News

Jenny Morrill Feb 20, 2017

Round The Horne is touring around the UK. We went. We laughed. A lot.

New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham

2017 sees another run of the Round The Horne 50th anniversary tour by the Apollo Theatre Company, where the classic Radio 4 show is brought to life by a brilliantly authentic cast of voice actors.

If you've never heard Round The Horne, you're missing a staple of British comedy. The show ran from 1965-1968, and pushed the boundaries of acceptable humour with its blend of double entendres, camp comedy and general silliness.

The staple cast included Kenneth Horne, Betty Marsden, Hugh Paddick, Kenneth Williams, and announcer Douglas Smith. Smith's involvement is made funnier in contrast to his other well known role as a Radio 4 announcer. The original show featured musical accompaniment by Edwin Braden and the Hornblowers, and later The Max Harris Group. For the anniversary show, musical and sound effect...

facebook

twitter

google+

We're Doomed: The Dad's Army Story is touching, humorous and ultimately heartwarming piece of television...

New Dad’s Army casts are like buses: you wait ages for one to come along, and then when two turn up at once they don’t like it up ‘em. While it’s never been far from the public consciousness, the sitcom about the Home Guard of Walmington-on-Sea seems to have experienced a surge in popularity over the last few years, with repeats on BBC Two having become a Saturday night staple - only a few weeks ago, it was the programme with the highest Appreciation Index for the whole of a Saturday which included Strictly, The X Factor, I’m A Celeb and the Doctor Who finale. And with the new Dad’s Army film starring Toby Jones and Bill Nighy set for release in February, it’s the perfect...

Don't panic! Your first look at BBC Two's upcoming Dad's Army origins drama is here.

We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story tells of the struggles creators Jimmy Perry and David Croft had to endure to get the classic comedy on screen.

The stills show Friday Night Dinner's Paul Ritter and Game of Thrones actor Richard Dormer as Perry and Croft, respectively, and John Sessions as a dead ringer for Arthur Lowe.

EastEnders star Shane Richie will play Bill Pertwee in the one-off film, with the rest of the Dad's Army actors portrayed by Julian Sands (as John Le Mesurier), Mark Heap (as Clive Dunn), Kevin Bishop (as James Beck), Michael Cochrane (as Arnold Ridley) and Ralph Riach (as John Laurie).

Meanwhile, Keith Allen will appear as TV executive Paul Fox and Sally Phillips will play Croft's wife Ann.

The drama has been written by Stephen Russell (Shameless) and...

BBC Two launched a new comedy double-bill tonight, with Danny Baker's '70s-set Cradle To Grave giving way to the thoroughly modern Boy Meets Girl.

Written by Simon Carlyle, Elliot Kerrigan and Andrew Mettam, Boy Meets Girl is the first British sitcom to feature a transgender character - played by a transgender actor - in the lead.

The six-part series charts the romance between Judy (Rebecca Root) and Leo (Harry Hepple) - and the difficulties they come up against as others come to terms with their relationship.

Kristian Smith - BBC Commissioning Editor - described the show as a "heart-warming romantic comedy" that also promotes "affirming messages of humanity and acceptance."

Digital Spy wants to know what you thought of Boy Meets Girl - was the show a breath of fresh air? Did you fall head over heels for Judy and Leo?

Join the conversation in the comments below.

Surprised by Peter Kay's 'Gor blimey!' Cockney accent in BBC Two's Cradle to Grave? Series creator Danny Baker says you'll get used to it.

Speaking at a press screening, Baker said that "authenticity" isn't all that important in terms of how a TV character speaks.

"It's a shock when Peter Kay don't talk like Peter Kay - and it takes a bit to get over that," he acknowledged.

"But after a while, hopefully, he's that character - that's who he is, that's how he walks, that how he talks."

Cradle to Grave is based on Baker's youth, with Kay playing the young Danny's hot-tempered father Fred.

"I grew up with Harry Corbett in Steptoe and Son, what part of London was that?" Baker asked. "James Bolam in The Likely Lads - that ain't Geordie! But that's how that character speaks."

Baker added that Bolton-born Kay worked closely...

There's already a Dad's Army movie remake on the horizon, and now there's going to be a drama based around its origins.

EastEnders star Shane Richie will play Bill Pertwee in BBC Two's Making Dad's Army, a one-off film about the classic and beloved British sitcom.

The drama will focus on the show's original idea in 1967 up until its first broadcast in 1968, and the struggles creators Jimmy Perry and David Croft had to endure to get it on screen.

Friday Night Dinner's Paul Ritter will play Perry, while Game of Thrones actor Richard Dormer will portray Croft.

The rest of the Dad's Army actors will be played by John Sessions (as Arthur Lowe), Julian Sands (as John Le Mesurier), Mark Heap (as Clive Dunn), Kevin Bishop (as James Beck), Michael Cochrane (as Arnold Ridley) and Ralph Riach (as John Laurie).

Meanwhile, Keith Allen will play TV executive Paul Fox,...

'Dad's Army' star Bill Pertwee has died aged 86. The acting legend, who played air raid warden Hodges in the 1970s sitcom, passed away peacefully in his sleep in Cornwall, south west England, yesterday (27.05.13) surrounded by his family, according to his agent Meg Poole. She said: ''He was a really, really nice man. Very bright, very intelligent. ''He came from a big theatrical family, a big show business 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.'' Bill's son Jonathan led the tributes to the...

