IT AIN’T HALF sitcom
The chip shops and pubs were empty when Hancock’s Half Hour was on the wireless in the 60s.
“Tony Hancock and Sid James were perfect in those classic comedy shows, like The Blood Donor,” says Barry Watts in Dover, Kent.
Barry recalls his favourite episode: “The doctor says, ‘You’re AB negative’. Hancock asks, ‘Is that bad?’ Doctor replies, ‘No, You’re rhesus positive’. And Hancock asks, ‘They’re monkeys, aren’t they?’”
Barry adds: “And who can forget The Radio Ham?”
Writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson also created that other classic, Steptoe And Son, which is also popular with the good folks at the Innisfree Care Home in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset.
“We have just spent a lovely, happy afternoon reminiscing and laughing about the old comedy classics,” writes their appointed scribe, who reveals Dad’s Army and Steptoe And Son are resident favourites.
The sitcom about a father-and-son rag-and-bone yard in Shepherd’s Bush caught the public’s imagination when it first aired in 1962.
The father Albert was a Tory-voting dirty old man played by Wilfrid Brambell and his ambitious but hapless son Harold was perfectly portrayed by the actor Harry H Corbett.
The two managed to bicker their way through eight series despite the fact the two actors couldn’t stand each other.
Art definitely mirrored life in that episode where their brilliant double act hated each other so much, they built a wall down the middle of their junk shop home. Trouble is, the public loved the series so much, it was revived in the 70s in colour, and spawned two films, a world tour and a radio show, and even starred a young Joanna Lumley as Harold’s girlfriend Bunty.
Not every sitcom can stand the test of time, but Dad’s Army is timeless. The wartime sitcom by Jimmy Perry and David Croft ran for nine series from 1968 to 1977, attracting almost 19 million viewers at its peak.
Fans still love to watch repeats and no doubt future audiences will still laugh at it watching from their sci-fi headsets.
Often voted the funniest episode, Ring Dem Bells saw Walmington-on-Sea’s finest being selected to act as Nazis in a training film. Dying for a pint, the Home Guard forget they’re in German uniform, troop into the local pub and almost give the landlord a heart attack, when Pike orders: “Sixteen shandies mit der ginger beer!”
But we leave the last word to Ian Lavender, the last member of the Dad’s Army platoon, who joined his comrades last week, aged 77. “It’s sad Dad’s Army has to be repeated, but I’m delighted to see it,” he said.
“But there’s a need as they’re not making shows for families to watch.” You tell ’em, Pike…
■ Tell us about your top golden oldies and why you miss the laffs at siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk