Bill Nighy Dad's Army

Bill Nighy Dad's Army

Cast: Bill Nighy, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Gambon
Director: Oliver Parker
Genre: Comedy
Rated: PG
Running Time: 100 minutes

Synopsis: May, 1944. As the Allied armies massed in the British Isles prepare to invade Occupied Europe and strike a mighty blow against Hitler's Reich, a heavy responsibility falls on the men of Walmington-on-Sea's Home Guard platoon. They must prevent a Nazi spy discovering the Allies' deliberate campaign of misinformation – Operation Bodyguard – and thus learning of Eisenhower's plan to invade Normandy rather than Pas-de-Calais. As the clock to D-Day ticks down, can Captain Mainwaring, Sergeant Wilson and their eager but occasionally ragtag unit prevent total catastrophe befalling the Allies' war effort?

Dad's Army
Release Date: April 28th, 2016

About The Production

Historical Context

It's May, 1944. World War II is into its fifth year and victory may just be in sight. The Home Guard in Walmington-on-Sea, a small Sussex town facing the French coastline, can congratulate themselves on seeing off the threat of German invasion and maintaining order during the harrowing Blitz years. But for Captain Mainwaring, Sergeant Wilson, Lance-Corporal Jones and Privates Godfrey, Pike, Frazer and Walker the job is not yet done. Far from it.

In Whitehall's corridors of power, the decision has been made to target Normandy with a colossal amphibious assault codenamed -Operation Overlord'. The German Wehrmacht expects the invasion but remains unsure as to where it will strike. Its forces are split between Normandy and Pas-de-Calais, the most likely target. To mask his real plans, Eisenhower has initiated a secondary plan – Operation Bodyguard – to convince the enemy that Calais is the objective. An entire phantom army group, comprised of inflatable tanks and aircraft, empty tents and fake landing craft, has been created on the south coast to throw the Nazis off the scent.

But the Germans aren't so easily deceived. Unbeknownst to Walmington's Home Guard, an Abwehr agent has arrived in their midst, briefed to uncover the Allies' real invasion plans. Near the town are some of Operation Bodyguard's inflatable tanks and phony army divisions. The very outcome of the war rests in the rifle-clutching hands of these few willing, courageous but incredibly disorganised reservists. Can they keep Eisenhower's secret safe or will Hitler learn of the plan and smash Overlord on the Normandy beaches?

'There's A War On..."
- The Idea

We have Simon Cowell and The X-Factor partly to thank for Dad's Army. 'I was in front of the telly on a Saturday evening three or four years ago, not wanting to watch The X-Factor," recalls producer Damian Jones of his eureka moment, 'so I channel-surfed and there on BBC Two was Dad's Army." Enjoying the re-run of the revered Jimmy Perry and David Croft comedy, The History Boys producer tuned in again the following weekend. 'Here it was, still on at prime time and still funny. I thought, -This is mad for a 30 or 40 year-old television show!'" Intrigued, the filmmaker tracked down the viewing figures. He discovered that nearly three million Britons were still tuning in every week to watch the well-worn, beloved wartime comedy, and even more for Christmas repeats. Viewers were still lapping up the misadventures of Captain Mainwaring and his men.

Interest piqued, Damian Jones approached the Dad's Army estate with the idea for a movie. 'They were open to it," he remembers of their first meeting, 'so I got (screenwriter) Hamish [McColl] on board and we shared our thoughts with them. That's how it started to come together." Co-creator David Croft's widow, Ann, her family and Jimmy Perry were each pitched the idea for a big movie adaptation. Each, in turn, gave their approval. 'That was the key to the approval process," explains Damian Jones. 'Once they'd approved it, the Dad's Army Appreciation Society and the Dad's Army Museum came into the process too and supported us. They reached out to the fans and reassured them we were handling it with the right levels of diligence."

