An Evening with Frank Williams

The Vicar has left the Building....

The first event the Dad's Army podcast has co-ordinated with the Dad's Army Appreciation Society took place yesterday evening, in a church hall in Kentish Town. Frank Williams played host to over 70 attendees who braved the driving rain to hear Frank talk about his time in Dad's Army and his wider career.

Frank spent over an hour speaking to the attendees and relished regaling the rapt audience with stories from his time on Dad's Army. He also talked about growing up in the second world war and about his first job within the acting business.

The evening also saw the UK premier of a new documentary about Frank entitled 'Dad's Army and Beyond: The Frank Williams Story' which the audience gobbled up and then asked questions of Frank. Producer Oliver Crocker and Director Mervyn Cumming were also on hand to discuss their experiences of making the documentary. It is hoped that the programme will be made available through the Appreciation Society in the near future - more news on that as it happens.

Episode 41 of the podcast will be a longer than usual podcast and will feature Frank's interview in full. It will also include a five minute interview Frank gave to Radio London early yesterday morning to promote the event.

On a personal note, I was mortified (as was Frank, Oliver and pretty much everyone else there) at how bad the sound was for the first half an hour of the night - which included two screenings of Frank's work. It was almost impossible to make any of the words out at all - as Frazer would have said, it sounded as though the actors were 'mumblin', mumblin'!! At the time though, this was far from a laughing matter. Fortunately, this was a temporary hitch and we able to vastly improve the quality of the sound after the first very awkward half an hour. Many thanks to all the wonderful attendees for being so patient with us - lessons have been learned.

The technical difficulties aside, the food was great, the premier of Oliver's documentary was exceptionally well received and many people came up to me after the event and said how much they enjoyed the evening. You were all so very kind!!

Hope you enjoy the podcast of the evening once I've managed to edit it all together - should be online over on the main podcast page by mid-December.

Come and meet his Reverence!

Vicar and Chips event nears

Frank Williams will be attending an evening wittily (ahem) entitled 'Vicar and Chips' on Saturday 21 November 2009 at a church hall in Kentish Town. The Dad's Army podcast and Dad's Army Appreciations Society are jointly organising the evening.

As the title suggests, the evening will centre on Frank Williams and will feature several clips from his television and film career including some of Franks most recent work for independent production companies.

The highlight of the evening will be the full, un-cut British premier of 'Dad's Army and Beyond: the Frank Williams Story'. Oliver Crocker (producer), Mervyn Cumming (director) and of course Frank will be present and will be interviewed - by me! Poor souls. The DVD will also be on sale to attendees who will of course, have the opportunity to get copies signed by Frank, Oliver and Mervyn.

The details are:

Venue:
Our Lady Help of Christians
4 Lady Margaret Road
Kentish Town
London
NW5 2XT

Time:
6.30pm to 10.00pm

Price:
£7.50 per ticket (includes fish and chip supper)

In order to book you can complete the booking form below and send it off as quickly as possible. Tickets are selling well but are limited - there are however a number still available.

BookingForm

Vicar n Chips!

Frank Williams event announced for November 2009

Frank Williams will be appearing at an event the podcast is jointly organising with the Dad's Army Appreciation Society on 21st November 2009. The centrepiece of the evening will be the premier of Dad's Army and Beyond: the Frank Williams Story. The producer of the show will also be present and hopefully the director too. I will be interviewing all three after the screening, and the audience will have a chance to ask questions too. Oh, and you get a fish n chip supper too! Listen to podcast 37 for more details.

The event will begin at 6.30pm and be held in a Church Hall - yes, the Vicar is returning to a church hall!

The address of the venue is:

Our Lady Help of Christians
4 Lady Margaret Road
Kentish Town
London
NW5 2XT

A map can be found by clicking here.

Dad's Army Appreciation Society members can book by filling in the booking form published in the most recent Society magazine (PTSS 61) or can visit the Society's members page, non-members can e-mail me at james@dadsarmypodcast.com to request a form - or until I an figure out how to upload a pdf document onto the blog! Tickets cost £7.50 each.

Podcast 35

Locations Tour 2009

Apologies for the long interval since I've last blogged - been really busy at work, home and, you'll be pleased to hear, with loads of Dad's Army related stuff.

Firstly, the 2009 locations tour podcast is now online over at the main podcast page. Make sure you check out Episodes 35a and 35b. Frank Williams was an absolute gem - I really can't get enough of that man. He is so enthusiastic about Dad's to this day, and he is so eloquent and articulate when talking about his memories of filming Dad's Army. What is also clear is his affection for his co-stars. There is no hint of envy or jealousy about the fact that he played such a minor role compared to the regular cast members. What amazes me is how youthful he is on these tours - they are not short events (four hours without a loo stop!) and the terrain is often rough enough to challenge even the fittest of fans, but not only does Frank cope admirably, he positively enjoys himself. Anyway, as always, let me know what you think of this podcast by sending me an e-mail - james@dadsarmypodcast.com If you happen to be based in or live near London then keep an eye out on the blog for a Frank related event in November this year - can't say too much at present as we're still in the early stages of planning, but if its comes off then tickets will be as keenly sought after as Walker's silk parachute-knickers!

