Dad's Army Missing Episodes/Radio Versions

[ron]

As far as I am aware there are no audio recordings of the ‘Dad’s Army’ missing episodes (with the possible exception of a Christmas Night with the Stars 1970). A Radio version of ‘Dad’s Army’ was made about five years after the TV show including productions of the three missing episodes. It would be interesting to see how close to the missing episodes they might be. I have started by trying to make a comparison of the casts gathered from the internet. Please give any omissions/corrections.

Casts for TV and Radio versions (unless otherwise indicated) :

The Loneliness of The Long Distance Walker
Captain Mainwaring Arthur Lowe
Sergeant Wilson John Le Mesurier
Lance Corporal Jones Clive Dunn
Private Frazer John Laurie
Private Godfrey Arnold Ridley
Private Walker James Beck(TV)/Graham Stark(Radio)
Private Pike Ian Lavender(TV)
Soldier Larry Martin(TV)/Jack Watson(Radio)
Brigadier Patrick Waddington(TV)/Jack Watson(Radio)
Brigadier(War Office) Anthony Sharp(TV)/Jack Watson(Radio)
Chairwoman Diana King(TV)/Judith Furse(Radio)
Captain Cutts Michael Knowles
Mr Reed Edward Evans(TV)/Michael Knowles(Radio)
Medical Officer Robert Lankesheer(TV)
Blonde Gilda Perry(TV)
BBC Announcer John Snagge(Radio)

A Stripe For Frazer
Captain Mainwaring Arthur Lowe
Sergeant Wilson John Le Mesurier
Lance Corporal Jones Clive Dunn
Private Frazer John Laurie
Private Godfrey Arnold Ridley(TV)
Private Walker James Beck
Private Pike Ian Lavender
Corporal-Colonel Square Geoffrey Lumsden
Captain Bailey John Ringham(TV)/Michael Knowles(Radio)
Policeman Gordon Peters(TV)
Verger Yeatman Edward Sinclair(TV)
BBC Announcer John Snagge(Radio)

Under Fire
Captain Mainwaring Arthur Lowe
Sergeant Wilson John Le Mesurier
Lance Corporal Jones Clive Dunn
Private Frazer John Laurie
Private Godfrey Arnold Ridley
Private Walker James Beck(TV)
Private Pike Ian Lavender(TV)
Mrs Pike Janet Davis(TV)/Pearl Hackney(Radio)
Corporal-Colonel Square Geoffrey Lumsden
Mrs Keen Queenie Watts(TV)/Avril Angers(Radio)
Mr Murphy Ernst Ulman(TV)/David Gooderson(Radio)
Captain Bailey John Ringham(TV)
A.R.P. Warden Bill Pertwee(TV)
Mrs. Witt Gladys Dawson(TV)
Woman June Petersen(TV)
BBC Announcer John Snagge(Radio)

I have compared the ‘Time on My Hands’ TV and Radio versions and they are quite similar, so these Radio Versions might be interestingly close to the missing episodes.

(cast edited Aug 2nd)

[Alan Jeffries]

While not being an authority on Dad's Army, I once worked with a gut who had loads of the radio shows. I think the main difference is that most of the visual gags were changed for extra verbal gags.
One I do remember is the episode where the bank gets bombed and Mainwaring has a paper door. That whole scene was far longer on the radio - and very funny to boot.

Alan

[Alan Jeffries]

That should, of course, read...I worked with a guy.....

[ron]

alanj said:

I think the main difference is that most of the visual gags were changed for extra verbal gags.
One I do remember is the episode where the bank gets bombed and Mainwaring has a paper door.

Alan

The bank gets bombed in at least two episodes I think. It sounds like, as you say, the TV episodes were changed to be more suitable for radio.

I still think it would be interesting to compare the three missing TV episode stories with their Radio adaptations just to see how close they are. The TV scripts are in the book 'Dad's Army - The Lost Episodes' by Jimmy Perry and David Croft (which I’ve just got from a library). I wonder if anybody that has got any of the three BBC Radio Collection audio releases (5,3 and 6 respectively) has ever looked into this?.

I also enjoyed David Croft’s introduction in the book with the remarkable story of how 'The Battle Of Godfrey's Cottage' and 'Operation Kilt' turned up.