View source for Dad's Army missing episodes

{{short description|Lost episodes of Dad's Army}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Dad's Army'' missing episodes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}}

The '''''Dad's Army'' missing episodes''' are [[w:Wiping|lost]] episodes of the British [[w:situation comedy|sitcom]] programme ''[[Dad's Army]]'', plus some short sketches. The programme ran for nine [[w:Season (television)|series]] between 1968 and 1977. Three out of six episodes from Series 2 and two of the four Christmas [[w:sketch comedy|sketches]] (1968 and 1970) are missing as the [[w:BBC|BBC]] routinely reused videotape as a cost saving measure for many years.

==Background==
Until 1978, when the [[w:BBC|BBC]] Film and Videotape Library was created as a permanent archive for all its television programmes, the BBC had no central archive. The [[w:videotapes|videotapes]] and [[w:Kinescope|film recordings]] stored in the BBC's various libraries were often either [[w:wiping|wiped]] or discarded for recording new programmes and to free storage space to reduce costs.<ref name=dampw/> The BBC Film Library kept only some programmes that were made on film, whilst the Engineering Department handled videotape but had no mandate to retain material. Some shows were kept by [[w:BBC Enterprises|BBC Enterprises]], but they too had limited storage space and only kept material that was considered commercially exploitable. In the mid-1970s, BBC Enterprises disposed of much older material for which the rights to sell the programmes had expired, and the Engineering Department routinely wiped videotapes in an era when rescreening potential was limited.

The first two series (12 episodes) of ''Dad's Army'' were made in black-and-white, with almost all episodes made on [[w:2" Quadruplex videotape|two-inch quad videotape]] for initial broadcast. The first series was thought to have commercial potential overseas, and was offered for sale to foreign broadcasters by [[w:BBC Enterprises|BBC Enterprises]]. To this end, 16mm film copies were made of the first six episodes by the BBC Engineering Department before the master videotapes were wiped, and these were retained by the Film Unit.

In the event, the first series sold very poorly and so BBC Enterprises did not express any interest in selling Series 2 abroad. Thus very few film copies of Series 2 episodes were made. ''Dad's Army'' was made in colour from Series 3 onwards; overseas interest in the series picked up, and BBC Enterprises resumed offering the episodes for sale in film and video format; this meant they were more likely to be permanently retained.

==Recovery==
In 1998, David Croft made an appeal on [[w:BBC Two|BBC Two]] asking people if they held an off-air video copy of the missing episodes. At the time, five of the six episodes of [[List of Dad's Army episodes#Series 2 .281969.29|series 2]] were missing. "[[Sgt. Wilson's Little Secret]]" had survived the cull as it was recorded onto 35&nbsp;mm film instead of videotape, either because it required additional editing (which was easier with film before the advent of electronic timecode editing) or because no videotape recording facilities were available in the recording period. This fortuitously assured the episode's survival: as a production made on film, it fell within the BBC Film Library's remit of retaining filmed productions.<ref name=dampw>Documentary: ''[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308144/ Dad's Army: Missing Presumed Wiped]'', BBC, 2001</ref>

In 2001, 16&nbsp;mm film recordings of "[[Operation Kilt]]" and "[[The Battle of Godfrey's Cottage]]" were returned to the BBC archive.<ref>{{cite news |title=Lost Dad's Army shows found |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/1364418.stm |work=BBC News |publisher=BBC |date=1 June 2001 |access-date=9 August 2008 }}</ref> It has since been established that the two episodes were film recorded to show to executives at [[Columbia Pictures]] during discussions on the structure of the [[Dad's Army (1971 film)|''Dad's Army'' feature film]]. The film copies were then junked and retrieved from a [[Skip (container)|skip]] by an opportunistic collector and stored in a garden shed for 30 years until returned to the BBC.

The three Series 2 episodes that remain missing are "[[The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker]]", "[[A Stripe for Frazer]]" and "[[Under Fire (Dad's Army episode)|Under Fire]]".<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/treasurehunt/missing/dadsarmy.shtml The missing episodes at the BBC Treasure Hunt site], URL accessed 4 June 2006</ref> The only currently remaining hope for recovery is either that the lost episodes were recorded off-air during their original UK broadcasts using an early videotape recorder such as a Shibaden or Sony [[CV-2000]] machine, or 16&nbsp;mm tele-recordings being saved from being junked. However these three episodes were among the 67 adapted for [[List of Dad's Army radio episodes|BBC Radio]] in the 1970s, and recordings of the [[List of Dad's Army radio episodes|radio episodes]] still exist.

===Christmas sketches===
Two of the four Christmas [[comedy sketch|sketches]] which aired as part of [[Christmas Night with the Stars]] from 1968 "[[Santa On Patrol]]" and 1970 "[[Cornish Floral Dance (Dad's Army Sketch)|Cornish Floral Dance]]" (which were made in colour) remain missing, though audio recordings of both have been recovered. The "[[Cornish Floral Dance (Dad's Army Sketch)|Cornish Floral Dance]]" was also performed at the [[Royal Variety Performance]] of 1975. This second version is still extant.