Damian Jones's first choice of screenwriter had also required some convincing. 'Damian Jones called me up and said, -A Dad's Army movie – what do you think?'," laughs McColl of Damian Jones' first pitch, 'and I said, -I think you're crazy!'. It was a national treasure, one of the holy grails, but I knew that if you had a good idea, it's the way into the material that you've got to find. I'd written a very successful play about Morecambe And Wise, The Play What I Wrote, ten years previously so I'd been down this track before."

Ideas for films, explains the writer, 'either take hold or fade away". This one quickly took hold. The key decision was to transplant Dad's Army to a point later in the war than viewers had seen in the classic comedy. For Hamish McColl, the Allies' real-life subterfuge campaign that had been cooked up to throw the Germans off the scent of their real D-Day targets – Operation Bodyguard – offered the perfect mix of high stakes and rich comic potential. 'When I started the research, I saw photos of members of the Home Guard holding up inflatable tanks and balsa wood planes," remembers the screenwriter, 'and I thought, -This is Dad's Army! This is perfect'. It's got all the aspirations of war and all the comedy of an inflatable tank."

Columbia Pictures' 1971 movie adaptation highlighted some of the pitfalls of stretching out the 30-minute sitcom format to feature-film length. 'We watched it and it feels like three episodes strung together, rather than a feature film," says Jones. 'We felt we could do something different." Hamish McColl, in turn, worked to frame all the comic beats within a gripping plot. 'Making the movie, we had to get the right amount of story, the right amount of the characters, the right amount of action and suspense and the right amount of comedy moments," he notes. 'It's quite a blend getting all those elements into a 90-minute movie."

A key story element came in the seductive form of a mysterious Walmington newcomer, and the idea of a spy in the ranks. 'The big plot point was this femme fatale who'd turn the heads of the platoon," says the producer of the cat-among-the-pigeon dynamic introduced by Hamish McColl's screenplay. This glamorous arrival promised to stir up a classic Dad's Army dynamic. 'I really wanted to put her between Captain Mainwaring and Sergeant Wilson," explains Hamish McColl. 'The frisson of them suddenly seeing themselves as men who could have taken a different route in life was touching as well as strongly comic."

'We wanted to put the men in more jeopardy," he adds of the espionage element, 'and give them the chance to prove their worth and protect their country. The TV show had never really gone there. Writing these characters was like spending time with a bunch of favourite uncles: you love one because he shines off the other. I loved the voices of all of them."

Script in hand, Damian Jones contacted Oliver Parker, a director whose work he'd long admired. 'He has a track record of being great with comedy," says Jones, 'and he and Hamish McColl had done Johnny English together and had a really good comic shorthand." Oliver Parker remembers his first reaction to the project. 'I was sent the script by my agent," he recalls, 'saw the file labelled -Dad's Army' and thought, -Ooo, that's a curious idea!'" 'Olly's initial reaction was, -Oh my god, are you kidding me?'" laughs Damian Jones. 'Then he called me back later and said he'd read the script and that it was really good."

The director picks up the story. 'When I read it, I realised that Hamish McColl had definitely caught the voices, which is the first big challenge in my mind," he explains. 'The characters are so etched in our minds, how do you write for them? And the way he'd captured them was uncanny. You could hear the voices reading it." The chance to reunited with his multi-disciplined Johnny English Reborn screenwriter another pull for the director. 'Hamish McColl writes, acts and directs, so he saw the project as a whole, rather than just submitting it as a script."

Oliver Parker, another diehard fan of the BBC comedy, was also a perfect fit for the role of field commander. 'Olly's great with people [and] with ensemble casts," enthuses Damian Jones, 'and had a love of the show from watching it with his parents. He was also clear that we were going to be affectionate and do a nod to the original, but also reinvent it and do something new."

'I really bought into what Hamish had done," explains Oliver Parker. 'He brought the female characters forward, introducing Mainwaring's wife to the story, and had the idea of a spy coming into the town. I didn't love the 1971 film, but what Hamish McColl has given us is the notion that you can push the characters a little further. Because you've got this spy coming in, you're putting them on their mettle and pushing them around a bit, taking them a little further than you could in the TV series."

