Dad's Army - Other Appearances

Other Appearances

Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier and John Laurie themselves made a cameo appearance as their Dad's Army characters in the 1977 Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special. As Elton John is following incomprehensible instructions to find the BBC studios, he encounters them in a steam room. On leaving, Mainwaring calls him a “stupid boy”. Earlier, Le Mesurier, Laurie, Beck, Ridley and Lavender had appeared as guests in the 22 April 1971 edition of The Morecambe and Wise Show on BBC2 playing pirates to Lowe’s captain in the Monty on the Bonty sketch. The cast also appeared in a 1970s public information film, in character but set in the modern day, showing how to cross the road safely at traffic lights.

A pilot episode for an American remake called The Rear Guard was produced by ABC and broadcast on 10 August 1976, based on the episode "The Deadly Attachment". However, it failed to make it past the pilot stage—probably due to the fact there was never a realistic chance of a German invasion of the United States, unlike Britain.

Le Mesurier and Lowe made a final appearance in Dad's Army garb for a 1982 television commercial advertising Wispa chocolate bars.

Clive Dunn made occasional appearances as Corporal Jones at 1940s themed events in the 1980s and 1990s, but on television made an appearance at the door of Noel's House Party, a BBC Saturday night entertainment show.

Arthur Lowe appeared in Blue Peter twice. The first time was with John Le Mesurier, in which the two appeared in costume and in character as Captain Mainwaring and Sergeant Wilson when walking around looking at and discussing a mural schoolchildren had painted featuring the characters from the show at a Christmas party, among which was Mainwaring's unseen wife Elizabeth – or rather, what the children thought she looked like (Mainwaring remarks "Good grief. What a remarkable likeness!"). Arthur Lowe made a second appearance as Captain Mainwaring on Blue Peter with the Dad's Army van which would appear in the forthcoming London-Brighton run, and showed presenter John Noakes the vehicle's hidden anti-Nazi defences.