UKTV has commissioned Mercury Productions to recreate three episodes of Dad’s Army that haven’t been seen on television since they were first broadcast in 1969.
Mercury has worked with the estates of the original writers, Jimmy Perry and David Croft, on the project.
UKTV plans to air the The Lost Episodes from the second series of Dad’s Army in 2019, fifty years since they were first broadcast.
The BBC routinely reused tapes after broadcast from 1967 – 1978 and three episodes from series two of the wartime comedy, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker, A Stripe for Frazer and Under Fire, were all either destroyed or reused.
The Lost Episodes has been ordered by Richard Watsham, director of commissioning and Steve North, genre general manager of entertainment and comedy.
Pete Thornton, head of scripted at UKTV, said: “The Lost Episodes are currently being cast, with an extensive hunt on to find the perfect candidates to take on the daunting task of bringing these much-loved comedy characters to life once more. We’ve been working on this project for several years and will be respecting the genius of the original series. If ever there was a time to ‘stick to the script’ then this is it. We are hugely excited and not a little intimidated by this opportunity but being plucky (and hopefully not too incompetent) Brits we aim to see the task through.”
Gerald Casey, Gold’s channel director, added: “As a Dad’s Army devotee, I’m utterly thrilled that we’re exclusively bringing these legendary lost masterpieces from Jimmy Perry and David Croft to life again after fifty years.”
Casting has yet to take place.
Jon Creamer
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