===Colour episodes===
The colour episodes in series 3–9 have been remarkably fortunate compared with many of their contemporaries. Missing episodes were returned from overseas broadcasters, mainly from those in Europe, New Zealand and Australia, with the result that all full-length episodes now exist in the original colour format.

==Restoration and recreation==
{{multiple image
 | align = right
 | direction = vertical
 | width = 250
 | header = Episode restoration and recreation
 | image1 = Original film frame from "Dad's Army" split-screened with colour.jpg
 | alt1 = Room at the Bottom colour restoration
 | caption1 = "Room at the Bottom" - to the left is the 16&nbsp;mm black and white copy; to the right is the restored colour version.
 | image2 = A Stripe for Frazer - animated.jpg
 | alt2 = A Stripe for Frazer animation
 | caption2 = "A Stripe for Frazer" - a scene from the animated episode
 | image3 = Dad's Army lost episodes cast.jpg
 | alt3 = The Lost Episodes cast
 | caption3 = Kevin McNally as Captain Mainwaring and Robert Bathurst as Sergeant Wilson in ''Dad's Army: The Lost Episodes''
}}

===Colour restoration===
By the 1990s, "[[Room at the Bottom (Dad's Army)|Room at the Bottom]]", the sixth episode of Series 3, was the only episode produced in colour that did not have a colour copy in the archive; instead, it survived only as a 16&nbsp;mm black-and-white film recording. Because of the way in which the original black and white telerecordings were made, colour information was sometimes inadvertently preserved in them even though it could not be displayed. In 2008, a computer technique of [[colour recovery]] was developed to recover the colour information from telerecordings, known as [[chroma dots]], to recreate a usable colour signal. "Room at the Bottom" was used as the pilot project to test this process of colour recovery, with the success of the episode's restoration leading to it being used on other 16mm telerecordings.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/dec/11/digital-video-restoration-dad-s-army |title=Unscrambling an army of colours |last=Norton |first=Charles |date=11 December 2008 |website=The Guardian |access-date=17 April 2019 }}</ref> The new colour copy was officially adopted as the BBC's archive copy,<ref>Re-Colouring the Past, Radio Times, 13–19 December 2008, pages 24-25</ref> and "Room at the Bottom" was broadcast in colour for the first time in almost forty years on 13 December 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/12_december/09/dadsarmy.shtml |title=Press Office – Dad's Army episode to be seen in colour |publisher=BBC |access-date=21 July 2012}}</ref>

===Recreations===

====Restagings====
Although not a deliberate attempt to restore lost material, the "[[Cornish Floral Dance (Dad's Army Sketch)|Cornish Floral Dance]]" was also performed at the [[Royal Variety Performance]] of 1975. This second version is still extant. 

====Animated episode====
In 2008, the soundtrack of "[[A Stripe for Frazer]]" was rediscovered in the hands of a private collector. This recording was then digitally remastered for a 2015 BBC Audio CD release. In January 2016, it was announced that the BBC were creating an animated version of the episode, to be combined with the newly discovered copy of the audio, which was released via the [[BBC Store]] online service.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-01-07/lost-dads-army-episode-to-be-released-as-an-animation |title='Lost' Dad's Army episode to be released as an animation |publisher=Radio Times |date=2016-01-07 |access-date=2016-01-07}}</ref><ref>https://store.bbc.com/a-stripe-for-frazer{{Dead link|date=July 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Pre-production for "[[A Stripe for Frazer]]" began in October 2015 and a little under 12 weeks later the finished animated episode was released on [[BBC Store]] 4 February 2016.<ref name="LinkedIn">{{cite web|last1=Bowles|first1=Chris|title=Dad's Army Animation / Release day|url=https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dads-army-animation-chris-bowles-6101335626274078720|publisher=[[LinkedIn]]|access-date=5 October 2016|date=5 February 2016}}</ref> The animation was produced and directed for BBC Worldwide by Charles Norton and a team that included comic book artist, Martin Geraghty.<ref name="LinkedIn"/>

