List of Dad's Army Characters - Guest Characters

Guest Characters

• Barry Mainwaring (Arthur Lowe) - The long-lost brother of Captain George Mainwaring, he appeared once in the entire series, in My Brother and I. He and his brother apparently always clash due to their differing personalities, with Barry repeatedly referring to his brother as "po-face". He worked as a travelling salesman for a joke shop, and was an alcoholic.
• Colonel Schultz (Alan Tilvern) - Commander of an American advance party detachment posted in Walmington-on-Sea. After a fight between US troops and the Home Guard, Mainwaring is ordered to make a public apology.
• Captain Stewart (Michael Knowles) - A smarmy officer from the War Office who informs Mainwaring that his platoon have been picked for 'special duties' (which in fact means digging latrines and peeling potatoes). One of several similar characters portrayed in the series by Michael Knowles.
• Captain Ramsey (Fulton Mackay) - A tough but fair Scottish officer who runs a training course to test Home Guard units and assess whether they are 12-star material. His attempts to make the weekend a serious test of the men are frustrated (largely by the idiocy of Corporal Jones and a stray consignment of onions) and he quickly becomes exasperated. Ramsey's favourite catchphrase appears to be "you haven't done very well", which is quickly amended when Mainwaring and his men pull off "the best bit of initiative I've seen in this whole war" for which he awards them the coveted 12-stars. Fulton MacKay's character seemed to have come straight out of his Mr Mackay personae in Porridge. (Fulton Mackay also appeared as a doctor in the episode The Miser's Hoard.)
• U-Boat Captain (Philip Madoc) - Commander of the crew of a captured U-Boat, brings Mainwaring face to face with the Nazi enemy in The Deadly Attachment. A supercilious brute who is making a list of Britons who offend him to be brought to account "when we have won the war" which unsurprisingly get Mainwaring's gander up. He is also cunning, as when he tricks his captors by feigning illness. He presents Mainwaring with one of the platoon's most dangerous and deadly situations in the entire war, when he takes the entire platoon prisoner and plans to take them back to France with him, only to be foiled in the nick of time.
• General Monteverdi (Edward Evans) - The senior Italian officer in a POW camp who tries to defend the scruffiness and general laziness of the Italian detainees. Serving in North Africa he was captured, apparently, because he refused to fight against the English. Mainwaring clearly does not think much of him. It is revealed that Monteverdi is complicit in Walker’s scheme to smuggle prisoners out at nights to work for him.
• Mrs Prentice (Brenda Cowling) - An old friend of Godfrey, now in possession of her late husband's farm which needs harvesting. Mainwaring volunteers the platoon's services. In gratitude she organises supper and potato wine for the platoon which leads to some high spirits. A widow, having spurned him to marry a farmer, Godfrey hints at a more intimate moment when he tells her he hasn't touched potato wine "since that night".
• Captain Rodrigues (Alan Tilvern) - A Spanish Civil War veteran who is only interested in 'killing Nazis'. He dislikes the platoon of 'amateurs' and thinks Mainwaring should go back to running a bank. He is portrayed as a vicious, unpleasant character. He appears closer to a bandit than a Captain in the British army.
• Mr West (Robert Dorning) - Bank Inspector from Head Office. Shocked at the irregular running of the Walmington-on-Sea branch. A pompous and highly-strung character.
• Violet Gibbons (Sally Douglas) - An ATS girl to whom Pike is briefly engaged, much to Mainwaring's disapproval. She had previously worked at Woolworths, a Fish and Chip Shop and for a while dated Private Walker. She appears at the platoon dance, where Pike announces their engagement. Looking bored and chewing gum she does not entirely appear to return Pike's unquestioning adoration and, much to everyone's relief, the engagement is quickly broken off.
• E.C. Egan (Fred Trueman) - A professional fast-bowler recruited by Hodges as an ARP Warden in an underhand attempt to win the friendly cricket match between the Wardens and the Home Guard. Egan reckons he can skittle Mainwaring's men out in about four overs. However he badly injures his shoulder after his first delivery and has to leave the field. In his absence, the Home Guard go on to win the match due to Hodges declaring early. In reality, Trueman played many matches for England.
• Lady Maltby (Mavis Pugh) - A local aristocrat who lends the platoon her Rolls Royce for the duration of the war. She is socially acquainted with Sergeant Wilson, much to the irritation of Captain Mainwaring. Her late husband was a greengrocer.
• Mrs Gray (Carmen Silvera) - A charming lady, recently arrived from London, who joins the platoon after it begins recruiting women in the episode "Mum's Army". She shares a Brief Encounter-style relationship with Captain Mainwaring before leaving unexpectedly.
• Patrick Regan (J. G. Devlin) - A suspected member of the Irish Republican Army, the platoon are ordered to arrest him, but only a few are available. Trouble comes when his 'associates' come looking for him, leading to a brawl. Fortunately Wilson proves to be handy with his fists.
• Police Constable (Arthur English) - a Walmington police constable deputed to arrest Regan. He came alone, as the rest of his station were busy playing a darts match with the Free French. He warns that Regan may be an "ugly customer", but Mainwaring ignores his advice.
• General Menzies (Campbell Singer) - Local commander. Visiting the platoon while Fraser is in temporary command in the episode If the Cap Fits... he mistakes him for Mainwaring. He invites his fellow Scot to a dress dinner to pipe in the haggis. Fraser hopes this will embarrass the English Mainwaring, but to everyone's shock Mainwaring had learned the bagpipes on his honeymoon, foiling Fraser's scheme.
• Mr Palethorpe (Jack Haig) - Landlord of the Six Bells just outside Walmington. When the platoon, dressed as Nazis for the production of a film, enter the bar and demand to be served he is convinced the balloon has gone up and triggers an invasion alert. Haig had previously been considered for the role of Lance-Corporal Jones and also appeared briefly as a gardener in the episode The Day the Balloon Went Up.
• Sir Charles McAllister (Campbell Singer) - A distinguished Scottish politician. He appears in Is There Honey Still for Tea? where he is blackmailed by Fraser (who threatens to expose his unsavoury past) into re-siting the proposed aerodrome that threatens Godfrey's cottage.
• Mr Bugden (Peter Butterworth) - A harassed Walmington printer, whose firm's error leads to Corporal Jones being interned as a dangerous Prisoner of War.
• Mr Rees (Edward Evans) - The Welsh town clerk of Walmington as seen in Big Guns. His administration appears to have preceded that of Mr Gordon, as he only appeared once early in the series. Mainwaring's strained dealings with him appears to be typical of his relationship with small-town officialdom.
• Mr Sedgewick (Erik Chitty) - Mild-mannered Walmington shoe-shop proprietor.
• Sylvia Hodges (Jean Gilpin) - Hodges' niece, a member of the ATS, appears in Walmington during the episode The Making of Private Pike. She attracts the interest of both Wilson and Pike. She and Pike go on a date together to Eastgate cinema, during which they ‘borrow’ Mainwaring’s new staff car. Relations between them begin to disintegrate when the car breaks down on the way back - forcing them to spend the night together. This leads to some widespread assumptions, causing Wilson to now regard Pike as a ‘kindred spirit’.