

The two and half feathers - when Jones is accused of being a coward, and they go back in time to the Mahdist War and Capt Mainwaring turns into an expletive shouting Sargent 

So many others of course

And the saddest one - A Wilson, manager - when Wilson finally gets his own branch to manage, but it’s destroyed by a bomb on his first day in the job
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Comments

  • edited March 2021
    Dads Army is so yesterday, now we have Nigel its Nad's Army
  • We’re doomed.
  • Northampton away, I thought they were both quite good and exactly what was needed on the day.  😉

    I actually love Dad's Army and think it is criminally under rated when ever sit coms are discussed.  It's certainly aged better than a lot of its peers.  Mainly due to the fact its still acceptable to air. 
  • The proper answer on a Charlron forum is, of course, The Royal Train.
  • SE7toSG3 said:
    I absolutely love Dads Army, its my favourite sitcom by far and one that has been with me since I watched it with Granddad in the mid 70's laughing together. My son who is 15 loves it today, its innocence somehow transcends generations where so many sitcoms are 'of their time'.     

    It has slapstick, empathy, beautifully crafted scripts, a wonderful cast, historically well researched nostalgia and re-occurring jokes that seem never to tire. 

    It was well described somewhere as 'a half hour slot in the company of some good friends' 

    I must agree that 'The Two and Half Feathers' is up there for me but I also found a moving episode to be 'Mums Army' where Mainwaring falls in love.

    The final episode when, after so many years of comedy at the expense of the Home Guard, they raise their glasses, break the fourth wall and toast those members who did step up between 1939-45 in the civil defences is a wonderful point of closure, much like that in Blackadder Goes Forth.  

    As standalone episodes, many are more like a good stage play, inevitable I suppose given the classic schooling and acting abilities of many of the cast members. Its also one of the few sitcoms that transfers into a longer movie format as well, the 1971 film being as easy on the eye as the sitcoms. 

    A brilliant show and a lovely thread, look forward to hearing other peoples favourite moments, I might have to go and watch a few episodes again now.           
    My son - who is 21 now - started watching them with his grandad when my son was 7 or 8 years old - he loves it, and has books about etc - when we holiday in Norfolk, he insists we go to Thetford, visit the museum, and go and have our picture taken (again) sitting next to the life size bronze of Capt Mainwaring by the river (all of which I am quite happy to do)

    The only problem with the film - and I know the cast were very unhappy about this - was that the film studio insisted that Liz Fraser played Mrs Pike - it’s a good film though
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  • Learning out to keep time with Jones.
  • Out of all the 'classic' comedies, this is the one I have never really liked.

    dont know why but I just didn't find it very funny


  • Dad's Army is great - one of my favourite episodes is when Cpt. Mainwaring's drunkard brother comes to Walmington On Sea. Po face! 
    That ones my favourite too!
  • Loved it when I was a kid and still happy to sit there and watch it if I come across it whilst channel hopping

    I like the radio series too.  I don't know the episodes well enough to be sure, but I always get the impression that the scripts were changed very little from the TV shows
  • Its excellent but can't compare to Fawlty Towers IMO. Cleese knew that he could make more episodes and more money but it would dilute the quality. Have watched all of Dad's Army through multiple times and love it, but it was definitely diluted. 

    Yes Minister is quality as well.
  • "Don't tell him Spike!"

    Nuff said.
  • When Mainwaring picks up the phone....."Elizabeth... I may have a little surprise for you tonight" the reaction is priceless.
  • The battle for Godfreys cottage is exceptional too. Where they end up fighting with each other thinking its the invasion!
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  • "Don't tell him Spike!"

    Nuff said.
    Spike Lee Debuts First BlacKkKlansman Footage  IndieWire
  • I think the George and the Dragon fight with the Wardens takes some beating.

    Timeless programme that I've watched since a child and now my daughter is loving them.

    Don't make programmes like this anymore. 
  • the likes of Dad's Army and Fawlty Towers shine a light on the British class system, not sure you get so much of that these days in British comedy. Plenty of slapstick as well. There was a clip with Stephen Fry discussing the difference between UK and US comedy. The main difference was in the UK, the main character is usually a pompous arse who gets constantly put in their place, whereas in the US the main character is usually an everyman and good guy. certainly made a lot of sense. The laughs in US comedies tend to come from a funny script and one liners, whereas in classic UK comedies its from the the characters reaction to ever increasingly bad situations (obviously there are outliers like Bilko or curb your enthusiasm). I think theres something in that
  • "Don't tell him Spike!"

    Nuff said.
    What episode was that soapy?
    I know there was one where Mainwaring says “ Don’t tell him Pike.”
    But I must have missed the one where he says “Don’t tell him Spike.” 😏
  • I like the intrigue between Wilson and Pike's mum.  Uncle Arthur?  I don't think so.
  • "Don't tell him Spike!"

    Nuff said.
    What episode was that soapy?
    I know there was one where Mainwaring says “ Don’t tell him Pike.”
    But I must have missed the one where he says “Don’t tell him Spike.” 😏
    He's not called Spike?

    Extraordinary!
  • edited March 2021
    The Deadly Attachment takes some beating. When Walker is taking down the Fish and Chips order is a particularly memorable scene.
  • Brilliant program, have watched them all many times since they were first broadcast. 

    Went to see the stage show in the 70s and at the time I was a little disappointed that a couple of the original cast weren't in it (John Laurie didn't do the shows and I think Clive Dunn shared the role with someone else and didn't do the performance I saw)
  • “They don’t like it up ‘em Captain Mainwaring”. 
  • Its excellent but can't compare to Fawlty Towers IMO. Cleese knew that he could make more episodes and more money but it would dilute the quality. Have watched all of Dad's Army through multiple times and love it, but it was definitely diluted. 

    Yes Minister is quality as well.
    Now your talking! 
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