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Dad’s Army was a British sitcom about the Home Guard in World War II, written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. Popular at the time and still repeated, it was voted into fourth place in a 2004 BBC poll for Britain's Best Sitcom. Previously, in a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programs drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, it was placed 13th. Dad's Army was based partly on Jimmy Perry's experiences in the Local Defense Volunteers (later known as the Home Guard), partly on the film Whisky Galore!, and partly on the work of comedians such as Will Hay and Robb Wilton. The series starred several veterans of British film, television and stage, including Arthur Lowe (1915-82), John Le Mesurier (1912-83), Arnold Ridley (also a veteran playwright; 1896-1984), John Laurie (1897-1980) and Clive Dunn (1920—). Relative youngsters in the regular cast were Ian Lavender (1946—) and James Beck (1929-73), the last dying suddenly part way through the program's long run despite being one of the youngest cast members. Dad's Army has been repeated frequently after it was originally shown, and during the 1990s it became widely regarded (along with Morecambe and Wise) as representing a "Golden Age" of British television.
The radio series Many TV episodes were remade for BBC Radio 4 with the original cast, although other actors played Walker after James Beck's death. These radio versions were adapted by Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles and also starred John Snagge as a newsreader who would set the scene for each episode. The pilot episode was actually based on the revised version of events seen in the opening of the film version rather than the TV pilot. Snoad and Knowles planned a post-war follow up to the radio series, entitled It Sticks Out Half a Mile, which was originally intended to star Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier reprising their Dad's Army roles, but Lowe died shortly after recording the pilot episode, and Bill Pertwee and Ian Lavender were brought in to replace him for a 13-episode series. Some different actors were used for some of the minor parts, Mrs. Pike and Mrs. Fox (Mollie Sugden), for example.
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