A further meeting with Dad's Army's co-creator, Jimmy Perry, offered a final pre-shoot blessing. 'He's in his nineties now," says Parker, 'a little frailer but still full of energy. He talked about the characters, about how some of them had been through [the Great War] and some hadn't, and the actors and writers too. Jimmy Perry was a kind of Private Pike figure."

Jimmy Perry's own early reservations about the project were quickly assuaged when McColl's script landed on his desk. "I thought it was a bloody ridiculous idea," he chuckles, "but when I read the script, I thought it was great. They'd got the idea, they'd got the characters. They'd made some drastic changes, but Hamish McColl is a clever bloke and he'd got it in one. And they'd learnt a lot from watching episodes of Dad's Army."
'Would You Mind Awfully Just Falling In…"
- The Casting

With Dad's Army's storyline and script locked down, the casting process kicked into gear. Rather than looking for facsimiles of the original Dad's Army cast, director Oliver Parker, producer Damian Jones and their experienced casting director, Alex Johnson, looked for actors capable of making characters their own. 'We were very clear that we were casting Captain Mainwaring, not someone doing Arthur Lowe doing Captain Mainwaring," stresses Jones, 'and that was the same for every character". Finding the right Captain Mainwaring was crucial. 'His shoes were the hardest to fill of the lot," concedes the producer, 'but Toby Jones was always our first and really only choice to play the role. He's an actor who lends gravitas to a project and he made the role his own wonderfully." Unusually, Hamish McColl also had the actor in mind while he was penning the screenplay. 'I could hear Toby's voice very clearly for Mainwaring," he reveals. 'He just seemed right to me, and I couldn't think any more highly of him as an actor. The fact that I've cast a smaller guy is not to do with Arthur Lowe," stresses Oliver Parker, 'but because this idea of Mainwaring as a little Napoleon leading the platoon seemed intrinsic to the original creation."

Despite a long-standing friendship with the screenwriter, the actor had some initial doubts. 'Hamish McColl told me he'd written the part for me, which is very flattering," he remembers, 'but at first I thought it would be a bad idea. Then I saw the script and the cast started to come together and I found it a very, very funny one. I thought I'd just try to have a really good time with it, not be distracted by the responsibility of it, and see where that took me."

Recreating Mainwaring and Wilson's relationship in a way that offered a new, but equally hilarious slant on the Arthur Lowe/John Le Mesurier dynamic required another actor of similar stature. 'Bill Nighy was always first choice for Wilson, and thank god we got him," says Damian Jones. Adds Oliver Parker: 'It had to be Toby and Bill. The next thing I knew they were up for it."

From there the rest of the stellar cast began to fall into place. 'We were so fortunate," says Damian Jones. 'We couldn't have thought of anyone else, which is a credit to Oliver and Alex Johnson. Michael Gambon was brilliant as Godfrey, Tom Courtenay was wonderful as Corporal Jones. Pike's a hard one, but Blake Harrison? Done. Danny Mays plays Walker beautifully, and the same with Bill Paterson as Frazer. And Catherine Zeta-Jones does this type of comedy so well."

Persuading the actress to give up the glamorous surrounds of Manhattan for winter on the North Sea turned out to be surprisingly simple. 'It was only tempting because of my absolute love and nostalgia for the original TV series, and the plethora of fabulous actors who were going to recreate it," Catherine Zeta-Jones laughs. 'I met Oliver Parker in London before I gave a definite -yes' and just thought, -You know what? With Oliver at the helm and me and these guys and gals, it was an opportunity I didn't want to miss."

Like Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Gambon's decision to step into the boots of Private Godfrey, a role filled with distinction by Arnold Ridley, was born of his love of the classic comedy. 'I've always loved Dad's Army and I liked that character," explains the actor. 'He particularly appeals to me. He's extremely funny so I thought, -Ooo, I'd like a bit of that.'"

For Mays, it was a similarly straightforward. 'My agent told me to go and meet Olly," he recalls. 'He'd seen me in another spiv-type role [on stage] in Mojo in the West End and you couldn't have had a better audition for Walker. He sat down and said, -Danny, I want you to do it.' He told me the cast and I said, -Where do you want me to sign?'"

