Dad's Army at the British Film Institute

Oddities and Rarities event: 22 December 2008

What a fantastic evening! Somewhat of a surprise for me, Frank Williams was present and as always, was in fine form.

There were several sketches screened that I hadn’t seen before. The Buckingham Palace piece was a long two-scene piece that was really quite excellent. I also really enjoyed the stage performance of the Cornish Floral Dance sketch, particularly Wilson walking off in a huff!

The newly discovered audio of the 1968 Christmas Night with the Stars sketch was also a joy to listen to, although some, if not most, of the humour is clearly visual. The two small Christmas Night sketches were included on as well, and it was great to see them on the big screen. However, the most prominent piece of footage was an edited version of a new documentary about Frank Williams. The piece was presented in person by Oliver Crocker (the producer) and Frank Williams and looks to be a really interesting piece about Frank’s career. Keep your eyes (and ears) peeled for more about this project with both Oliver and Frank over the coming weeks about the new venture.

A complete listing (I think!) of snippets shown is below:

Dad’s Army and Beyond: The Frank Williams Story

Resisting the Aggressor through the Ages

Extract from ‘Goodnight Sweetheart’ that parodied Dad’s Army

The Coward Revue

The Harry Secombe Show

The two Green Cross Code adverts

The Royal Variety Performance

Royal Television Gala

The Black and White Minstrel Show

1968 Christmas Night with the Stars sketch (audio only)

Extract of the newly rediscovered off-air recording of A Stripe for Frazer (audio only)

Two Barclays Bank adverts

Broadcast to the Empire

You can see Andrew Ruff's (the official DAAS photographer) photos of the event by clicking on the slideshow to your right. Thanks to Andrew for his permission to re-produce the photographs. The above photos were taken by me at the event and show Frank working his public!