Category: Obscure Ephemera || By

I've been a little bit busy, but I wanted to share something for no reason other than it makes me laugh.

I'm a big fan of British comedy (yes, I am a pompous git ... er, twit), and I've been working my way through the BBC's list of the Top 100 Sitcoms. A few of them have shown up on public television in the U.S.; most of them haven't.

One show that never made it to the United States was "Dad's Army," which may be to British television what "M*A*S*H" is to American TV ... a ubiquitous sitcom whose early seasons are almost universally hailed as classics.

"Dad's Army," which was launched in 1968, is the story of Britain's "Home Guard" --- a corps of volunteers who were enlisted during World War II to help defend the U.K. from attack or invasion. Unfortunately, the able-bodied had all gone into the regular service, which left the elderly, the young and the infirm behind.

Many of the Home Guard members had previously served in World War I or other campaigns, and had children who'd been drafted --- hence the name, "Dad's Army."

The show ran for 10 seasons --- unusually long for a British sitcom --- and features a fictional seaside resort town, whose particularly hapless brigade is led by the local bank manager, George Mainwaring. (He pronounces it "Mannering.")

A vain and pompous man who's also decent at his core, Mainwaring appoints himself "captain" in the first episode, and refuses to surrender the rank, even when told to do so by the Ministry of War.

His sergeant is also his long-suffering second-in-command at the bank, Arthur Wilson, who's bullied into joining the Home Guard. Other members of the platoon include the town butcher, the undertaker, and Wilson's "nephew" (who may or may not be his illegitimate son).

As with a lot of British comedy, some of the humor comes from class distinctions --- Mainwaring came from a working-class household, and is trying to move up; he resents Wilson, who came from an upperclass background. If you find British humor a bit too "twee" or "precious," well, you're not going to like "Dad's Army." (In fairness, some Brits don't like it, either.)

Of course, unless you have a DVD player that can handle European discs, you're probably not going to get to see "Dad's Army." There is a "best of" set of three discs available from Amazon and other vendors, but it's fairly expensive.

On the other hand, if you like British humor, and you're enough of a technological geek (like me) that you don't mind messing with out-of-region DVDs, "Dad's Army" is worth seeking out.

Here's a clip that's from the third season ... at least I think so. Private Frazer (John Laurie), the local undertaker, is perpetually trying to impress the rest of the volunteers with his worldly experience as a sailor in the Royal Navy:



P.S. As with many other British sitcoms, American TV tried to adapt "Dad's Army" for U.S. audiences.

Unfortunately, "Dad's Army" got some of its humor from the fact that England really did face possible invasion during World War II, which gave the series a certain comedic tension. The mainland United States didn't face the same threat, so the U.S. version (called "The Rear Guard") lacked that spark.

Oh, and also, it wasn't very funny.