star Clive Dunn has lifted the lid on what it was really like to work on the beloved comedy sitcom in never-before seen clip. Ever since the first episode was broadcast in 1968, Dad's Army has been one of the most beloved programmes on British television and is regularly repeated on the airwaves. But despite its seemingly onstant presence on screen, lots of moments have yet to see the light of day after they were shelved inside the BBC's archives - until now.
On Tuesday (May 6), the BBC shared a selection of classic clps that feature everyone's favourite Home Guard platoon in appearances that took them far from the confines of Walmington-on-Sea. Amongst the many delights are Catpain Mainwaring (played by Arthur Lowe) dancing and sparring with Mocambe and Wise, the whole cast defending Buckingham Palace at teh 1970 Royal Gala, Private Pike invading the Lulu Show, and a special song and dance tribute to Noel Coward.
Narrated by Toby Jones - who played Captain Mainwaring in the 2016 Dad's Army film - the hour-long special also featured interviews with the cast over the years where they gave fans an insight into what it was really like to work on the long-running show.
During an appearance on the Terry Wogan show in the 1980s, actor Clive Dunn revealed that leading man Arthur Lowe used to "hold the cast up" for years because he never learnt his lines.
He told the broadcaster: "We did it for nearly 1- years, you see. In fact, we got to know each other so well that we used to hope that everybody knew their lines by one o'clock when we were rehearsing so then we could all go down to the pub afterwards."
The Irish presenter couldn't help but ask if Lowe was as "crusty" as his character appeared on the beloved sitcom, to which Dunn replied: "Well, he was a little bit crusty."
"I mean, he wouldn't learn his lines - he was the only one. And what happened was after about five years he used to hold us up because he didn't know them.
"And when we all said, 'Right, it's one o'clock, go and learn your lines' he used to put his script, this beautiful, carefully looked-after script in a desk and he went home. And then, when he came back the next morning, he didn't learn his lines."
He went on: "So after five years, [producers] David Croft and Jimmy Perry got together with the writers and said, 'Look Arthur, we think you're the best comedy actor there is, but you happen to be holding everybody up and you're holding the production up.
"'Would you mind instead of putting the script in the desk, take yours home with you live everybody else does?' and he said, 'Certainly not. I'm not having that load of rubbish in my house'. So that was Arthur."
The studio then erupted into laughter as they reminisced over the beloved show and the leading stars they had lost in recent years.
He went on: "So after five years, [producers] David Croft and Jimmy Perry got together with the writers and said, 'Look Arthur, we think you're the best comedy actor there is, but you happen to be holding everybody up and you're holding the production up."'Would you mind instead of putting the script in the desk, take yours home with you live everybody else does?' and he said, 'Certainly not. I'm not having that load of rubbish in my house'. So that was Arthur."
The studio then erupted into laughter as they reminisced over the beloved show and the leading stars they had lost in recent years.
