Dad's Army radio show at Bury St. Edmunds

On Tuesday 4th June, Jenny and I travelled to Bury St. Edmunds Theatre Royal to see the Dad's Army Radio show featuring Jack Lane and David Benson. I have been the fan of the series since the early 1970's, when it was first shown on TV. It is without doubt, in my view, the finest comedy/ sitcom that has ever been made. With brilliant scripts by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, timeless comedy including stellar performances by the original ensemble cast of Arthur, Lowe, John le Mesurier, Clive Dunn et al. I am very fortunate to have a long personal history with Dad's Army, unfortunately I didn't see the original cast stage show in the early 1970's but my dear late father took me to see Arthur Lowe in 'Beyond a Joke' at the Theatre Royal in Norwich in May? 1981 and John Le Mesurier a year or two later at the same venue in 'Hay Fever'. I was very fortunate to meet both actors and their wives (Joan Cooper and Joan Le Mesurier) afterwards and they were very charming and accommodating to such a young and enthusiastic fan of the series. After that at the first Great Yarmouth Film festival at the then Great Yarmouth Hollywood cinema, they had a rare showing of a lost dad's Army episode and I was very fortunate I knew the organisers and with the permission of Archant, I was able to present laminated copies of press cuttings of articles to the guests of honour. These cuttings were photocopies from the Great Yarmouth Mercury from 1969 and 1970 when external filming for the classic episodes "Sons of the Sea" and "Menace from the Deep" were filmed at Winterton Dunes and Great Yarmouth Britannia Pier. The guests of honour were Bill Pertwee (Chief Warden Hodges), Frank Williams (The Vicar), Pamela Cundell (Mrs Fox) and (very sadly the recently passed 2 June 2024) Harold Snoad (the TV series producer and co-writer/ adapter of the Radio TV series scripts). Again it was a pleasure to present these laminate copies to the stars at the interval and they were delighted to receive this local memorabilia and they were all very charming. Later on again, the stars appeared at a special dad's Army tribute at the Bressingham Steam Museum and we had to queue up for almost 2 hours to meet and chat with Clive Dunn (Lance Corporal Jones), Bill Pertwee (Chief warden Hodges), Frank Williams (the Vicar), Pamela Cundell (Mrs Fox), Wendy Richard (walker's girlfriend, Shirley) and the writers and creators Jimmy Perry and David Croft. They were all again very charming and spent time with all their fans despite me being near the end of the queue! Finally, I got to see Ian Lavender (Private Pike) at the Marina Theatre, Lowestoft on Friday 18th January 2002 in the 'Ghost Train', a play written ironically by Arnold Ridley (who played Private Godfrey). I went up to the bar after the show and I think Ian Lavender was quite tired as he wasn't very chatty but did sign a wonderful autograph for me so I am very grateful for that. Finally I was due to go and see Philip Madoc (who so memorably and brilliantly played the German U-Boat captain in probably the best ever Dad's Army episide, 'The Deadly Attachment') at the Marina Theatre, Lowestoft on Thursday 7th April 2011, but unfortunately he fell ill and the production was cancelled) Sadly, all these great stars have now passed on. The baton has been truly passed onto Jack Lane and David Benson, who brilliantly capture and encapsulate both the voices and the mannerisms of the whole cast, superbly recreating TV episodes as radio adaptations. Their love and enthusiam for the series is obvious and infectious and it was wonderfully nostalgic to see the audience singing along to 'Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler?' between the episodes and responding with great gusto and laughter. Both Jack and David are dressed up in the familiar olive green Home Guard uniform and stand either side of a large 1940's radio with a sign lit stating "on air". Being in this wonderful old theatre, with these 2 stars was very evocative and if you closed your eyes it almost felt as if you were in the presence of the original stars themselves doing the stage show. Their voices, comic timing and enthusiam for the script shone through and the adaptation was marvellous. It was superb and brought many personal nostalgic memories of watching the original series with my parents. The 3 episodes they were created for radio/ stage were later TV episodes not adapted for the radio, 'For the love of 3 Oranges', "The Miser's Hoard" and 'The Making of Private Pike'. Afterwards, both performers were in the foyer selling memorabila (I had already purchased all the items!) and I raced over to see them talking to Jack about my enthusiam of the series as young boy recording the audio episodes including the final 2 episodes aired at the show and how brilliant they were recreating this great show. Jack took on the persona of Captain Mainwaring, Clive Dunn, Private Pike and Pike's girlfriend. Whilst David took on the persona of Sergeant Wilson, Private Godfrey, the Vicar, the Verger, Hodges the warden. I told David about my meeting with Arthur Lowe at the Theatre Royal and how brilliant he was with co-recreating the show with all his wonderful voices and mannerisms. Both performers were again very charming, I thanked them both for how wonderful they were with the late Frank williams when they met him and both signed not only my programme of the show but also the CD of a recording the Dad's Army radio show, they reorded and released. This show is highly recommended, it is unmissable for any Dad's Army fan and I will definitely go and see it again when new dates are announced in the autumn of 2024.