Thursday 31 July 2008

BBC Celebrates Dad's Army 40th Anniversary (Updated 2nd August 2008)

Never Too Old...unseen documents and pictures from the BBC's archives

The Press Office at the BBC have issued a release concerning a wealth of Dad's Army archive material to mark Dad's Army's 40th Anniversary. You can read the statement by clicking here, but the text of the release is below.


The BBC Archive remembers Dad's Army by releasing many never-before-seen documents and pictures which tell the story behind one of the UK's most-loved comedy series.

On 31 July 1968, TV viewers met a group of elderly soldiers and a "stupid boy" for the very first time.

Dad's Army became an instant classic with its gentle humour, nostalgia and pride in the men who gave their all for Britain, despite their limited means.

This new collection contains many items not available to the public until now, including candid post-war letters from the actors as they began their careers and internal BBC memos that show just how popular the series was right from the start.

A photo gallery also looks at the stars of the show from the first episode to the last, as well as taking a peek behind the scenes.

Discover why the famous title sequence generated heated debate
Read the press release which announced the very first episode
Find out what top BBC managers really thought of the series

The Dad's Army collection is part of the archive content the BBC will be making available to UK audiences this year.


With thanks to Katie Ball.


Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd August 2008

Dad's Army is being celebrated in style this weekend on the BBC giving fans absolutely no reason to go out! Never mind the hot weather, Dad's is back on the telly! All the following times are British Summertime (BST) and are based on the listings published in the Radio Times.


The running order is:

Saturday 2nd August

BBC2

17:00 to 18:30 Dad's Army (the movie)
20:00 to 20:35 Jimmy Perry's favourite episode (the episode title is not listed but I guess will probably be Branded)
20:35 to 21:30 Don't Panic! The Dad's Army Story (An old documentary presented by Victoria Wood gets another airing.)
21:30 to 20:10 David Croft's favourite episode (again, the title is not listed - however David Croft told me in a recent interview that his favourite was Mum's Army)
20:10 to 11:00 Reputations: Arthur Lowe (A documentary about Arthur Lowe - again, another repeat)

Sunday 3rd August

BBC1

19:00 to 20:00 Jonathan Ross Salutes Dad's Army (the only new BBC material to celebrate the anniversary.

We will be discussing the Jonathan Ross programme on a future podcast, so if you would like us to discuss your views, then please e-mail them to us at james@dadsarmypodcast.com - MP3 recordings preferred but text e-mails are of course also very welcome.

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