Continuing the reflection of James Beck’s sad death and the disappearance of Walker from the platoon, we come to the episode The Recruit in which we and the platoon say a last goodbye.
It is hard to imagine how the team felt at the loss of their friend and colleague and I imagine the atmosphere on set was pretty sad. But it in no way stopped them from doing what they did best – making great comedy.
Explaining Walker’s absence from parade via a note in which Walker characteristically tries to bribe Mainwaring to let him off, this is the last time Walker is mentioned in Dad’s Army on television (though the character would be played by other actors on stage and in the radio series).
It is amazing that, after such a big loss, Perry and Croft were able to put together such a great episode and I’ll come back to The Recruit as we get closer to the big 50th anniversary.
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.
I remember how terribly sad some of the other cast members looked when Mainwaring was reading what was supposed to be a humorous letter, particularly Pike, Sponge and – to a lesser extent – Jones.