New podcast online

Episode 34

Episode 34 of the Dad's Army podcast is now on-line and available to listen to or download from the main podcast page.

This month, Paul Carpenter from the Dad’s Army Appreciation Society joins me for the whole episode and previews the premier event on the Society’s calendar, the 2009 Perry and Croft Day which is due to be held on Sunday 10 May at at Bressingham Steam Museum. Paul announces which stars will be appearing (subject to work commitments and good health) and provides an insight into what it takes to put on such an event.

We then discuss the first episode of Dad’s Army I ever saw, Don’t forget the Diver – an absolute classic series 4 episode from 1970.

Episode 35 of the podcast will feature a number of interviews with the stars of Dad’s Army - I hope to be talking to several of the cast and crew at Bressingham.

Take a listen to episodes 20 and 21 of the podcast to hear coverage of last years event.

As always, we’d love to hear from you so please send in your feedback to james@dadsarmypodcast.com.

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.

Croft and Perry Day 2008 - pictures

Bressingham Steam Museum - Sunday 11th May 2008

I have added some photographs taken by Tony at this year's Bressingham event. You can see the mini-slideshow on the right hand side of this blog - click on the slideshow to be taken to the public album hosted on the Picasa site. Captions are there too but only viewable on the Picasa site. I have also uploded some additional shots to the locations tour album.

Feel free to duplicate any of the photos or use them on your own website or download if you wish - but if you reproduce them on-line or in a publication, I would be grateful if you credit the podcast.

All Bressingham 2008 and Locations Tour photos taken by the Dad's Army podcast. Ian Lavender (Pte. Frank Pike) is pictured above.

Bressingham is coming.......

Croft and Perry Day, Sunday 11th May 2008

The year's highest-profile Dad's Army event is taking place at Bressingham Steam Museum next Sunday.

This year will be particularly special as it's the programme's 40th anniversary. Guests invited include Jimmy Perry, David Croft, Harold Snoad, Ian Lavender, Bill Pertwee, Pamela Cundell, Eric Longworth, Michael Knowles and John Clegg. There will a whole host of other stars there too from many other Perry and Croft programmes.

I have included few pictures of previous Bressingham events in this posting - my usual podcast co-presenter Tony is pictured with Jones' van. There is also a picture of a house in Nether Row - the road was used in many episodes taken in Thetford town centre.

If you are planning on coming to Bressingham then please come up and say hello - if we're not roaming the museum looking for interviews then we'll be in or aound the DAAS tent.

There is special mini-podcast previewing the event with Tony Pritchard, one of the day's organisers available on the main podcast page. This brief podcast gives you a little bit of history about the event and offers an insight into how much planning goes into putting on a really spectacular day.

For more information about the event, hop over to either the Dad's Army Appreciation Society's page, or the Bressingham Steam Museum site.

Look forward to seeing you there!