Tom Courtenay, a Yorkshireman raised in nearby Hull, was immersed in another project when the script first landed. 'I was working on [Andrew Haigh's marital drama] 45 Years and I couldn't even think about it then," he expands. 'But then Olly [Parker] very sweetly approached me again. That time my head was clear of 45 Years and I thought it'd quite nice to have a bit of fun. It was also in a part of the world I know and like very much, East Yorkshire."

'They could have cast purely comedic actors, which would have been a different approach to it," points out Mays, 'but you have to apply pathos to this story and flesh the characters out as three-dimensionally as possible and they've done that through the casting. You don't want it to be one note. It's certainly a classy cast to be involved in."

'Permission To Speak, Sir…"
- Preparation

A two-week rehearsal period allowed the Dad's Army cast the chance to work through the script, and even offered an impromptu boot camp. 'We had an ex-sergeant major figure come and drill them," says director Oliver Parker, 'which was enormous fun". Those in attendence were treated to the irresistible sight of Michael Gambon, Tom Courtenay and other acting luminaries drilling in character. 'You can boss Michael Gambon around all you like, but he's doing what he wants," laughs Oliver Parker, 'even if you think he's doing what you want!" Rather than Trooping The Colour, the men learnt the rather more haphazard drilling style of Walmington's finest. "It was chaotic," chuckles Tom Courtenay. 'Who was the best bad marcher? I think it was pretty even. None of us were very good."

As the squad leader, Toby Jones was exempt from the drills. 'All I had to do was sashay forth and get things wrong in the right way," he points out. 'But I was present watching them and they all did very, very well. Michael Gambon played Godfrey is dream casting – he has such beautiful vulnerability and frailty in the role – and Tom too."

The rehearsal process was invaluable, not least in bonding the cast into the tight-knit unit they'd be playing on screen. Some, like Michael Gambon and Paterson, were old friends. Others were meeting for the first time. For the younger cast members, there was some mild trepidation to shake off. 'I was quite nervous turning up to rehearsals," recalls Blake Harrison, 'but everyone was really, really lovely. You're talking about fantastic actors with decades of brilliant work under their belts, and it was incredible to watch the way they rehearse." The commitment of his experience cast mates made an impression on the actor. 'Normally you sit at a read-through and don't expend any more energy than you need to," adds Blake Harrison, 'but Toby [Jones] would act things out and physicalise them in the rehearsal room. To see him getting up and searching for something was impressive."
As the cast and crew headed to Scarborough to start the shoot, there was, concedes Parker, 'still a degree of nervousness" at tackling this revered property. 'It's a hell of a thing and you don't want to mess it up," he reflects, 'but at the same time, there was something very exciting about it, so it felt like it was worth that gamble." Danny Mays recalls the days the casting announcement hits the papers. 'It was all over the media," he laughs, 'and in one newspaper our heads had been cut out and put on the bodies of the original cast, which was a bit disconcerting! That was the first thing we all commented on: -Oh my god, have you see the paper today?' But very quickly, because Ollie was a fantastic director and Toby [Jones] was so confident and didn't put a foot wrong, we put that to one side and made it ours."

The alacrity with which Toby Jones reinvented the central character of Mainwaring offered a powerful example for the cast. 'We were all saying on set what a fantastic job he's done," enthuses Blake Harrison. Mays agrees. 'Toby has given a slightly more endearing performance than Arthur Lowe, but he just showed absolutely no fear and we all latched onto that." The spectres of James Beck, Le Mesurier, John Laurie et al gradually faded, while the spirit of their performances lingered. 'We tried to make it our own as much as we could," says Mays, 'but obviously you do have the ghosts of those other performances rolling around in your head so you have to embrace that as much as possible." As for Private Walker: 'Jimmy Beck's portrayal of him was so on the money," says Mays, 'that I realised that was the way to go about it. I know there are other actors who've attached some sinister edge to him, but I don't think he's like that at all."

'You have to find an authenticity in what you do rather than copy," stresses Bill Paterson, 'otherwise you'd find an impersonator for it." The actor followed his fellow Scotsman John Laurie in playing the gloomy Private Frazer. 'John has a face chiselled out of the sandstone of Dumfriesshire. Nobody else has that face and if I'd made any attempt to do rolling, googly eyes, it wouldn't have worked."

The introduction of new female characters, including Mrs. Mainwaring, a hitherto off-camera presence in the TV show, helped bring freshness to the well-established relationships. 'Here's a controversial point: should we see Elizabeth Mainwaring?" ponders Oliver Parker. 'Even my 13-year-old son said, -Dad, you can't do that!' But suddenly you see what the home life of this fellow is like and what it means to him. There's a lot to be mined from that." Jimmy Perry, Dad's Army's co-creator, initially shared Parker Jr.'s reservations about introducing Mainwaring's wife on screen, but quickly came round to the idea. "If people have got new ideas, show 'em!" he enthuses. "Don't say, 'You can't do this, you can't do that'."

Joining the fray as Mrs. Mainwaring was Felicity Montagu, while Sarah Lancashire plays Mrs. Godfrey and Annette Crosbie is Mrs. Godfrey. Holli Dempsey plays Private Pike's long-suffering girlfriend, Vera, while Emily Atack plays Private Walker's other half, Daphne. As with the TV series, Pike's paternity remains veiled one of the story's mysteries. 'There's a lot of suggestion but nothing concrete," hints Blake Harrison. 'I'd like people to see what they see when they go to the cinema."

'There's no women in the TV series but we've opened up the characters' wives and girlfriends," adds Catherine Zeta-Jones, 'and my character Rose is a different creature. They're competing for her attention, which is always fun. She's flirtatious and plays around with these guys, which happened off set as well. All those fabulous old boys flirting with me in the make-up trailer at 6am! It made my day."

'Don't Tell Him Pike…"
- The Nods

With its iconic theme music, beloved catchphrases and supersized arrows, the classic BBC comedy offered Dad's Army plenty of opportunity to pay playful homage. For Oliver Parker, Hamish McColl and the cast, though, those nods to the television series had to fit seamlessly into the movie. 'It's about getting the right balance," points out the screenwriter of using those famous lines. 'My idea was to keep them select, rather than bombarding the script with catchphrases."

Bill Paterson – whose character, Private Frazer, was famous for muttering 'we're doomed!" at moments of crisis – points out that those iconic sayings evolved over the comedy's nine-year span. 'That's how a catchphrase comes into being," he stresses. 'You don't get it instantly." The movie adopts a similar tact, he stresses, with nods earned rather than merely crowbarred in for an easy laugh. 'I felt we couldn't use the -doomed' one until it looked like we really were doomed. Likewise, we held back -they don't like it up -em', -don't panic' and -stupid boy' until they'd been earned. They come at a time when that's exactly what should be said. It's a very fine line when you do something like this. You're trying to recreate the Sistine Chapel." Adds Hamish McColl: 'It's about finding the best moment for them and not over-egging it."

An Ian Lavender cameo provides another strand of the show's original DNA. 'I had a chat with Ian on set," remembers Harrison, 'and he's really lovely and really good in the film too". The conversation didn't extend to tips for playing Pike. 'We're making changes and a lot of what I wanted to know is already documented," he adds. 'Plus, Ian Lavender's done eight series playing the character!"

Eagle-eyed fashionistas will quickly spot one of those changes. Pike's scarf, originally claret and blue, now has yellow bands too. Before Dad's Army diehards take up pitchforks, the reasons are behind the addition are football-related. Lavender was an Aston Villa fan; Harrison supports Millwall. 'I modified the scarf slightly, just to take it away from West Ham's colours a bit," laughs Harrison.

