Episodes re-recorded for audio by the two-man cast of live stage show

Three new audio versions of classic Dad’s Army episodes are to be released next week.

They have been recorded by actors David Benson and Jack Lane, who since 2018 have been touring with a Dad’s Army stage show, playing all the characters and reading the scripts as if for a radio play.

Their work was impressed Penny Croft –  daughter of the sitcom’s co-creator David Croft – who  invited them to make their own adaptations of three Dad's Army scripts which had never before been broadcast on radio.  

Between 1973 and 1975, 67 episodes of the comedy were adapted for Radio 4 from the original TV scripts that Croft wrote with Jimmy Perry, with the original cast – including Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier and John Laurie – reprising their TV roles.

However, 13 episodes were never recorded for the radio incarnation.  Three of those have now been adapted  for release on the Big Finish label from next week.

Benson said: ‘Both Jack and I love Dad’s Army every bit as much as the audiences who come to see us. We are not trying to send it up, to modernise it or to muck about with it in any way. We just want to give the audience as authentic and accurate a performance as we can – to be as true to the character and tone of the original as possible.

‘For us, the greatest compliment of all was when Penny Croft and the Croft family gave us their firm approval after coming to see the show on tour. We revere the work of their father so greatly, so when she said, "Dad would have loved what you are doing with his and Jimmy’s writing," we were deeply moved and honoured.’

The episodes in the new release – and their descriptions – are:

When You’ve Got To Go: When young Private Pike gets his call-up papers, the platoon agrees to give the lad an appropriate send-off. Meanwhile, Mainwaring and Warden Hodges declare war in their contest to win the Town Clerk’s blood donor certificate.

My Brother And I: Mainwaring gives the platoon a firm dressing down on the subject of alcoholic intoxication, only to be confronted with his own past, in the shape of his boozy brother – much to Private Frazer’s delight.

Never Too Old: Corporal Jones is in love – but will the lady in question accept his proposal of marriage? This was the very last Dad’s Army episode, originally airing in 1977.

Big Finish chairman Jason Haigh-Ellery said: ‘Dad's Army is one of Britain's most-loved comedies, and we are absolutely delighted to bring these adaptations of television episodes to life on audio at Big Finish, with the superb David Benson and Jack Lane perfectly capturing each of the characters we all know and love.’

Big Finish has been producing Doctor Who audio episodes since 1999, starring Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and John Hurt.

Dad’s Army – The Radio Show is now available to order as a collector’s edition double CD  and download for £15.99 or download only for £12.99 at www.bigfinish.com - prices go up £2 after the release on January 16. Each edition comprises 90 minutes of Dad’s Army plus  30 minutes of behind-the-scenes interviews and extras.

Published: 5 Jan 2024