Lost “Dad’s Army” episode emerges from the trenches – in animated form!
Dad’s Army, one of the UK’s true comedy institutions that originally ran from 1968 to 1977, has recently been the focus of some celebration, with the BBC holiday special We’re Doomed! The Dad’s Army Story in anticipation of Oliver Parker’s upcoming feature film outing boasting such talents as Bill Nighy, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Toby Jones, out in UK cinemas this Friday. To diehard fans of the original show, however, perhaps the most enticing new offering is an altogether more animated affair.
A Stripe For Frazer originally aired March 29th 1969, though it has not been seen since. As was the practice of the time, in an era before home media the BBC would routinely ‘tape over’ their shows once they’d aired, not foreseeing how valuable their legacies would be. Over the past months animation producer Charles Norton has worked to reimagine this ‘lost episode’ with found audio of the broadcast (recorded from the television at the time of transmission and preserved by BBC DJ/devotee Ed Doolan) and a team of devoted animators.
Dad’s Army: A Stripe for Frazer (BBC)
“Dad’s Army is one of those things that I couldn’t say no to being involved with, despite all the headaches that go along with producing thirty minutes of animation in less than twelve weeks with such a small team.” Says animator Chris Bowles of the project. “In addition to the hard work of the animators and designers, our producer Charles Norton has been relentless in getting this project off the ground for over six years and numerous false starts and setbacks. I hope that our efforts are apparent on screen and that you won’t judge us too harshly on some of the shortcuts that we had to take in order to get everything finished on time.”
“It was quite an undertaking to animate a whole half an hour episode in the time frame we had,” adds fellow animator Zoran Jankovic, “but it was a pleasure to have a chance to be part of it. It’s never easy when you are animating such established TV icons.”
Using archived photos supplied by the Radio Times as reference material, the episode has been recreated by the twelve-person animation crew using the original, digitally restored (by veteran sound designer/composer Mark Ayres) cast recording. Though originally planned to be created for television broadcast on BBC2, the episode has instead been released today to buy on the online BBC Store.
While there are still two remaining Dad’s Army episodes thought to be completely lost, this approach to other partially-preserved shows of its era could very well be a means of bringing them back also.
Suggests Bowles, “For the Whovians out there who are keen for a similar animated treatment of lost Dr Who episodes, if the reception of this episode is positive then I imagine that it might be possible to persuade someone at the BBC to get them produced.”
Dad’s Army: A Stripe For Frazer can be purchased now from the BBC Store for £2.99