Dad's Army Podcast round-up

Favourite Character Poll re-opened

Due to popular demand, I have re-opened the Favourite Character poll last week. As regular blog-readers will know, the original six-week survey attracted 85 votes and put Walker fairly and squarely in first place. I was then inundated with e-mails (well, I received five) from readers expressing their disappointment that they did not get an opportunity to vote. So, the poll will now stay open for the foreseeable future - it will be interesting to see how the results develop over the next few months.

Podcast 23

Episode 23 of the Dad's Army podcast is scheduled for release on the 21st June 2008. The break between 22 and 23 has been longer than usual - mainly due to boring tasks that I just haven't been able to put off any longer - the main one was to redecorate my office. You will be pleased to know that unlike Mainwaring, I do not have a paper door. Anyway, Episode 23 sees the return of Tony to the podcast when we will be discussing The Test. If you have any comments on this episode you would like us to discuss then please e-mail them to me at james@dadsarmypodcast.com by Friday 13th June 2008 - MP3 recordings would be even better. We also discuss Bressingham 2008 and Tony interviews Mrs Fox - yes, Mrs Fox is coming to the podcast! I am actually quite scared.... You can hear a brief preview of Pamela's interview right now by heading over to the main podcast page.


Comments on individual podcast episodes

There have been problems for listeners when leaving comments over on the main podcast page (see the 'Special Announcement' blog posting of 28th May 2008) which have now, I am reliably informed, been rectified. All previous comments that mysteriously disappeared have now returned! So please get scribbling and leave your comments by clicking 'Leave a comment' or 'comments' under the play button for each episode.

Broadcast to the Empire - with Jonathan Ross...

40th Anniversary Special green-lighted


The BBC have annouced that there will be a one-hour special programme broadcast later this year to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Dad's Army. The programme will be called Jonathan Ross Salutes Dad's Army and it is therefore no surprise to learn that the show will be fronted by Jonathan Ross. Ross is said to be a big fan of the show and often references Dads Army in his Radio 2 show. You can read the BBC's official annoucement here.

The show is being recorded in London on 17th July and you have the opportunity to apply for tickets by clicking here and then selecting 'Current Shows'.

With thanks to the Dad's Army Appreciation Society

New Dad's Army podcast on-line

Episode 22

Episode 22 of the Dad's Army podcast is now on-line and available to download from http://www.dadsarmy.podomatic.com/

This week sees the second and final of the Croft and Perry Weekend Specials and features speeches made by Pamela Cundell, Harold Snoad, Michael Knowles, Jimmy Perry and David Croft at the Dad’s Army Appreciation Society’s annual members meal.

The cover-art this week is of David and Ann Croft at the event – with me at the same table! If you like the sound of the event and would like to attend in future years, then you will need to join the Appreciation Society to be in with a chance of getting a ticket. Joining is ludicrously cheap – take a look at www.dadsarmy.co.uk for details.

We’ll be back in two or three weeks time with a ‘regular’ episode of the podcast and Tony and I will be discussing ‘The Test’. Feel free to send us your comments on this episode and we’ll read out your e-mails, or play your MP3s during the show. Contact us at james@dadsarmypodcast.com

This is Your Life

Arnold Ridley

A superb short video of Arnold Ridley on This is Your Life has been posted on YouTube. The clip is approximately eight minutes long and features all the regular Dad's Army cast. You can view the video by clicking on the video below.

Special Announcement

Dad's Army Podcast site 'upgrades'

Hello everyone.

Just a quick message for those of you who are wondering what's happened to the main podcast site ! Well, I'll try to explain.

PodOmatic, the company who hosts this podcast in cyber world, ‘upgraded’ their site last weekend. Now there may be very few noticeable differences to listeners, but there are a whole host of changes been made in the way podcast hosts maintain their pages. ‘Glitches’ podOmatic all them – I call them something altogether more rude!!

