BBC Two’s We’re Doomed! The Dad’s Army Story is very like the show that inspired it.
It’s an ensemble piece where each player has their own little moment, yet again and again it comes back to its two lead characters.
The leads here are writer Jimmy Perry and writer/producer David Croft. Though not exactly the class battle of Mainwaring and Wilson, there are certainly differences between free-spirited jobbing actor Perry and BBC Staff man Croft.
This is a drama not an impersonation so it’s perhaps unfair to compare the performances here to the genuine articles… On the other hand, the Boxing Day repeat came immediately after a showing of 2000’s similarly-titled documentary Don’t Panic! The Dad’s Army Story which features extensive interviews with both men.
Of the two, Paul Ritter as Jimmy Perry convinces most as the enthused, slightly eccentric, inspired but inexperienced new writer. Richard Dormer’s David Croft is in no way a bad performance but is sometimes not quite on the same frequency as the rest of the cast – the decision to play the part with an almost permanent rictus grin is an odd one, and isn’t a look that the original appears to have sported.
To be honest, though, the audience is far more interested in how convincing the other members of the cast are – specifically, the actors tasked with recreating the famous line up of Lowe, Le Mesurier, etc. Archive interviews or not, we’re none of us that familiar with Perry and Croft as people but (probably incorrectly) we all feel we know the cast from having watched the show.
Julian Sands’ John Le Mesurier doesn’t have quite the honest charm of the man himself; there’s an unexpected cynicism to him, and the same is true of Mark Heap’s Clive Dunn. On the other hand Ralph Riach as John Laurie and Michael Cochrane as Arnold Ridley are both superb. Top marks too for Kieran Hodgson’s brief appearance as Ian Lavender, but the most praise unquestionably goes to John Sessions as Arthur Lowe.
Granted, he is made up and is playing him as a slightly older Lowe than he actually was at the time (unfortunately underlined by footage of the man himself in Corrie spin-off Pardon the Expression early in the drama) but it is nevertheless an unsettlingly realistic turn.
Not only the look and the voice and the manner, Sessions (and the script) succeeds in showing us the combination of pomposity and loveableness which we’re told Lowe possessed, and which informed his performance as Mainwaring.
We’ve previously had similar dramas on the origins of Coronation Street and Doctor Who so We’re Doomed’s story of creative people with a vision that’s constantly restricted and frustrated by bureaucracy is not perhaps the most original ever told.
But the charm lies in neatly channelling our nostalgic affection for the people involved so that in a very short space of screen time, and through some very deft bits of ‘shorthand’ writing, we find ourselves caring for them.
Perry’s continuing attempts to be cast as Walker may make us cringe, yet we really feel for him when he is turned down – and it falls to Mrs Perry (Sarah Alexander) to make the point when she says, “You’re a good writer, not an average actor.”
Maybe that’s the point of Dad’s Army itself. Deep down, even Captain Mainwaring himself would prefer there not to be a war on – but that’s the situation to hand, so let’s damn well make the very best of it.
At only an hour in length there are inevitably moments where things seem skipped over or rushed through (Shane Ritchie suddenly appears out of nowhere, for example, and it’s another ten minutes or so before we’re told he’s Bill Pertwee playing Warden Hodges) but it’s still a lovingly made, faintly nostalgic little film which has been one of the quiet highlights of the Christmas schedules.
Hopefully, You Have Been Watching.
Aired at 9pm on Tuesday 22 December 2015 on BBC Two.
> Buy the complete original TV series boxset on Amazon, featuring all nine seasons.
What did you think of We’re Doomed! The Dad’s Army Story? Let us know below…