Stupid Boy on Mastermind!

Ian Lavender to star on Celebrity Mastermind

Ian Lavender will be appearing on Celebrity Mastermind at 8pm on New Years Day on BBC1. Good to see that Ian is maintaining his high profile! See the official BBC what's on listings here.

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!

Bressingham 2009

Perry and Croft Day 2009 announced

The date for the now annual Perry and Croft Day has been announced for 2009. The event, to be held once again at Bressingham Steam Museum, will take place on Sunday 10 May. Past years have seen stars aplenty attend - Jimmy Perry, David Croft, Bill Pertwee, Ian Lavender, Clive Dunn, Frank Williams, Harold Snoad, Michael Knowles and Pamela Cundell have all made appearances, some attending practically every year since the event began in 2000. Make sure you check out the photographs from previous Dad's Army Days and Perry and Croft Days by clicking on the slide show to your right.

There is no need to buy tickets in advance for the event, but if you intend to travel some distance to Bressingham, then it may well be worth your while to arrange accommodation as soon as possible - guest houses and B&Bs are almost always fully booked long before the annual event.

Entrance is usually exceptional value for money and will be around the £10 mark - but members of the Dad's Army Appreciation Society get in cheaper and may have access to some members only areas inside the museum. You can join the DAAS for a ludicrously cheap annual fee at www.dadsarmy.co.uk.

In addition to the Dad's Army cast and crew, actors and production teams from other Perry and Croft programmes will be invited too. Keep an eye on the DAAS website for the latest information.

Room on Newsnight

Restoration Reported on current affairs programme

A feature concerning the restored colour version of Room at the Bottom appeared on Newsnight last week. A video of the piece has now been uploaded onto the Newsnight website – watch it by clicking here.

The BBC also have reported on the new the recently re-discovered Dad's Army audios tracks here.

Room at the Bottom in colour - on BBC2 this weekend!

Re-colourised season 3 episode being shown this Saturday!

The highly regarded season three episode Room at the Bottom is being shown on BBC2 this weekend in colour - for the first time in nearly 40 years. Despite originally being made in colour, the episode only existed in the BBC archives in black and white only. Due to some hi-tech wizardry, the episode has been restored to colour and will be broadcast in the UK on Saturday 13 December 2008 on BBC2 at 8:25pm. Ian Lavender has recorded an introductory piece that will be transmitted before the episode. What away to end the 40th Anniversary year!!

This week's Radio Times has a double spread covering the story and features an interview with Ian Lavender. Lavender chats about the new version of the episode and talks about his eternal association with Pte Frank Pike.

You can read the BBC press release concerning this story here.