We are halfway through our 50 moments that made Dad’s Army great and 25 days away from the 50th anniversary of the first episode. and the episode I’m featuring, the 42nd of 80 comes from roughly half-way through the series as a whole and was first shown in October 1972.

By the fifth series some of the story-lines were beginning to get a bit far-fetched but this one is a cracker – the powers-that-be have decided to reshuffle the Home Guard members and wardens to ensure that the stay-at-home army is staffed by younger men and the old-timers spend their time on fire-watch. All members of the platoon except Pike and Walker are worried that they may be moved and take steps to show how sprightly they are. These range from the mild (Wilson’s corset) to the ridiculous (Mainwaring’s wig) and in the case of the three oldest members, the truly bizarre.

In this clip we are treated to Jones and Godfrey persuading Frazer to embalm them in an effort to look younger. It is a great scene and a rare one in putting the focus entirely on the platoon’s oldest members and some of Dad’s Army’s most experienced actors.

50 Moments that made Dad’s Army is a series of blog posts each focusing on one moment that helped define the popular comedy series. There will be one post for each of the 50 days leading-up to the 50th anniversary of the first broadcast of the first episode of the series on 31st July 1968. 50 Moments that Made Dad’s Army is brought to you by walmington-on-line.co.uk and copyright of all video clips belongs to the BBC.