Dad's Army: Difference between revisions

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''If you think old England's done. '' }}

 

 

While waiting for the invasion, the platoon did its best to prepare, resulting in many [[Hilarity Ensues|hilarious mishaps]]. They occasionally did some military work, such as guarding downed German pilots, and took part in training exercises with the regular army, where they were often surprisingly successful. They also had a vigorous rivalry with the neighbouring platoon and with the Chief Air Raid Warden, who sometimes tried to sabotage the platoon. Almost every character involved had a catchphrase that most British people can still repeat with very little memory-searching.

 

The characters included:

** Catchphrase: "Stupid boy" (directed at Pike), "Good thinking, Wilson. [[Glad I Thought of It|I was wondering who'd be the first to spot that]]" (whenever Wilson points out what he's doing wrong)

** Catchphrase: "Are you sure that's wise?" (usually in response to the [[Zany Scheme]] of the week) as well as "How absolutely lovely!" when responding to something that Mainwaring would prefer to treat as [[Serious Business]].

* Lance-Corporal Jack Jones - butcher, veteran of the Sudan (i.e. the late 1890s), longwinded but eager for action.

* Private Frank Pike - [[Momma's Boy|mollycoddled teenager]]. Was often seen wearing a scarf. Always addresses Wilson as "Uncle Arthur", though Pike may in fact be Wilson's (illegitimate) son. {{spoiler|[[Word of God]] confirms he was.}}

** Catchphrase: "Uncle Arthur?"

** Catchphrase: "We're doomed!" (words can't quite describe his delivery, but it would not look out of place on the set of a [[Hammer Horror]] film, on a villager warning the hero not to go up to the castle.)

* Private Charles Godfrey - Even older than the rest of the platoon, excessively polite and friendly and a butt of constant humour relating to his weak bladder.

* Captain Square - leader of the Eastgate platoon and occasional rival to Mainwaring

 

 

 

The interplay between the two characters was always beautifully worked and the series is often held up as an example of near-perfect character comedy, enhanced by the acting talents of Arthur Lowe (Mainwaring) and John Le Mesurier (Wilson). Lowe has merely to bristle his moustache to render the audience helpless with laughter; Le Mesurier was hired because (in the words of a member of the production team) "He suffers so ''beautifully''."

The show did not have an arc, but it did have continuity. During the first season, the platoon's equipment gradually improved as the regular army provided them with surplus gear. Over the series, Jones had a romance which culminated with a marriage in the final episode.

 

{{tropelist}}

* [[Abhorrent Admirer]]: Mrs Fox occasionally fills this role, although Jones didn't seem to mind her too much ...

* [[Break Out the Museum Piece]]: In an early episode the platoon go to the museum with the intention of taking weaponry, but do not succeed. The museum's caretaker who is trying to stop them, however, makes good use of the pieces inside to stop them entering.

* [[Catch Phrase]]: Aside from their individual catchphrases, a character tended to say, "There is a war on, you know" in almost every episode.

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: In the episode "Battle of the Giants", Walker mentions having made flags for both their platoon and the Eastgate platoon. They will be used at the end of a contest, in short form, whoever flies their flag first, wins. Although just a passing remark, it turns out later that Walker made both flags say "Walmington-on-Sea" so they would win whoever flew the flag first.

* [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]]: Miss King vanishes without a trace after series one. Also happens to [[Shoo Out the New Guy|Private Cheeseman]]; [[Ascended Extra]] Private Desmond, who had a role in one episode and was never heard from again; and Private Bracewell, a character who appears only in the first episode. [[Word of God]] has it that Bracewell was intended to be a recurring character but was cut because the producers felt his character was too much like Godfrey's.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Wilson.

* [[Downer Ending]]: 'Mum's Army' -- Mainwaring falls in love, but the woman leaves him rather than destroy his life with a scandal.

** A now [[Missing Episode]] from series two was based around Walker's attempts to evade the draft. He fails, and has to join the army - but is soon discharged when he turns out to be allergic to corned beef, the only rations available.

* [[Drill Sergeant Nasty]]: A few one-off characters fit this trope. Drill Sgt. Gregory in "Room at the Bottom" and Captain Ramsey in "We Know Our Onions" are excellent examples.

* [[During the War]]

* [[The Eeyore]]: Private Frazer: "we're [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|dooooooooomed!]]"

* [[Executive Meddling]]: Worried that the sitcom would be criticised for ridiculing the Home Guard, the producer insisted on adding an opening scene to the first episode. It shows Mainwaring, in 1968, giving a speech at a formal dinner in which he explains how he and his men 'backed Britain' in 1940. It is utterly redundant. Thankfully it didn't succeed in sinking the show.

* [[Face Palm]]: Sergeant Wilson, frequently.

* [[Hufflepuff House]]: Private Sponge 'and the others'.

* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: Private Frazer was very fond of asserting one point of view, only to immediately switch to the ''opposite'' one when it no longer became a good idea to hold the first one.

