With Bill Nighy as Sgt Wilson

Dad's Army is set for a big-screen comeback, with Love Actually's Bill Nighy playing the role of Sergeant Wilson.

Toby Jones, whose roles include Truman Capote in Infamous and Alfred Hitchcock in the TV drama The Girl, is lined up to play Captain Mainwaring, commanding officer of the Walmington-on Sea Home Guard The key roles were initially played by John Le Mesurier and Arthur Lowe respectively.

Jimmy Perry, who co-created the show with the late David Croft, sold the rights some time ago, according to his long-term PA, Jeanette Eccles. She told Chortle that Perry is not otherwise involved.

The new script is by Hamish McColl, whose credits include Mrs Bean's Holiday and the West End Morecambe and Wise tribute The Play What I Wrote, in which he also starred alongside his double-act partner Sean Foley.

According to The Sunday Times, it will be directed buy Oliver Parker, who previously filmed the McColl-scripted Johnny English Reborn, and produced by Damian Jones, who made The History Boys and The Iron Lady producer.

Jones who said the sitcom – which ran from 1968 to 1977 – has the 'universal appeal' to be a box office hit.

The sitcom attracted 18 million viewers at its peak – and 46 years later still pulls in an audience of two million for its BBC Two repeats.

Dad's Army was previously made into a movie in 1971, between series three and four of the TV series. Although reviews were mixed, it performed well at the box office, being the fifth most popular movie of the year in Britain.

The mayor of Thetford in Norfolk, where the original was filmed, first revealed rumours of the movie to those attending his charity ball on Friday. He said: 'We just hope that will pay reverence to the characters if they do make a film.'

Published: 27 Apr 2014