Anyway, the two main differences you’ll notice are;

1) All your past comments have disappeared. I have however, been informed that this is purely temporary. In fact, I can still see them when I log into the site to update it. I just can’t publish them – neither can listeners leave new comments for the time being.

2) The podcast player that opens when you hit ‘Play’ has changed. It looks flashier, but unfortunately misses the first few seconds off from each episode. Similarly, some episodes drop off half way through. These problems I am also assured are temporary. In the meantime, the best way to listen to the podcasts maybe through iTunes or Myspace.

Now I have already uploaded Episode 22 to the podOmatic server and it is still due to be made available to listen to this weekend however - I have described just two of the changes you’ll see – there are hundreds of changes for me in the way I publish episodes! So if I have difficulty, please bear with me. Episode 22 is a cracker so I hope any problems you experience will be worth it.

If these problems do not rectify themselves, then I will look for an alternative host – so thank you for you patience. Hopefully things will be back to the ‘smooth, well-oiled machine’ you are used to very soon.

Special Edition of the Dad's Army Podcast now online

Frank Williams and Harold Snoad join DAAS members on locations tour

As mentioned in my last posting (Location, Location, Location...) we at the podcast were lucky enough to attend a guided tour of locations used whilst filming Dad's Army all those years ago.

Accompanied by my trusty MP3 recorder, I managed to speak to Frank and Harold as they recounted their memories of filming. The Dad's Army Appreciation Society were also on hand and jammed-packed full of Dad's Army trivia which the attendees lapped up.

Click on the cover-art above to be redirected to Episode 21 of the Dad's Army podcast. Please feel free to let me know what you think of this podcast, especially as it's the first massive departure from our regular format - my e-mail address is james@dadsarmypodcast.com Feedback is always welcome, be it positive or negative. Alternatively, you can leave your comments on this blog by clicking on the 'comments' tag at the foot of each posting.

In a fortnight's time, Episode 22 will be on-line and will feature the speeches and interviews made at the DAAS members meal. It will be the most star-laden podcast yet and will include discussions with David Croft, Jimmy Perry, Michael Knowles, Pamela Cundell, Harold Snoad - and a University Professor who lectures in Dad's Army!!

Location, Location, Location....

Tour of Dad's Army film locations

On Saturday 10th May 2008, the Dad's Army Appreciation Society (DAAS) organised a tour of locations in and around Thetford that were used in the series . A old red routemaster collected a group of DAAS members and their guests at around 11:00am. We were accompanied by Frank Williams (the Vicar) who was able to entertain us with stories about the cast and crew whilst filming was taking place, and by Harold Snoad who was responsible for suggesting Thetford be used for external shooting all those years ago. Harold was also responsible for finding suitable locations for non-studio bound scenes in series 1 to 4 - unfortunately we only visited one location used during Harold's time on the programme and that was Brandon station, used in The Big Parade.

Other locations visited included;

Elvedon Hall (the tower is pictured above and in the final scenes of Battle of the Giants)

The field where Mainwaring is chased by a dog with a grenade in his mouth in Fallen Idol

The bridge where the fire engine used in Brain vs Brawn was stopped by the Army

The green where the pageant was held in Knights of Madness

The church used for the external Church scenes in Ring Dem Bells and The Captain's Car

The Anchor Hotel which featured in The Man and the Hour and was used as cast and crew accommodation

Both Tony and I from the Dad's Army podcast were invited to come along and we managed to secure a number of recordings with the event organisers and Frank and Harold. You will be able to hear those interviews on episode 21 of the podcast due for release over the next few days.

Pictures taken on the tour were few in number as I was so busy making recordings, but click on the slideshow to your right to see the photos we did manage to take. If you were with us on the tour and took some pictures and would like to see them on this page, then please e-mail them to me at james@dadsarmypodcast.com - we will credit all photographs we recieve.

All slideshow photos taken by James at the Dad's Army Podcast