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 Marches on!!

New Dad's Army Stage Play tour in 2009

Following the success of the 2008/09 tour, Calibre productions have announced that four more episodes will be adapted for a new tour in 2009. Very little additional information is available at the moment - but as soon as we have it, it'll be on the blog!! Click here to see the announcement on Calibre's site, and for a short video of this year's tour.

The new episodes have yet to be chosen by Calibre - why not have your say?! Which episodes would you like to see on stage? Just click on 'comments' below this post and make your suggestion!

Tour Marches On

Windsor Dates added to Dad's Army Stage Play Tour

Six extra dates have been added to the touring stage play. The production will now call at Windsor and play at the Theatre Royal. The tour, already into its second leg was originally intended to finish after the curtain went down on the evening performance at Malvern on the 7th June this year.

The extra date reflects how well the production is being received and means that the show will have been on the road for five months this year alone.

The new dates are Monday 9th June to Saturday 14th June 2008.

More on the future of the Stage Play very soon!

The View from Scotland

The Edinburgh News reviews Stage Play


Liam Rudden of the of the Edinburgh News has written a comprehensive review of the touring play when it performed in Belfast last week. Quite why a Scottish paper sent a reporter to Belfast to see the play when the production plays at Newcastle next month is not made clear! The review however is positive, and it is good to see the show is still attracting publicity half way through the current run.

You can read the review by clicking on the Edinburgh News logo.


**Updated 17 April 2008**

Liam Rudden, the writer of this article has contacted us at the podcast after reading our original post above. Liam says in his e-mail;

"Just to answer you query, the Edinburgh Evening News didn't sent me to Belfast to review Dad's Army. I love the series and Belfast was the earliest chance on the tour I had to catch it. The piece I wrote was for my weekly column, and the point I suppose I was making locally was that such a brilliant piece of family entertainment deserves to tour north - at the moment there are no Scottish dates."

Many of our listeners north of the boarder will agree that is a pity that the stage play has not visited a theatre in Scotland on either of its runs.

Thanks to Liam for getting in touch.

Dirty Don enrols at Oxford

Dad's Army play arrives in Oxford


Katherine MacAlister of the Oxford Mail has interviewed Leslie Grantham prior to the play opening at the New Theatre next week. Grantham still manages to come up with something different each time he's interviewed about his part as Walker, and the way MacAlister writes her story makes Grantham sound almost like a normal person. You can read the article by clicking on the Oxford Mail's logo.

Coventry Coverage

BBC Midland Today interview

The BBC Midland Today programme reported on the stage play whilst the production was at Belgrade Theatre in Coventry last week. Timothy Kightley (Mainwaring), Leslie Grantham (Walker) and Ed O'Driscoll (Producer) all featured and were interviewed in uniform, on the stage at the Theatre. There are also a few seconds coverage of one of the lost episodes, A Stripe for Frazer where Kern Falconer (Frazer) and Tom Richardson (Pike) are caught on film.

The video is available to view on-line by clicking here.

Leslie Grantham sent to Coventry

Private Walker interviewed


Leslie Grantham has given an interview to BBC Coventry and Warwickshire as part of the publicity surrounding the play as it arrived in Coventry last week. The Beeb have published a text interview available here or by clicking the image of Leslie and interviewer Bob Brolly to your left. You can also hear a five minute audio interview with Grantham by clicking here.

The Stage on the stage...play!

Dads Army features in 'The Stage'


The popular Theatre Magazine 'The Stage' has reviewed the touring stage play. The article is written by Graham Williams who saw the show when it performed at Hackney. It's the only review I have come across so far that discusses Timothy Kightley's portrayal of Mainwaring. You can read the review by clicking on the image to your left.

Croft's Craft

David Croft Interviewed


Jeremy Miles of The Daily Echo has interviewed David Croft about his writing career as part of the publicity surrounding the stage play's arrival in Poole. David also discusses the circumstances that left three episodes of Dads Army missing from the BBC archives. You can read the article by clicking on the image of David to your left. Unfortunately, the Echo refers to the co-writer as Jimmy Croft on one occasion - but remainder of the content is good stuff.

The man from Walmington on Sea? He says...can I be excused?!

Brian Jackson interview


An interview with Brian Jackson - the original man from Del Monte and currently starring as Pte. Charles Godfrey in the touring stage show, features in the Bridport News as part of the promotion of the production's arrival in Poole this week. Brian speaks candidly about his career and his part in the play. You can read the interview by clicking on the image of Brian to your left, or by clicking here.

Recent stage play media coverage

Dad's Army arrives in Blackpool

The touring stage play arrived in Blackpool this week, and has received several mentions in regional media. The Blackpool Gazzette covered the opening night, and interviewed Leslie Grantham - who now has lead billing following Peter Martin's departure. You can read the article by clicking here or on the image to the left.

Robin Duke from the Lancashire Evening Post has also covered the production's arrival in Blackpool. Duke's article is more of a general piece about the play. You can take a look at the story by clicking here or on the logo to the right.

Daily Mail Coverage

The play was reviewed in a number of national dailies when the 2008 leg of the tour kicked off in Hackney last month. The Daily Mail covered the story - although not particularly comprehensively in terms of words - but did publish some great photos of the cast. You can take a look at the pictures by clicking on the image of the cast below.

Touring stage play in the media

A couple of news articles appeared in the national press over the last week or so.

One of our....birds is missing

The first one appeared on the This is London website last week - for quite a surprising reason! One member of the audience decided to pinch the model seagull used as a prop! You can read the article by clicking on Sid the Seagull to your left.

Souveniers are great I know, but I think is going a little too far! Anyway, if you've seen this seagull - or it turns up on e-bay in a few months time, you now know what it looks like. The Producer of the play gave chase and caught the alleged middle-aged seagull-napper - by which time there was no sign of the stuffed bird - perhaps having being passed on to another member of the organised crime-ring behind the heinous plot.


Hackney Review

The Times delivered a more traditional review of the play available to read by clicking on the Times Online logo. Don't forget to check out the Stage Play Special Podcasts available to listen to on our website by clicking on the link below



More soon,

James