Frank Williams, the show's vicar, reprises the role on the big screen. Even those famous German arrows make an appearance, albeit shifted from the opening credits to a subtler spot within the first act. 'They come in a scene when the Germans are looking at an invasion map and they're pushing these arrows around it," reveals McColl. 'We've also used the -You Have Been Watching…' caption [in the final credits] because it's so lovely."

When and where to use the iconic Bud Flanagan/Jimmy Perry theme tune was another question to be figured out. Again, there was a sense among the filmmakers that their big musical moment had to be earned over the span of the movie, although Charlie Mole's score foreshadows it at earlier moments. 'The theme threads its way through as a riff, if you're listening for it," says Oliver Parker, 'and at a certain moment right at the end we let it out. It carries such emotional clout and it was incredible at the testing. It's such an old dear friend. Bud Flanagan captured the period in a way that's almost impossible to replicate." The director credits his composer with nailing the tone of the piece. 'He's really good at getting inside a genre and period," he says. 'He wrote a marching song which we use a lot."

'Don't Panic…"
- On Set

The support of Screen Yorkshire was a lure for taking Dad's Army north. The coastal town of Bridlington doubled up as the Sussex seaside town of Walmington-on-Sea, while the nearby countryside and beaches provided ample terrain for the unit's manoeuvres. There was even a handy beach for the men to storm in the final showdown with the Germans. 'We were able to find Bridlington Old Town, which the wonderful people of Bridlington allowed us to transform into a 1940s high street," says Damian Jones. The producer recalls a shoot highlight that came during the parade scene on the town's high street. Joining the jamboree as extras were members of Dad's Army fan clubs from across the country. 'When we shouted 'cut' at the end of a marching take, they spontaneously started singing -Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr. Hitler?'," Jones remembers. 'It was a lovely moment." 'They all started cheering when we came out of the pub in costume," grins Danny Mays. 'I was a bit taken aback when they started singing the theme tune! It cemented in my consciousness the affection the public have for Dad's Army. I thought, -We've really latched onto something here.'"

Shooting a summer-set movie in the short winter days in Yorkshire presented some obvious challenges. 'It was a fast shoot," says Parker, '35… 36 days, which is quite fast given that we're in Yorkshire, the days are closing in and we had to move everyday and dodge the elements quite a lot. Ideally, you'd be doing it during a bucolic English summer."

If the heavy-duty khaki of the Home Guard uniforms offered a useful bulwark from the elements, the standard issue webbing had a nifty secondary use. 'It's a great place to store your phone," laughs Blake Harrison. 'The last thing you want is your mobile to drop out when you're running around on the beach. It's there in the webbing, so when they call 'cut' you can see what's going on Facebook and Twitter." The Bill Nighy webbing, meanwhile, hosted "probably a couple of Yorkshire tea bags, my mobile phone [and] maybe a tangerine here and there". Occasionally even the rugged period uniforms couldn't keep the cast warm, as when the story required Toby Jones and Catherine Zeta-Jones to take a bracing dip in the North Sea. 'I was so gung-ho, I was actually looking forward to it on the first day," laughs the actress. 'I threw myself in and it was actually rather wonderful. Then I had to go back in the next day and it was not so wonderful. I said, -Okay, I'm going in but you've got one shot!'"

Despite the wintry climes and the pressures of short filming days, the cast's can-do attitude would have impressed even Mainwaring himself. 'Unless you're working on a big studio movie, shoots are always too short," says Nighy. 'You always have to work against the clock and Olly was exemplary. To quote Corporal Jones, the thing is not to panic and he never did. He was very classy."

Parker modestly demurs. 'There were times filming when we didn't have enough money to create lovely trailers and lunches," he says, 'so we'd have to have lunch on our knees while we were filming the forest scenes and these elderly guys, who could have really kicked up a fuss, really went with it. They could see what we were trying to do and were hugely supportive. I put some of that down to people's complicity to the original: there's a connection to that that fuels people's generosity." 'They had a shelter for us on the coast," remembers Courtenay, 'but we were altogether in it in rufty-tufty. It was part of the charm." At one point, even some maverick sea life joined in the fun. 'I was standing on a cliff with Michael Gambon, and this sea lion kept popping its head up to see what was going on and who all these people were," laughs Danny Mays.

