Quietly slipped into the pre-Christmas schedule on BBC Two, We’re Doomed! The Dad’s Army Story is a lovingly made dramatisation of the events behind the creation and production of Dad’s Army in the mid to late 1960s.
It’s still available on the BBC iPlayer until the end of January and is well worth catching.
Here are a few especially good moments to look out for, in a uniformly enjoyable drama…
Arthur Lowe is played with uncanny accuracy by John Sessions. We first see him invited out to lunch by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, hoping to cast him as Captain Mainwaring despite the explicit instruction of their BBC bosses (“we don’t know him at the BBC”).
Lowe is not sure and says that he wouldn’t want to be in anything silly “like that dreadful Hugh & I.” In a cold voice, David Croft points out that he directed and produced that show and is very proud of it.
A moment’s silence is broken by Arthur Lowe’s observation that “A lesser man could be embarrassed in a situation like this” before going on to discuss the wine, to smiles from the two writers who have just seen their lead character come to life.
As he sits down to watch the transmission of the first episode, James Beck (Kevin Bishop) tells his wife that this show is “a launch part, the type of thing that gets you noticed” and undoubtedly it would have opened the door to great things for him…
Except that James Beck sadly died in 1973 at the young age of 44, partway through the show’s nine year run. And because we know that, it’s heart-breaking.
Similarly moving is the running gag of having Arthur Lowe regularly referring to his wife Joan.
Just like Mrs Mainwaring, her strict rules define much of how he lives, and just like Mrs Mainwaring she remains only a presence from off-stage, we never actually see her. It’s a neat in-joke, but there’s also something inherently sad about it.
We’re used to Private Godfrey being the mildest and most softly-spoken of the entire platoon, and Arnold Ridley (beautifully brought to life by Michael Cochrane) seems to be exactly the same gentle man.
Jimmy Perry joins him for breakfast and is surprised to learn that when Ridley’s film company collapsed he sold all the rights to his plays in order to pay off his creditors. “Never, ever do this,” he says in an unexpected moment of steely frustration, “Writers must always hold on to their bloody rights.”
With the first day’s filming rained off, John Le Mesurier, Clive Dunn and Arthur Lowe are taking shelter in the back of Le Mes’s limo.
The subject turns to money and it soon becomes apparent that somehow John and Clive have managed to wangle more money than Arthur. It’s a lovely, hilarious moment, and made all the more so because it really happened…
And on a similar note, many a Doctor Who fan will have smiled wryly at the brief sequence where Jon Pertwee is said to have accepted the role of Mainwaring. Until he learns what the pay is!
Lastly, a scene which arguably adds nothing to the story but which thankfully escaped the editor’s knife. It’s a short but beautiful scene featuring Roy Hudd as Bud Flanagan. He pops in to record the famous theme, does it in one take, and goes – but his few kind words to Perry are received so profoundly that the writer can hardly speak.
“It sounds like something I’ve been singing for years,” says Bud Flanagan, “In a good way.” I know what he means – I was about twelve before I realised that it was specially composed and sung for the show.
> Buy the complete original TV series boxset on Amazon, featuring all nine seasons.
What was your favourite moment in We’re Doomed! The Dad’s Army Story? Let us know below…