'The Man And The Hour'

'The Man And The Hour'

We've covered the second episode of 'Dad's Army' ('Museum Piece') in Episode 21 of 'Round The Archives' and Martin provided a location report when he visited Arthur Lowe's blue plaque in Derbyshire.

We chose this episode as it was shown the day I was born, which may lead some readers to the conclusion that I am rapidly approaching a rather significant birthday...

'The Man And The Hour' was shown a week before, on 31st July 1968, so we thought we'd give it the honour of doing a DVD commentary.

Captain Mainwaring would probably have puffed his cheeks out on hearing this, but it's a series I've always loved. It's perhaps a shame that no other BBC comedies get repeated in the way that 'Dad's Army' does, but that's a subject we can go into another time.

To be frank, I thought I knew this episode inside-out, but what I had never spotted was how it was part of a BBC schedule that has an unlikely number of connections with the moon.

'Bizzy Lizzy' encounters The Man In The Moon (presumably after touching her very special flower) and 'The Adventures Of Tin Tin' concern the events of 'Operation Moon'.

But utterly new to me was the intriguing 'Moon Clue Game', described as A Race Through Space. This edition saw Terry Scott and the Taurans versus Hugh Lloyd and the Capricorns.

With the Apollo Eleven moon landings not far away, there's obviously something in the air. Even 'Dad's Army' has a throwaway line about rockets next week.

If you know the colour episodes, this one feels a little odd, especially with its opening scene of the surviving members of the platoon in (what was then) the present day. Pike has a moustache and Frazer is officially ancient.

It has been pointed out today that if a show had such a set-up today, we would flash back through the years to the far-off year of 1990, which doesn't seem that long ago. But then, I imagine that people born in 1990 would reckon that I'm getting on a bit.

Frazer has a philatelist's shop (he sells stamp collectors?) and Pike is doing some sort of accent that soon makes itself scarce. And John Ringham as Bracewell clearly moves out of the area to take part in some early cloning experiments when he returns as Captain Bailey.

It hasn't quite got everything 100% perfect, but there's a lot they get right here. The disappointing delivery of armbands and pepper in place of the expected uniforms and guns is this first season in a nutshell. But with Captain Mainwaring on hand to provide a stirring speech, everyone feels that they coud tackle a tank with luck on their side.

Anyway, a sincere Happy 50th Anniversary to 'Dad's Army'! You all deserve a rousing cheer!

The BBC Genome page for 31st July 1968 can be found here.

Episode 21 of 'Round The Archives' may be heard here.

And our commentary for 'The Man And The Hour' may be seen here.

(By Andrew Trowbridge)