The director sought a balance between meeting the shooting schedules and allowing his gifted cast room to stretch the material. 'I like to play," Parker explains, 'and you're trying to find those bits of magic, to let Toby Jones chuck the ball and see what happens. For instance, we did a scene where Blake Harrison, a really intelligent and natural [comic actor], is left in charge of the bank as Pike, and we had an extra we hadn't used so I sent her in at the end." Harrison takes up the story. 'The little hanging doorbell in the bank rang," he laughs, 'and I was really confused – there's genuine fear in my eyes because I wasn't expecting it. The cast and crew were all cracking up. You'll see pure Pike in that bit!" Adds Parker: 'It was a beautiful moment."

The cast's professionalism kept the corpsing in check. Mostly. "There was one moment when it was, 'Okay, we've still got a bit to do," laughs Parker, 'but on the whole it was never too much. They were all clued up as to the pressure we were under, so they were never really naughty." Even the director wasn't exempt from the occasional fit of giggles. 'Oliver actually ruined some takes because he burst out laughing!" recalls Catherine Zeta Jones.

There were plenty of off-camera laughter too, much of it emanating from Michael Gambon's direction. 'A large part of why I joined up was because I knew Michael would make me laugh every morning," says Nighy of his old Harry Potter cohort, 'and he did. My fondest memory was sitting huddled on a beach in Bridlington, usually in bitter winds, asking Michael to tell me more stories about is early life. He is hysterically funny." 'Every minute spent with Mike is a pleasure," agrees Bill Paterson. 'I was his psychiatrist in The Singing Detective and we've worked together a few times, and the big pleasure of Dad's Army for me was spending so much time with him. We were constant companions on all the journeys to set."

'I remember seeing Michael Gambon in The Caretaker when I was at RADA," enthuses Mays, "and seeing Tom Courtenay in The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner at secondary school, and Toby Jones in anything he's done. They've got such weight and calibre, and they're all so professional. We had such a laugh on set. It didn't really feel like work. We didn't stop laughing."

Catherine Zeta-Jones is quick to praise her co-stars' professionalism. 'I love working with real pros, British actors of this calibre," she enthuses. 'You expect it when you read the cast list, then you get on set and it's bloody freezing and these are just standing in costume ready to rock and roll. No moaning, no not-coming-out-of-the-trailer, just a real sense of camaraderie. I sit and listen to my father-in-law, Kirk Douglas' old stories for hours, and it was the same with Courtenay and Gambon."

After-hours time saw the cast reconvening to offer Scarborough, home of the cast's nightly accommodation, an unlikely dusting of star wattage. 'Scarborough is quite close to my heart because I worked for Alan Ayckbourn in the theatre there," remembers Gambon. 'We stayed in a lovely big hotel and got treated very, very well. We'd just get together and go to restaurants, eat too much and make each other laugh." Adds Zeta-Jones: 'When the cameras stopped rolling, we'd say, -Okay, where shall we meet up tonight? Shall we go downstairs to the restaurant?' Making movies shouldn't be torturous, and this one was a blast morning, noon and night."

'You Have Been Watching…"
- The Men

Captain George Mainwaring (Toby Jones)
The unit's leader and Walmington's bank manager, George Mainwaring is pompous and self-important in the best traditions of British comedy heroes like Basil Fawlty and David Brent. 'He's such a small-time leader," explains Toby Jones, 'and his strategies and self-aggrandisement are so transparent, it doesn't bother anyone." While Mainwaring's perpetual quest to become a truly commanding figure is doomed to failure, his persistence is heroic. 'He never feels sorry for himself," adds Jones, 'which makes him sympathetic". And the million shilling question? 'How old is he? Very good question. I don't know the correct answer but I imagine him as an old-school guy in his fifties."

