Writing duo receive BAFTA

Croft and Perry receive special award


Prolific sit-com writers David Croft and Jimmy Perry have received a special award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). The award was made on Sunday 11th May - the same day as the Croft and Perry Day at Bressingham Steam museum. Dad's Army received a BAFTA in 1971 for best comedy and this new award will be seen by some as very overdue. You can read the official BAFTA statement on their website - there is also a video of about 8 minutes showcasing pieces of their work intercut with interviews of Ian Lavender, Su Pollard and Ruth Madoc.

I was lucky enough to be sitting at the same table as David Croft at the annual Dad's Army Appreciation Society dinner the night before the award was announced, and I recorded a brief interview with him.* Unfortunately I was unaware that the award was being made the following day so did not speak to him about it at all!

Congratulations to both Jimmy and David - I am sure their work will be enjoyed by many for generations to come.

* This interview will feature on a future Dad's Army podcast due for release very soon

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!

Walker first past the post

Walker takes over a third of your votes in popularity contest

Joe Walker, played by James Beck (pictured), has been voted the most favourite of the regular Dad's Army characters by readers of the blog. Eighty-five votes were cast and 39% of you said Walker was your favourite member of the platoon. Pike and Godfrey attracted just 2% of your votes each. You can see all the results in the poll section to your right.

Thanks to everyone who took part in the poll. Make sure you cast your vote in May's poll for the most popular non-regular character.

New Dad's Army Podcast on-line

Episode 19

Episode 19 of the Dad's Army podcast is now available to listen to or download from the main Dad's Army Podcast page.

Lots of news this week about the programmes 40th anniversary and the events that are being held to celebrate the milestone. There's the Appreciation Society' Croft and Perry Day at Bressingham Steam Museum on the 11th May, and Thetford Council are planning an whole weekend of celebration. We talk about what in store for those who pay Thetford a visit on either the 26th or the 27th July. Check out www.dadsarmy.co.uk or www.explorethetford.co.uk for more info on both events.

Paul Carpenter of the Dad’s Army Appreciation Society joins us once again, this time to discuss the season five story, Time on my Hands.

We will be back at the weekend (3rd or 4th May) with a special podcast previewing the Bressingham event. As always, please send your feedback to james@dadsarmypodcast.com

Does Dad's Army influence your life?!

Letter to the Hotspur

“Television is an escapist activity, hardly based on the real world. Even the so called ‘reality shows’ select the most bizarre and unusual elements of reality and parades it in front of millions under the banner of light entertainment.”

I don’t think there’s much of an argument against the above statement. The key question in my mind is “does it matter?” Well, I think it very much depends on how seriously people take what they see on television.

There is that very old cyclical debate whether or not television mirrors society or if society influences what we see on television. There are strong arguments that support both sides and I suppose it's obvious that an individual’s view depends on where it is they are looking from. For instance, a successful television producer who delivers a graphically violent drama may claim that they are representing a small element of society and may even believe themselves to be quite virtuous in enlightening the rest of the population how this small minority live. Of course, they claim, their work cannot possibly influence their intelligent viewers and make them more inclined to accept violence as normal facet of life. The teenage viewer however may take a different view when in court attempting to explain why someone else is to blame for stabbing his latest victim.

So what’s my point here?! Why is this strange paragraph on a Dad’s Army blog?! Well, I was wondering who’d be the first to ask that, and I will try to explain. You see, I do believe television affects the actions of both children and adults.

Dad’s Army is a gentle, life affirming programme – we’ve all heard it described as such on several occasions. There was a time when I was a teenager when all I used to watch on television was Dad’s Army. I used to see at least one episode each day, and I listened to an episode of the radio play every night when I went to bed. I was always fast asleep long before Pike got his head stuck in the park gates. Not long after I discovered the world of Walmington-on-Sea, pretty much most of my humour became an unfunny version of Perry and Croft’s scripts. Every time I could offer the rebuttal “stupid boy”, I did. Every time I missed something obvious, “I wondered who’d be the first to spot that”. Whenever someone picked a classmate to play on their football team who I thought was a bad choice, I asked the captain “do you think that’s wise?” I began asking “if I could be excused” when I needed the loo. I started scratching my left ear whenever I wanted to labour a point, I shouted “Death!! Death!!! The Ruby will bring you Death!!” whenever a girl or female relative showed off a new item of jewellery and most of all, I strongly encouraged my friends (yes I did have them) that whatever they did, they should not panic. Along with getting electrisified, contracting verdegis and getting croup, my teenage years were somewhat dominated by – yes, what I’d seen on the telly.

Now imagine I had taken that to the ‘n’th degree (some of you will think I probably did) – would I have attempted to decapitate someone by using a cheese-slicer? Would I have use a chair in unarmed combat?! Would I have chucked an empty glass bottle from the top of a clock-tower? No, of course not. Violence on telly presents the point I am making in a sensationalist way – I could have used the way friendships are exaggerated out of all proportion on a show like Friends – and how it could be responsible for making people feels as though their real-life friendships are boring, eventless and unfulfilling.

In today’s society, with the boundaries between reality and fiction so blurred, and the way society is portrayed in the media I think its no wonder that that television has become so influential – and with that influence comes responsibility. Whilst television is there to entertain, society needs to remember that no matter how convincing telly is – it’s a vastly exaggerated version of life and its impact on the viewer should not completely dis-regarded.

Thanks for sticking with me if you have got this far – articles like this will be rare! Feel free to post a comment.

James Beck

Visit to James Beck's Memorial Tree

Article and photo by Katie - site owner of the James Beck MySpace page

My friend and I went to St Paul's on Saturday afternoon (dodging the thundery downpours!) and after some digging around and getting rather muddy, we found Jimmy's Memorial plaque but sadly no tree.

Jimmy's plaque, which was in remarkably good condition, was on it's own in a flowerbed. The nearest tree was very large and was far too old; a smaller tree directly behind the old tree (surely not a spot you'd choose) and one other tree some distance from the plaque, which could possibly have been about the right age but had other dedicates and plaques attached to it. So it was all rather confusing!

My friend and I did manage to find someone inside the Church to ask about the Memorial Gardens. Unfortunately, this guy thought it was all rather hilarious (apparently 1973 is 'the dark ages'!!) and just kept saying that in the eyes of the Church none of the plaques exist and we could more or less choose any tree and stick the plaque in front of it!! My friend commented that it felt a bit like being in the middle of a Monty Python sketch!

Since getting home, I have contacted The Rector in the hope there maybe some Church records showing which tree is Jimmy's but I have not heard back from him yet. This is the photo I took of the plaque. While taking the photo, the sun came out for the only time in the whole day!

Many thanks to Katie for the article - feel free to e-mail in your Dad's Army stories or pictures to james@dadsarmypodcast.com

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!