Dad's Army podcast on Twitter!

The podcast now has a Twitter page - www.twitter.com/dadsarmypodcast I'm very new to all this interwebby promotion stuff, but realise that the next generation of fans will expect there to be a very strong, online presence (other than the podcast itself), so this is my attempt to get with it. I will try to post all the latest dad's army and podcast news on this page so make sure you keep an eye on it, and post responses! Twitter is one of the easiest modern-day networking sites to use - all you need to do is sign up (takes two minutes) and click on 'follow' and you'll be kept up to date on all things Dad's Army.

And finally.....

Keep you ears peeled for a rather exciting announcement about the future of the podcast very soon. All very mysterious I know, but I should hopefully be able to announce something fairly major that will greatly enhance the enjoyment listeners' get out of the podcast over the few weeks. More soon.

Tour of Locations 2009

Perry and Croft weekend 2009

A set of photos taken on the tour of Dad's Army locations that took place on 9 May 2009 is now available by clicking on the slideshow to the right. The tour was organised by the Dad's Army Appreciation Society and visited several locations on the Ministry of Defence ground at Stanta. The MOD ground is usually a no-go area to members of the public so this specially arranged tour was a real treat. We were accompanied by Frank Williams who shared several of his memories whilst filming at Stanta.

As there was last year, there will be a podcast containing the commentary from Frank, and our tour guide Tony Pritchard of the Appreciation society. What Tony doesn't know about Dad's Army really isn't worth knowing! The recordings will form podcast 35 and be on-line as soon as I have had a chance to edit the numerous anecdotes I managed to record.

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.

New podcast on-line

Frank Williams stars in Episode 33

Episode 33 of the Dad’s Army podcast is now on-line and available to listen to over at the main podcast page or on iTunes. This month we are joined by none other than Frank Williams himself – the Reverend Timothy Farthing, to discuss the often controversial film interpretation of Dad’s Army.

The entire podcast team were present for this one – and Frank shares his experiences of being part of the production and talks about his many talented co-stars. The film has always divided fan opinion – some believing the series made a seamless transfer from TV to the silver screen whilst others believe it a travesty of the telly series. Why not have your say? E-mail us at james@dadsarmypodcast.com but above all, enjoy the podcast.

1975 Stage Show gets CD release

Sergeant Wilson's Little Secrets - secret no more!

The 1975 Dad's Army Stage Show recording is finally getting a release on CD. The release will be available to buy, courtesy of Warner Brothers, on 13 April 2009.

The recording features the original cast and is identical to the vinyl version released many years ago. Warner went back to the original recordings when mastering this release and found some extra material recorded by John Le Mesurier - which did not make it onto the original vinyl version - unfortunately the decision was taken not to include this additional material on the CD. it may however find the light of day in a future release but no further information is available at this time.

The Amazon listing for the CD is can be seen here.

Dad's Army and Beyond: The Frank Williams Story

Producer of new documentary interviewed on the Dad's Army podcast

Episode 32 of the Dad's Army podcast is now online and available to listen to from the main podcast page, or to download from iTunes.

This month we go through the latest Dad's Army news, sift through the podcast's mailbag and bring you an exclusive interview with Oliver Crocker - the Producer of Frank Williams new documentary, 'Dad's Army and Beyond, the Frank Williams story'. Oliver talks about filming with Frank and tells some fantastic stories.

Frank and Oliver have worked together before - in a typecasting busting move, Frank stars as a really nasty piece of work in the Devonfire production, Tanner. A trailer for the film is on YouTube and features Frank - you can view it here;

Episode 33 will feature Frank himself as he joins the entire podcast team talking about the sometimes controversial, Dad's Army movie. As always, please send in your feedback to james@dadsarmypodcast.com and enjoy the show.

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!

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.

Latest news

Dad’s Army: Oddities and Rarities

The British Film Institute in London is joining in the 40th Anniversary Celebrations on Monday 22 December 2008 by screening a number of rarely seen pieces of footage including home movies, interviews and rumour has it, a brand new colourised version of season three’s Room at the Bottom. The evening promises to be one to remember. Tickets are under a tenner each but are selling like hot cakes – be quick to nab one at http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/dads_army_oddities_and_rarities_0

Podcast 29

The latest Dad’s Army podcast is now on line and available to download or listen to at www.dadsarmy.podomatic.com This episode is another live commentary, this time of season five’s The King was in his Counting House. This alternate format is developing and this time around we go through the vast amount of feedback we’ve received over the last few weeks. The commentary version of the podcast is not a permanent format – episode 30 will return to the tried and tested format and will cover all the latest Dad’s Army news and events of last few months. As always, feel free to contact me at james@dadsarmypodcast.com, comments are always welcome and are usually read out on a future podcast.