Are you sure that's wise?

[thomasaevans]

Next Friday (March 1st) the first of the new Dad’s Army episodes will be filmed in front of a live studio audience at Pinewood.

UKTV (for Gold) are remaking the 3 lost episodes of Series 2 with a new cast which features some Red Dwarf alumni –

Mainwaring – Kevin McNally
Wilson – Robert Bathurst
Jones – Kevin Eldon
Walker – Mathew Horne
Frazer – David Hayman
Pike – Tom Rosenthal
Godfrey – Timothy West (replacing Bernard Cribbins)

If you look to the right of this photo, you can see Howard Burden is also the costume designer.

https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/dads-army-1550587710.jpg

Some really great points raised on Twitter about this production. I think most importantly, this is the first revival of a BBC sitcom that has a purpose outside of ‘carrying on’ the show – to resurrect episodes that no longer exist. There’s some great casting displayed here, but can the unique chemistry of the original programme ever be resurrected? …especially given the mixed results with the recent film (and the ‘We’re Doomed’ drama).

I’ve luckily managed to get some tickets for the first recording.

Topic

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

This will be a nice little exercise, and as you say, it’s a cool revival with a purpose rather than just for the sake of carrying on a once much loved show.

But I don’t think they will be able to recreate that chemistry as you say. Part of what made Dad’s Army work so well was that is was written and performed by people that had lived through the war and fully understood what they were portraying.

It’ll be fun to see these episodes, but I’d be cautious of them doing any more new episodes.

That said, I never saw that Dad’s Army film they did. If that worked, so could new material. Though if they were to do that, I’d suggest a different location with different characters.

[Taiwan Tony]

Kevin McNally always seems to pop up in these remake thingies. I wonder if they’ll ever remake ‘Dad’.

[International Debris]

I’ve been re-watching the whole thing recently (currently three episodes from the end), and just filled in with the radio versions for the three missing episodes (which sit a bit awkwardly as they were rewritten to include catchphrases like ‘You stupid boy’ which weren’t actually used at the time).

I probably won’t watch these remakes – the original cast were so perfect that I don’t think I’ll be able to accept anybody else in the roles – but I really like the idea. The episodes have been staged as plays so many times over the years and this just feels like an extension of it.

[Taiwan Tony]

Kudos to you. I’ve wanted to watch them all in order but I’ve never actually got round to it. And I’m in total agreement. You can’t recreate a magic formula like that.

[Paul Muller]

I mean, it’s a great cast, so that should help. And yeah, I think the fact that they’re recreating lost episodes, rather than just remaking existing ones or coming up with some kind of pastiche gives it an extra layer of validity. Enjoy the recording!

[thomasaevans]

A few bullet points from the recording for those that are interested.

– the set (unsurprisingly) is identical to the original
– the first episode recorded was ‘A Strip for Frazer’ which was turned into an animated episode a few years back as the original audio exists
– we saw a new title sequence but almost identical of the original (with the addition that it was faster to include the full cast names rather than just 3)
– the show was shot in widescreen rather than 4:3
– there were 4 scenes in total, all shot live with nothing pre-recorded at all
– present in the audience was the utterly delightful Gordon Peters who played the Police Officer in the original version of this episode
– the performances of ALL the cast were certainly superior to the movie of a few years back
– hand on heart, the best performance by far was Robert Bathurst as Wilson (note for note perfect performance throughout)
– Kevin Eldon gave a great turn as Jonsey
– …and the warm-up guy was shit.

We did also see a mock-up of the closing credits replicating the Series 2 version rather than the more familiar later credits. I saw Howard Burden mooching around the set too (and I did recognise one of the crew members from the recording of Red Dwarf 11 but not sure who it was).

If anyone has specific questions, feel free to ask. I’ll be attending this Fridays recording too.

Bottom line, everyone was very impressed with the result.

[Dave]

That sounds very promising! Thanks.

[Paul Muller]

Sounds like a great night – looking forward to seeing the finished eps!