Sergeant Arthur Wilson (Bill Nighy)
The world-weary but charming Arthur Wilson, deputy to Mainwaring in the squad and at the bank, is the sharpest mind in the unit. His sense of propriety, however, often leaves him frustratingly reluctant to assert his common sense as second-in-command to the bullish Mainwaring – even in times of crisis. 'Wilson is a very kind, diffident man," says Bill Nighy, 'but he's found himself off the beaten track. He's deeply fond of his wife Mavis and deeply tolerant of Captain Mainwaring's impossible ludicrousness. He gives the impression of being someone who's never going to be good at anything, but he doesn't too badly at soldiering. He can surprise you."

Lance-Corporal Jack Jones (Tom Courtenay)
'Jones has a military background but he's not as brave as he makes out," says Tom Courtenay of the self-proclaimed warhorse made famous by Clive Dunn. 'He claims to be an old campaigner but it was only in the Catering Corps," Courtenay adds, 'so when Mainwaring wants to lean on him as an experienced soldier, he finds it a bit disappointing." Jones is quick to boast of his experiences with Lord Kitchener in the Sudan 50 years earlier. 'He's full of bravado about the past and how steeped in blood he is," elaborates screenwriter Hamish McColl. 'He talks tough but he's not been to the edge. Aside from being the most hawk-like member of the squad, Jones is also a staunch Mainwaring loyalist. 'He thinks Mainwaring is a wonderful leader," says McColl. 'He's loyal and think the world of him, where perhaps the others have a clarity and perspective he lacks."

Private James Frazer (Bill Paterson)
Played by John Laurie in the BBC comedy, ex-Royal Navy sailor Private Frazer is a lugubrious Scotsman with an occasionally doom-laden outlook on life. Just the man, in other ways, to take the pompous Mainwaring down a peg or three. 'He wants it recognised that he's vastly more experienced than this jumped-up little squit," explains Bill Paterson. 'He's the only one who's out-and-out critical of Mainwaring." But despite being a veteran of the Battle of Jutland, Frazer's military instincts aren't quite what he thinks they are. 'When his bluff is called, he doesn't quite live up to it," adds Paterson, whose own father had been in the Home Guard in Clydebank. 'The Scots always has a sense of being very much part of the British war effort, but very definitely wanted to be recognised for being separate – there's more than a wee bit of that in Frazer."

Private Joe Walker (Danny Mays)
'Walker is your archetypal London spiv," explains Danny Mays of the unit's wheeler-dealer. 'He's come to Walmington because he's hiding from something in London, but then he realises that this small community is an absolute goldmine. He's your classic rogue – a charmer and a complete ladies man. The inside of his suit jacket is lined with reams of watches and tights. He adds a lot of energy and humour to that group, and he's never frightened to go up against Mainwaring. He's a bit cheeky and can cross that line a little bit. He's a great member of the gang."

Private Charles Godfrey (Michael Gambon)
A bit vague but kindly and well-intentioned, Private Godfrey brings benevolence and good humour to the group, if not exactly bayonet-sharp combat skills. 'Godfrey speaks very little and he's always smiling," explains Michael Gambon. 'He joins in the fun but does everything quite seriously. He walks quite slowly and because he's getting on a bit, he always seems to do the wrong thing. When they say -right turn', he turns left. He's not quite with it." Like Walker, Godfrey is a ladies man, albeit a very happily married one. 'He quite likes women," says Gambon, 'and his relationship with his wife is so good, they never talk to each other. They just smile."

Private Frank Pike (Blake Harrison)
'He's very much a mother's boy," says Blake Harrison on the unit's youngster, who he describes as 'not the sharpest knife in the drawer". 'He's not necessarily stupid but because he's always fantasising about one thing or another, he doesn't really listen. He's a bit of a dreamer. People will be talking and he'll only catch the end of it, say something and they'll look at him like, -What are you talking about, you massive moron?' He loves going to the cinema and thinks his life should be more like Errol Flynn in those swashbuckling, romantic movies. Of course, he lives at home with his mum and has a snail's pace romance was a girl down the road. It's not quite whirlwind enough for him."

Dad's Army
Release Date: April 28th, 2016