Dad's Army; the Santon Downham Connection.
On
Friday the 8th of December in 1972 programme 50 of the fifth series of the
television drama Dad's Army was screened. It might have been with some surprise
that the villagers of Santon Downham saw their bridge over the Little Ouse and
the pretty depot corner prominently featured. The loveable character, Captain
Mainwaring, Sergeant Wilson, Corporal Jones etc. ,in firemen's uniform are seen
on a fire engine ( borrowed from Bressingham steam museum) crossing the lattice
iron bridge on their way to a fire. (not in the village. The featured programme
was called, "Brains not Brawn." Our heroes are on an exercise
and they have become firemen to fool the enemy but are diverted from their
purpose to fight a real fire.)
![Dad's Army > Simply click to enlarge... then use the [Back] button to return](images/Dads_Army.jpg)
Dad's
Army was written by Jimmy Perry and produced for the BBC by David Croft. The
idea was possibly conceived by Jimmy as a result of his own experience as a
young teenager (even younger than Private Pike) in the Home Guard.
Although the series was at first unpopular because of the war theme it survived to attain its cult status. There was a television series of 80 shown the last of which was screened on the 13th November 1977, titled "Never too old." It featured the wedding of Corporal Jones. Many of the episodes, 67 in all, were also adapted for a radio series. The show was also successfully produced on the stage and Columbia Pictures made a film of Dad's Army that was premiered in March of 1971.
![Doing a jig > Simply click to enlarge... then use the [Back] button to return](images/Doing_a_jig.jpg)
Much
of the 'outside' film work was carried out in the Breckland area especially the
Stanford Battle area , (near Mundford) Thetford Brandon, Honington Weybourn (the
Royal train episode) and of course Santon Downham. The cast used to gather for
filming period at Thetford staying at the Anchor and Bell hotel. Many tales of
these visits are recalled in Bill Pertwee's excellent book, "Dad's Army….the
making of a legend"; produced on the occasion of the 30th Anniversary
of the series. Unfortunately most of the main members of the cast have passed
away-one of the earliest, sadly was James Beck ( Private Walker the spiv.) who
died in 1973 at the young age of 42 years. The two main characters, Arthur Lowe
and John Le Mesurier died within a year of each other- Arthur in 1982 at the age
of 66 and John in 1981 at the age of 71.( His declining health is sadly obvious
in latter programmes.)
The series lives on in many repeats on BBC One & Two, and through the efforts of such organisations as the Dad's Army Appreciation Society the Commander in Chief of which is Jack Wheeler.( Membership; 8,Sinodun Road, Wallingford, Oxon, 0X10 8AA.) The President of the Society is Bill Pertwee (the ARP warden) and the Vice President is FrankWilliams, ( the vicar.) The society does much to keep the memory of the series in mind. An excellent museum, headquarters has just opened at Bressingham Steam Museum and Garden centre in Norfolk. A good mock up of part of the Walmington-on Sea High Street, the Village Hall and artefacts of the period are on display. Also to be seen are the Corporal Jones and the Bressingham fire engine used in the series, in fact the one which crossed Santon Downham bridge.
I have recently become a member of the Society and look forward to continuing the research that is being carried out to discover and document the sites that were use in the area during the making of the series.