Echoes of a lost television story, 02 Mar 2002
This Volume contains the radio episodes "Something Nasty in the Vault", "The Showing Up of Lance Corporal Jones", "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker" and "Sorry, Wrong Number". They were adapted by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles, from the television scripts by Jimmy Perry and David Croft.

This release is a must for any fan of Dad's Army, because it includes the only surviving version of one of the lost television episodes. A number of the tv stories were made in black-and-white, only to be thrown away by the BBC when television changed to colour in 1969. One of these was "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker". Only the 1974 radio version, which is presented here, remains as a glimpse of that lost television show.

In it, Private Walker receives his call-up papers - to the consternation of the platoon, who depend on him for "essential supplies". How are they going to get their black market whisky, razor blades and knicker-elastic without him? Sadly though, James Beck passed away before this radio show was recorded, so we're denied the pleasure of him recreating his lost television performance as Walker.

Then in "Something Nasty in the Vault", an unexploded bomb is found in the vaults of Capt Mainwaring's bank after an air-raid. It's not exactly news to him - he and Sgt Wilson are in the bank vault with it, holding it to prevent it tilting and exploding. The platoon has to improvise a rescue, without setting the bomb off. Corporal Jones takes command - so things quickly become hair-raising. This was a very visual episode on television, and Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles have done an excellent job of adapting it for radio, without losing any of the comedy in the situation.

Clive Dunn is again centre stage in the episode "The Showing Up of Lance Corporal Jones", when a new Area Commander decides to purge the Home Guard of older soldiers who are not fit for active duty (how on earth did he miss Private Godfrey?) To remain in the platoon, Jones must complete the commando assault course in less than fifteen minutes - something he's never before managed in less than two and a quarter hours!

"Sorry, Wrong Number" is based on the tv episode "The Lion Has Phones." Captain Mainwaring decides to teach older members of the platoon, including Jones and Godfrey, how to use a new-fangled public telephone box. This being the 1940s, it's not so straightforward as it might seem, and comic confusion mounts over the mystery of when to press Button A instead of Button B (apparantly you only press Button A to get your money back, if no one answers). When an enemy plane crashes in the reservoir while Jones is on duty there, he has another chance to get to grips with the troublesome 'phone box. If only he hadn't run out of money...

These are four gems from the Dad's Army radio series of the 1970's, cleverly adapted from the earlier tv stories. With the inclusion of one of the shows lost from the television archive, this is a must-have item from the BBC Radio Collection.

That which survives, 24 Feb 2002
This is a very important audiotape release from the popular wartime comedy Dad's Army, and contains the radio episodes "A Stripe for Frazer", "The Battle of Godfrey's Cottage", "The Honourable Man" and "High Finance."

When the BBC decided, in 1973, to adapt Dad's Army for radio, the wholesale destruction of the television archives had not yet begun, and film or videotape copies of all four of these episodes still existed there.

However, both "The Battle of Godfrey's Cottage" and "A Stripe for Frazer" were made for tv in black-and-white, and all copies were thown away when the BBC, having gone over to colour, decided that there was no longer a market for black-and-white programmes.

The radio versions of the two episodes were thus all that survived, and both were included in this tape release because the film prints were "missing", so the episodes couldn't be released on video. Happily, a film copy of "The Battle of Godfrey's Cottage" was later found, but "A Stripe For Frazer" remains lost.

This is a great shame, since the radio episode presented here suggests that it was a rare showcase for the talents of the marvellous John Laurie, as Private Frazer. Disgruntled with Lance-Corporal Jones's constant inefficiency, Capt Mainwaring gives Frazer a temporary promotion to Lance-Corporal; a "stripe". He and Jones compete to out-do each other, reducing the platoon to chaos in the process, as they fight for the one permanent post of Lance-Corporal that's on offer.

In "The Battle of Godfrey's Cottage", a comedy of mistaken identity, Mainwaring decides that in the event of invasion the platoon would probably be unable to prevent Hitler from landing on the beaches. He sets up a plan to withdraw all his forces to the crossroads overlooked by Private Godfrey's cottage, a bottleneck that would be easier to defend. But when an invasion alarm is given, two sections of the platoon converge on Godrey's cottage independently, and each mistakes the other for the enemy, making for a very funny show.

In the other episodes in this release, "The Honourable Man" focuses on John Le Mesurier, when a titled relative of Sgt Wilson's dies and Wilson inherits the title. Mainwaring, who will never stand a chance of being elevated to the aristocracy, but who would dearly like to be, is horrified to find that Wilson, his underling at the bank and in the platoon, has suddenly become his social superior. The fact that Wilson is so obviously embarrassed by the fuss that everyone is now making of him, and makes it clear that he doesn't want the title, only enrages Mainwaring further, and the resulting complications are vastly funny.