* [[Leeroy Jenkins]]: Corporal Jones.

* [[Let's Get Dangerous]]: In a sense; while the platoon rarely saw anything in the form of a genuine military operation, every so often the viewer was reminded that behind the bumbling Mainwaring and his men were brave soldiers fully prepared to fight and die in the defense of their homes and country if it came down to it.

** And none braver than Mainwaring himself, who would be the last man out of a bombed building and once faced down a desperate German prisoner with an unloaded gun. (It turned out that the German's gun was unloaded too.)

* [[Lysistrata Gambit]]: Mrs Pike threatens Wilson with this several times.

* [[Madness Mantra]]: Don't Panic! Don't Panic!

* [[The Napoleon]]: Captain Mainwaring

** In one episode, he even literally dreams that he's Napoleon.

* [[Obsolete Mentor]]: Corporal Jones

* [[Only Sane Man]]: Sergeant Wilson. Pike and Walker also have their moments.

* [[Patriotic Fervor]]: Captain Mainwaring often naively harps on about the strengths of the allied forces, but quickly dismisses any positive remarks about the Nazis with "We'll have none of that talk here!"

** Our side displayed "British initiative!", while similar behaviour by the enemy was derided as a "typical underhand Nazi trick!"

* [[Phony Veteran]]: Captain Mainwaring had a habit of exaggerating his military service in the Great War.

* [[Real Life Relative]]: In the episode where American soldiers arrive and start monopolising the town's women, Pike's girlfriend Ivy (who appears only in this episode) is played by Ian Lavender's wife.

** Arthur Lowe's wife, Joan Cooper, [[The Other Darrin|took over]] the role of Godfrey's sister Dolly towards the end of the show's run.

* [[The Rival]]: Hodges. Captain Square occasionally fills this role as well.

* [[The Runt At the End]]: Corporal Jones.

** Justified somewhat: a [[Missing Episode]] did actually have Walker drafted, and discharged on medical grounds because of the allergy - corned beef was the only rations available!

* [[Second Face Smoke]]: In the episode where the platoon are delegated to guard a captured German submarine crew, the German officer is smoking a cigarette and blows smoke in Mainwaring's face.

* [[Shoo Out the New Guy]]: Private Cheeseman. Also counts as a [[Replacement Scrappy]].

* [[A Simple Plan]]: The Walmington-On-Sea platoon could produce a chaotic outcome to the simplest of tasks.

* [[The So-Called Coward]]: Private Godfrey, as detailed above.

** Also Corporal Jones in "The Two and A Half Feathers". A veteran of the Sudan War claims that he was saved by a native tribeman after Jones left him out in the desert to die. {{spoiler|The tribesman was Jones dressed in Arab robes; he remained silent about his role in order to cover up a scandalous affair the veteran was involved in.}}

* [[Sound to Screen Adaptation]]: Reversed: there is an original cast radio series based on the TV episodes.

* [[Spin-Off]]: The aforementioned radio series, ''It Sticks Out Half a Mile'', broadcast between 1983-84. It centred around Hodges, Pike and Wilson teaming up to renovate the abandoned pier in a nearby seaside town, and was later turned into an original TV series called ''High and Dry''

* [[Squirrels in My Pants]]: In "Room at the Bottom", Corporal Jones gets ants in his pants and, while trying to remove them, accidentally signals the platoon to advance into an ambush.

* [[That Came Out Wrong]]: Captain Mainwaring manages to get a block of rationed cheese as a surprise for his wife. However, when he telephones her with the good news, things don't quite go as he planned.

** One episode revolved around the platoon trying to find out whether a parachute that had landed in a nearby field was a British parachute (which are white) or Nazi parachute (which are cream.) Unfortunately, Walker had found it and had it made up into women's lingerie to sell. [[Hilarity Ensues]] as Mainwaring visits each of Walker's customers and has to ask to see their underwear...

* [[Those Two Guys]]: The Vicar and Verger.

* [[The Unintelligible]]: Ivy, Pike's occasional girlfriend.

* [[The Other Darrin]]: Mrs Pike was recast for [[The Movie]] because the studio felt the original actress wasn't high-profile enough. During the live stage show, several parts were recast while the TV actors had other commitments.

* [[The Vicar]]

* [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]: Mainwaring and Wilson's differences of class and methods often put them at odds with each other but they stick together nevertheless.

* [[War Was Beginning]]: The very first scene of the series takes place in 1968, as Mainwaring (who is an alderman and Chariman of the Rotary Club by this point) speaks at a function in support of the then-contemporary "I'm Backing Britain" campaign and describes how the war began and the platoon was formed.

* [[Wholesome Crossdresser]]: Jones: "Please let me be a nun Mr Mainwaring."

* [[Wrong Genre Savvy]]: Frazer, with his [[Doomy Dooms of Doom]] pronouncements, appears to think he's a character in a horror. Luckily for him, he's a sitcom character.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:British Series]]

[[Category:Military and Warfare Television]]

[[Category:Britcom]]