James Beck - Death

Death

By 1973, Beck had already recorded five series of Dad's Army and was working on the sixth, besides working on the radio series of the show. Location filming for series six was completed when Beck suddenly fell ill whilst opening a fete in aid of Guide Dogs for the Blind. He returned home and within an hour was rushed to Queen Mary's Hospital, Roehampton suffering from pancreatitis. He died there three weeks later at age 44 and was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery.

His death was a great shock to his fellow cast members, as well as to Jimmy Perry and David Croft. In series six, during the episode "Things that Go Bump in the Night", Sergeant Wilson is shown writing Walker's name on the window of Jones's van with his finger, being ordered to "take that man's name". Walker does not appear in any of the scenes in the first half of the episode, and much of his dialogue was taken over by Private Sponge (a seldom-heard extra in the series). The dialogue suggests that he is with the platoon. Walker is seen in the location scenes in the second half of the episode, as these were filmed weeks earlier than the studio scenes.

In the following episode, "The Recruit" (the series' finale), a note is left in Walker's place when the platoon goes on parade. Mainwaring reads the note (written by Walker), in which he apologises for his absence, as he is busy conducting one of his many shady deals. This was the last time Walker was mentioned. His character was written out, with no explanation for his departure.

In the radio adaptations of Dad's Army, Graham Stark stood in until Larry Martyn portrayed Walker for subsequent shows. In 1976 John Bardon played Walker in the stage production.