In "High Finance", Arthur Lowe is the focus of the episode, as we get a rare glimpse into his role as bank manager. This is an unusual episode, as it has nothing to do with the war, or the Home Guard. Jones is heavily overdrawn at the bank, and Mainwaring feels that it is his awkward duty to pursue the debt, notwithstanding Jones's devoted loyalty to him as his Commanding Officer. In hopes of finding the money, Mainwaring tries to sort out the chaos which the books of Jones's butcher's business are in - only to find himself on a treasure trail, as one member of the platoon after another turns out to be the one owing the money. Mainwaring has to call a meeting of all the tradesmen in the town to get to the truth. A wonderful social comedy, which rapidly becomes a hilarious farce, as Mainwaring gets deeper and deeper into a convoluted game of pass-the-parcel, with each tradesman passing the buck to another.

Three very funny, and one absolutely unique, contributions to the comedy legend which is Dad's Army.

Never in the field of human conflict..., 24 Feb 2002
Notwithstanding that the BBC has chosen to number this box of tapes as Volume 2, these four shows are in fact the radio adaptations of the very first four episodes of the television programme, which began in 1968 with the episode "The Man and the Hour". "Adaptations" because these tapes are from the radio show, which was a spin-off in 1974 from the tv series. The tv show contained a lot of visual gags that would not work on radio, so the radio scripts were altered slightly (by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles), to compensate for the absence of the tv pictures.

These shows run for about 26 minutes each, some 4 minutes less than the tv versions, due to the loss of the visual gags (though some new, verbal, jokes are added). The scripts, though, stick fairly close to the tv episodes on which they're based, as the storyline follows the Walmington-on-Sea platoon through its teething troubles (lack of weapons, lack of uniforms, and lack of transport), as bank manager George Mainwaring leads his intrepid band of butchers, funeral directors and pensioners into action against the Hun, during England's darkest hour in World War 2.

"Cometh the hour, cometh the man," as the old quotation has it. And George Mainwaring thinks that he is that man, as he rallies the townspeople to form a volunteer local defence force in the aftermath of Dunkirk, to defend our island home against Hitler's parachutists and the widely expected German invasion.

The four shows are a hilarious account of well-intentioned bungling, in the face of frightening odds. In the first show ("The Man and the Hour"), he assembles the men in the local church hall, but can only arm them with pitchforks, carving knives, and Lance-Corporal Jones's assegi (a 19th Century native spear), and with varying degrees of disaster attempts to train the men to tackle a Nazi stormtrooper, armed only with a box of pepper marked "Enemy - for throwing in the face of"; to borrow some 19th Century army weapons from the local museum (in "Museum Piece"); to acquire some horses, in order to turn the platoon into mounted cavalry (in "Command Decision"); and to capture a German pilot who is shot down over the town (in "The Enemy Within the Gates").

These tapes are almost as originally broadcast. The opening and closing title music is included, together with what appears to be all of the original dialogue, music and sound effects, with one exception. The announcer who introduces each show, John Snagg (a genuine BBC wartime announcer), originally announced each episode with a number at the beginning of the show. Because the BBC released four shows previously, as Volume 1 of this tape series, all the episode numbers have been cut out so that you can't tell that the shows in Volume 1 (and in Volumes 3 to 12 which follow) have been released out of sequence.

Overall, this is a very faithful adaptation of the tv series, retaining much of the warmth and wit of the original, and benefiting enormously from the presence of all the television cast. And I do mean all. Those who have encountered the radio series previously, and been disappointed to find other actors in the part of Private Walker, may rejoice! These earliest recordings from the radio show were made before the sad death of actor James Beck, so you can enjoy again his lively and unique talent here.

With an unusual (and never repeated) arrangement of the Dad's Army theme music, and the presence of the full television cast, stand by for one of the very best of radio adaptions from a successful television series.

An enjoyable escapade with the "soldiers" of 2nd platoon., 23 Feb 2002
As with all of the Dad`s Army tapes the physical comedy in them is slightly lost. However, the story itself does not suffer in the least. The
title story of this tape is particularly funny. As always Authur Lowe`s acting of the pompous Mainwaring is spot on, and the other supporting actors especially John Lemesurier are immensely comical and help hold it all togther.A very enjoyable spoof of wartime england.

one for the shelf, 28 Nov 2001
These are interesting scripts,but it's more fun to watch the shows themselves themselves.Dad's Army was so good because of the acting as well as the writing.Reading these texts reminds one of how much the actors brought to the episodes covered.