Another of the Dad's Army team gone

Dad's Army star Bill Pertwee has died at the age of 86.

His agent Meg Poole said he died peacefully today with his family around him.

She said: He was a really, really nice man. Very bright, very intelligent.'

'He came from a big theatrical family, a big showbusiness family, and like all of them it was his life and it was very important to him and he was a hugely professional, very clever man.'

Pertwee played Hodges in 60 episodes of Dad's Army between 1968 and 1977. As the air raid warden always urging ‘lights out’, his character was the bane of Captain Mainwaring’s life.

He also appeared in You Rang M'Lud?, the radio series Round The Horne and three Carry On films. And he was made an MBE in 2006 for his services to charity.

His son Jonathan told the BBC he was ‘very humble ‘ about his fame. ‘He'd always think how lucky he was,’ he said.‘He'd say “marvellous, isn't it, to be in this business”, because he said “I'm not really a proper actor”, but he was extraordinarily versatile.’

Jonathan added that his father had a continued affection for Dad's Army, saying: ‘He loved it. He loved the people in it, it was a big part of his life and he used to have a lot of fun with Clive [Dunn] and John Le Mesurier and Frank Williams and all of them. They just had a a great bond.’

His death means there are only two surviving members of the regular Dad’s Army: 67-year-old Ian Lavender, who played Private Pike and who is performing at the Edinburgh Fringe this year, and 81-year-old Frank Williams, who played Reverend Timothy Farthing.

In December, unsubstantiated rumours of Pertwee’s spread across the internet.

Published: 27 May 2013