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.

Podcast to record Dad's Army Movie special!

Your comments are required!

Following several requests from listeners, this weekend, the entire podcast team will be recording a round table discussion about the sometimes controversial, 1971 Dad's Army movie. I have great pleasure in announcing that Frank Williams, (the Reverend Timothy Farthing) will be joining us for what promises to be a very entertaining and lively discussion. If you have comments about the movie in general, or have any questions you like us to put to Frank then please send them to me at james@dadsarmypodcast.com by 6:00pm Friday 20 February (GMT) and I'll do my best to include them in the podcast.

The recording will form Episode 33 of the podcast and is likely to be on-line mid to late March 2009. Episode 32 should be on-line at some point over the next 10 days or so. The podcast's main page is here.

New Dad's Army podcast now on-line

Episode 31

The first Dad's Army podcast of 2009 is now on-line and available at www.dadsarmy.podomatic.com.

This edition of the podcast is a little different from the usual format – Paul Carpenter from the Dad’s Army Appreciation Society brings you a review (featuring several wonderful clips) from the recently recovered audio versions of the 1968 Christmas Night with the Stars sketch and the off-air recording of series 2’s A Stripe for Frazer. Thanks to Paul for putting together such a fantastic piece of audio and giving all you lucky podcast listeners the opportunity to hear what is in effect, brand new Dad’s Army.

If that wasn’t enough, Clare returns to the podcast and reviews the classic Christmas Special, My Brother and I.

Podcast 32 will be the long promised feedback episode and as I have yet to record it, you have a great opportunity to get your comments on the show. I am particularly interested to hear what episode of Dad's Army you would like us to review and chat about in the future. Send in your thoughts to me at james@dadsarmypodcast.com or click on 'comments' at the foot of this posting.

Stupid Boy on Mastermind!

Ian Lavender to star on Celebrity Mastermind

Ian Lavender will be appearing on Celebrity Mastermind at 8pm on New Years Day on BBC1. Good to see that Ian is maintaining his high profile! See the official BBC what's on listings here.

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!

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.