Don’t Panic! Dad’s Army Feature Film Announced

Toby Jones and Bill Nighy are set to star in a big screen adaptation of classic British sitcom, ‘Dad’s Army’.

37 years after Captain Mainwaring, Sergeant Wilson and Private Pike were last on parade, the characters will return with Jones taking the lead as the troop’s patriotic leader Mainwaring, while Nighy will play his rather posh right-hand man, Wilson.

The iconic 70s BBC series set in a fictional south coast seaside town followed the misadventures of the local Home Guard, staffed by men deemed too old or ‘unfit’ for military service, during World War 2.

It starred Arthur Lowe, Clive Dunn and John Le Mesurier and became a British institution during its original run from 1968 to 1977, attracting nearly 20 million viewers per episode.

Some of the series’ actors even had personal experience of war. Arnold Ridley, who played Godfrey, was wounded on the Somme, Dunn spent four years as a prisoner of war and John Laurie, who played Private James Frazer, was haunted by his service in the First World War.

A feature film was released in 1971, which saw the platoon heroically take on a Luftwaffe reconnaissance patrol that was holding Walmington-on-Sea’s mayor and citizens hostage.

The film will be produced by original Dad's Army writer Jimmy Perry and BAFTA-winning Damian Jones (‘The Iron Lady’), who have promised to ensure the plot remains faithful to the show - complete, we hope, with its glorious and memorable catchphrases.