'Dad's Army' star Bill Pertwee has died aged 86. The acting legend, who played air raid warden Hodges in the 1970s sitcom, passed away peacefully in his sleep in Cornwall, south west England, yesterday (27.05.13) surrounded by his family, according to his agent Meg Poole. She said: ''He was a really, really nice man. Very bright, very intelligent. ''He came from a big theatrical family, a big show business 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.'' Bill's son Jonathan led the tributes to the...

Actor best known for playing the officious Arp warden William Hodges in Dad's Army

In his early days as a cabaret artist, the actor Bill Pertwee, who has died aged 86, did a manic cricket revue sketch at a fashionable club in central London. A haughty and inebriated diner kicked over his stumps and shouted: "How's that?" Pertwee punched him in the stomach and was escorted out by the head waiter, who informed him that the customer was always right. "As far as I'm concerned, he isn't!" retorted Pertwee.

This bubbling belligerence was successfully incorporated into the bossy character that made Pertwee famous: Arp Warden William Hodges in the celebrated BBC television series Dad's Army (1968-77), written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft. As Hodges, he perpetually clashed with Captain George Mainwaring (Arthur Lowe) of the Home Guard.

The inspiration for the way Pertwee played the warden came from his boyhood during the second world war,...

'Dad's Army' star Bill Pertwee has died aged 86. The acting legend, who played air raid warden Hodges in the 1970s sitcom, passed away peacefully in his sleep in Cornwall, south west England, yesterday (27.05.13) surrounded by his family, according to his agent Meg Poole. She said: ''He was a really, really nice man. Very bright, very intelligent. ''He came from a big theatrical family, a big show business 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.'' Bill's son Jonathan led the tributes to the...

Philip Madoc in A Mind to Kill. Acorn Media DVD

Kieran Kinsella

The late Philip Madoc was a fantastically talented actor who specialized in playing dark and brooding characters. A familiar face on British TV, Madoc appeared in everything from Doctor Who to Dad’s Army but he saved his best performances for the crime drama A Mind to Kill. Two versions of the series were made with one being in English and the other in Madoc’s native Welsh tongue.

Madoc’s character was Detective Chief Inspector Noel Bain – an old-school detective who unhappily faces up to the fact that the world is a darker and scarier place than it was when he first walked his beat. Much to his chagrin, his daughter Hannah, (Ffion Wilkins) eventually decides to follow in his footsteps and become a police officer. The duo have a difficult relationship away from the office and...

The trouser-dropping 80s stage farce finally hits the big screen with Danny Dyer, to kill off any remaining British self-respect

There's a moment in an old Goon Show where Peter Sellers sonorously says in his officer-class voice: "Old England isn't finished yet. It's finished …" [FX: dinner gong] "… now!" That gong, signalling the end of British self-respect, sounded deafeningly as the houselights dimmed for this film. Argentinian president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner will wish to block-book it for every cinema in Buenos Aires. It's a big-screen version of the trouser-dropping stage farce Run for Your Wife, which ran in London's West End from 1983 to 1991, adapted and directed by its author, Ray Cooney, and starring Danny Dyer as the bigamous taxi driver coping with two missuses (Denise van Outen and Sarah Harding) and a next-door neighbour (Neil Morrissey) who is cheeky, perky and, like everyone else, stunningly unfunny. The humour makes The Dick Emery Show look edgy and contemporary,...

The trouser-dropping 80s stage farce finally hits the big screen with Danny Dyer, to kill off any remaining British self-respect

There's a moment in an old Goon Show where Peter Sellers sonorously says in his officer-class voice: "Old England isn't finished yet. It's finished …" [FX: dinner gong] "… now!" That gong, signalling the end of British self-respect, sounded deafeningly as the houselights dimmed for this film. Argentinian president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner will wish to block-book it for every cinema in Buenos Aires. It's a big-screen version of the trouser-dropping stage farce Run for Your Wife, which ran in London's West End from 1983 to 1991, adapted and directed by its author, Ray Cooney, and starring Danny Dyer as the bigamous taxi driver coping with two missuses (Denise van Outen and Sarah Harding) and a next-door neighbour (Neil Morrissey) who is cheeky, perky and, like everyone else, stunningly unfunny. The humour makes The Dick Emery Show look edgy and contemporary,...

Clive Dunn

Kieran Kinsella

The man who played the most popular character in British TV’s most beloved sitcom has died. Veteran actor Clive Dunn passed away at the age of 92 in Portugal. The actor is best known for his role as Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army. With Dunn’s passing, Ian Lavender, Bill Pertwee and Frank Williams are the only surviving members of the sitcom that changed the face of British television. Clive Dunn is survived by his wife and two daughters. Click below to see some of Dunn’s classic moments of comedy.

Click here to friend Best British TV on Facebook or here to follow us on Twitter. You can also find us on Google+ by clicking here.

Upstairs Downstairs

Written by B Van Heusen

Jean Marsh was not involved in this episode because of health reasons while Eileen Atkins was missing because of “creative differences” but even in the absence of its creators, the show had to go on and so it did. Episode one of the second season of Upstairs Downstairs began with Sir Hallam Hope (Ed Stoppard) doing his best to avert World War II. It was a dramatic backdrop that contrasted sharply with lighter fare that was served up during season one. The drama within Eaton Place was equally tense as Mr Pritchard was castigated by the majority of the staff as details of his war dodging past came back to haunt him.

Pritchard’s character worked well as a sort of Bill Pertwee-esque Aarp warden while Stoppard did well in his role as the only man in England seemingly capable of seeing through Hitler’s lies.