[Captain No-Name]

thomasevans – yes, I have a question.

What time did you arrive for the recording?

The reason I ask is I’ve got tickets to go and see the 3rd recording. My ticket says “you are GUARANTEED entry until 6.20” but amusingly it also says “this ticket is not a guarantee of entry.”

Obviously I know there’s always a possibility of being turned away from free TV recordings, and I know there’s always a lot of queuing, but I just wondered (from someone who has already seen this show) what the approximate timescale is.

Cheers!

[mr_h]

I would be interested to know this to. We arrived for filming last night after an hour and a half drive against Friday traffic. Got there at 6.10, just to be told by the guys in the car-park, “It’s full tonight, sorry,” so we had to just turn around and head straight home.

We’ve got tickets for next week too, but if it means turning up and queuing from 3.00 or 4.00 to guarantee seats we can’t get the time off work just to do that.

I’ve heard of people who start queueing for BBC radio recordings for Just a Minute at 2.00pm, even though doors don’t open until 5.45 and recording doesn’t start until 7.30. Always thought that was a but mad, but if it’s the only way to get into these things they should give you some idea before you head off…

[Captain No-Name]

What a shame mr_h – I hope you have better luck getting into this Friday’s recording.

Unfortunately I’ve just had an e-mail saying my own tickets are cancelled, which is a massive shame as I was looking forward to it.

[thomasaevans]

Sorry for the delayed reply folks.

Yeah they cancelled my mates tickets, it was an absolute shambles when we hot there. We had priority so we were fine but those that didnt had no chance. They turned away over 100 people.

Now since they’ve been cancelling tickets then this week might be better. My advice is if you DONT have priority get there AT LEAST 2 hours early or dont bother. If you have priority, make it known. Compared to Red Dwarf’s recordings it was sloppy.

[mr_h]

Thanks for all the information – worth bearing in mind for the future!

My tickets for tomorrow have also been cancelled – a huge disappointment all round really :( Maybe next time.

[Ben Saunders]

Why can’t you just book tickets, turn up and sit down, and why don’t they make it impossible to buy more tickets than are available? What the fuck is going on?

[Dave]

Isn’t it that they deliberately overbook to ensure a full audience?

[Pete Part Three]

Well, for starters, you don’t “buy” them. The tickets will be free, which kind of removes a lot of responsibility.

[(deleted)]

Some shows have to overbook hugely because there is a high percentage of no-shows. Lots of people on the ticketing email lists apply for everything and then cherry pick when everything arrives.

What has probably happened here is that they didn’t expect the Dad’s Army recordings to be as popular as they have been based on educated guesswork from things like The Lost Sitcoms or Yes Minister.

[(deleted)]

I do think there should be a modest ticketing charge on more popular shows though for guaranteed entry. If not just to help amortise the costs of having studio audiences in UK comedy shows in the first place rather than producers and commissioners seeing them as an unhelpful encumberance.

I don’t think anybody would complain at £15-20 for a Dwarf recording ticket. It works for ISIHAC.

[thomasaevans]

On this occasion (and I’ve never done this before)… in MY mind I knew these recordings would be popular (Lost in TV clearly didn’t) but they offer a membership option wherein paying a fiver gets you GUARANTEED priority tickets. I did this because I didn’t want to travel from Cardiff all the way to Pinewood for nothing.

Yesterday I attended a QI recording and that was run like a well-oiled machine (that was through Applause Store). It’s so clear that because of how long it has been going, how many episodes they film and how (on average) simple and straightforward the recording is that they’ve nailed the whole process to perfection. No mucking about. Very well organized.

Also, Alan Davies recounting his story of watching a video clip of a woman masturbating a horse was truly something to be seen. THAT won’t make the cut.

[Ben Saunders]

I’ve seen several such videos, and the question on my lips every single time is “why?”.

And yes I know you don’t buy the tickets. It’s still nonsense

[Author]

Replies