First look at the new Dad’s Army

Back in the last century, when people still watched television rather than computers, I fulfilled the lifetime ambition of every comedy nerd when I finally got to meet David Croft and Jimmy Perry. Whoever said ‘don’t meet your heroes’ clearly never met any sitcom writers. I was working on a BBC series about the history of British sitcom – since eclipsed by countless cheap clip shows, but actually quite a novelty back then – and though the actors were interesting, it was the writers who really shone. Like Galton & Simpson (Hancock, Steptoe) and Clement & La Frenais (Porridge, The Likely Lads), Croft & Perry were enchanting. Clearly, there’s something about writing (rather than performing) comedy in tandem which makes the people who do it very happy. Unlike most performers, the creators of Dad’s Army seemed entirely comfortable in their own (and each other’s) skins.

Apart from their general charm and bonhomie, there were two things they said which stood out.