Synopsis

1940. Britain is on the alert for an imminent Nazi invasion. With full-time troops occupied overseas, the coastal defences are left to a handful of veteran soldiers – The Home Guard. And in Walmington-on-Sea, one inept, feeble and inadequately armed platoon is very keen to do its bit.

Set in the fictional south coast seaside town of Walmington-On-Sea during World War 2, Dad's Army recounts the misadventures of the local voluntary defence force (or 'Home Guard') consisting of men too old or 'unfit' for military service.

Led by the self-appointed Captain Mainwaring (a bank manager nicknamed Napoleon), the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard are a casual,disruptive troop. His second-in-command, Sergeant Wilson, has the breeding Mainwaring lacks but is largely ineffectual, and Corporal Jones,the local butcher and a veteran of the Boer War, tempers his eagerness with an infallible ability to comprehensively mess-up anything he is asked to do.

Outstanding among the rest of the platoon are Private Walker, a black marketeer who can lay his hands on anything – for a price; mummy’s boy Private Pike; Private Frazer, a cynical Scottish undertaker who always foresees trouble (and is usually right); and the oldest of them all, the nearincontinent Private Godfrey.

The series is littered with memorable catchphrases: "Don’t Panic! Don’t Panic!" (Jones), “Stupid boy!”(Mainwaring to Pike), “Is that wise, sir ?” (Wilson to Mainwaring). With Mainwaring’s irritating pomposity (especially riled are Hodges, the Air Raid Warden, and the local vicar, who lends them his church hall for practice), and the platoon’s total incompetence, life in the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard is more chaotic than most.

Challenges such as unexploded bombs in the church clocktower, manning the look-out point, or guarding captured U-boat prisoners produce such fun and farce, this series still commands high audiences whenever it is repeated. It also has its own official appreciation society.