We’re not trying to it
WE WERE very lucky, in a way, that the three episodes were three very different versions of what Dad’s Army could be.
One of them is a beautiful show about Frazer (played by David Hayman), one is about Walker (played by Matthew Horne}], but the third is physical comedy at its best – it’s about them dealing with incendiary devices hitting the wall and their inept efforts at trying to deal with it. Dad’s Army: The Lost Episodes sees a starry line-up recreate three episodes of the much-loved sitcom, which have disappeared from the BBC’s archives. Kevin McNally, 63, who plays the snooty Captain Mainwaring, talks about the pressure of living up to fans’ expectations
CAPTAIN MAINWARING Bank manager Original Arthur Lowe
New
Kevin McNally SERGEANT WILSON Chief bank clerk Original John Le Mesurier
New Robert Bathhurst L.CORPORAL JONES Butcher and Veteran soldier Original
Clive Dunn
New
Kevin Eldon
HE’S known for sketch shows such as Big Train and Brass Eye, and his own BBC series, It’s Kevin and a minor role in Game of Thrones.
PRIVATE FRAZER Undertaker Original: John Laurie
New
David Hayman
FILM, TV and stage actor and director, known for his roles as DCS Mike Walker in ITV drama Trial & Retribution, and Brace in BBC’s Taboo.
PRIVATE GODFREY A retired shop assistant Original: Arnold Ridley
New: Timothy West PRIVATE PIKE A ‘Stupid boy’
Original:
Ian Lavender
New:
Tom Rosenthal PRIVATE WALKER A cockney spiv Original: James Beck
New: Mathew Horne
Dad’s Army and you’ve gone all these years going, ‘I’d love to see those three episodes’, well, we’ve tried to recreate those three episodes so that you can see them.
If you don’t like them, stay off social media, and you can go and watch the original (shows).
But if you’d like to have a look at what our guess was that they might have looked like, then we offer this to you with love. WE HAD some lovely nights. We were out at Pinewood Studios, so they put us up in a hotel... When this job works well, you get really brief moments of comradeship.
And you sort of need it because you’ve got to trust each other, you’ve got to have each other’s backs – sitcom in front of an audience and on camera is really hard and intense.