====Remake====
In 2018, [[UKTV]] announced plans to recreate the three missing episodes for broadcast on its [[Gold (UK TV channel)|Gold]] channel under the title ''Dad's Army: The Lost Episodes''. Mercury Productions, the company responsible for ''Saluting Dad's Army'', Gold's 50th anniversary tribute series, produced the episodes, directed by Ben Kellett. The recreations were broadcast in 2019, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of their original broadcast on the BBC.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2018-10-03/dads-army-lost-episodes-remade-new-cast-uktv/ |title=Lost episodes of Dad's Army to be remade with a new cast |last=Braxton |first=Mark |date=3 October 2018 |website=Radio Times |access-date=7 November 2018 }}</ref> [[Kevin McNally]] and [[Robert Bathurst]] were the initial casting announcements as [[Captain Mainwaring]] and [[Sergeant Wilson]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/news/5097/dads_army_2019_cast/ |title=Kevin McNally and Robert Bathurst to star in new Dad's Army |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=9 November 2018 |website=comedy.co.uk |access-date=9 November 2018 }}</ref> with [[Bernard Cribbins]] portraying [[Private Godfrey]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.theoldie.co.uk/blog/bernard-cribbins-the-new-private-godfrey |title=Bernard Cribbins, the new Private Godfrey |journal=[[The Oldie]] |date=12 November 2018 |access-date=13 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329134926/https://www.theoldie.co.uk/blog/bernard-cribbins-the-new-private-godfrey |archive-date=29 March 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The full cast was announced in January 2019, with McNally, Bathurst and Cribbins joined by [[Kevin Eldon]], [[Mathew Horne]], [[David Hayman]] and [[Tom Rosenthal (actor)|Tom Rosenthal]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/news/5162/dads_army_lost_episodes_cast/ |title=Cast revealed for Dad's Army: The Lost Episodes |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=16 January 2019 |website=comedy.co.uk |access-date=1 March 2019 }}</ref> However, Bernard Cribbins subsequently withdrew from the project, and was replaced as Godfrey by [[Timothy West]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/news/5214/bernard_cribbins_exits_dads_army_remake/ |title=Timothy West replaces Bernard Cribbins in Dad's Army remakes
 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=19 February 2019 |website=comedy.co.uk |access-date=2 March 2019 }}</ref> The recreated episodes were shown in August 2019<ref>{{Cite tweet|number=1141614363201159169|title=Don't panic! Not long now... #DadsArmy: The Lost Episodes starring @exkevinmcnally, @RobertBathurst, @ItsKevinEldon, David Hayman, Timothy West, @rosentweets and @mfhorne will transmit this August only on Gold.pic.twitter.com/n0jVv9dGwZ|last=Gold|date=2019-06-20|user=goldchannel|language=en|access-date=2019-06-24}}</ref> and released on DVD & Blu Ray on 25 November 2019 by the  British Network imprint. The series also ran on [[Yesterday (TV channel)|Yesterday]] on 25–28 August 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://yesterday.uktv.co.uk/shows/dads-army-lost-episodes/|title = Dad's Army Lost Episodes &#124; Yesterday Channel}}</ref>

{{Episode table |background=#bdb76b |overall=5 |aux1=5|title=5 |aux1T=Original series number|aux2=5 |aux3T=Recorded date |airdate=5 |aux3=5 |aux2T=Original episode airdate | total_width=80 |episodes=
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber   = 1
| Aux1            = 2.3
| Title           = [[The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker]]
| RTitle          = 
| Aux3            = {{Start date|df=yes|2019|03|01}}<ref name=chortle>{{cite web |url=https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2019/02/19/42354/bernard_cribbins_leaves_dads_army_remake |title=Bernard Cribbins leaves Dad's Army remake |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=19 February 2019 |website=chortle.co.uk |access-date=28 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219185012/https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2019/02/19/42354/bernard_cribbins_leaves_dads_army_remake |archive-date=19 February 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2019|8|25|df=y}}
| Aux2            = 15 March 1969
| ShortSummary    = Walker is called up into the army. The platoon, anxious at how they will obtain off-the-ration supplies without him, fight to keep him.
| LineColor       = #bdb76b
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber   = 2
| Aux1            = 2.5
| Title           = [[A Stripe for Frazer]]
| RTitle          = 
| Aux3            = {{Start date|df=yes|2019|03|08}}<ref name=chortle />
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2019|8|26|df=y}}
| Aux2            = 29 March 1969
| ShortSummary    = Mainwaring has the opportunity to promote someone to corporal. Rather than promote Jones, he tests who has the greatest potential by temporarily promoting [[Private Frazer]] to lance corporal. Frazer's increasingly dictatorial manner soon alienates the platoon. 
| LineColor       = #bdb76b
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber   = 3
| Aux1            = 2.6
| Title           = [[Under Fire (Dad's Army)|Under Fire]]
| RTitle          = 
| Aux3            = {{Start date|df=yes|2019|03|15}}<ref name=chortle />
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|2019|8|27|df=y}}
| Aux2            = 5 April 1969
| ShortSummary    = When Frazer spots what he believes to be a German spy signalling planes, the platoon arrests a suspect who protests that he is a [[Naturalization|naturalised]] Englishman.
| LineColor       = #bdb76b
}}
}}

=====Cast=====
*[[Kevin McNally]] – Captain Mainwaring
*[[Robert Bathurst]] – Sergeant Wilson
*[[Kevin Eldon]] – Lance Corporal Jones
*[[David Hayman]] – Private Frazer
*[[Mathew Horne]] – Private Walker
*[[Timothy West]] – Private Godfrey
*[[Tom Rosenthal (actor)|Tom Rosenthal]] – Private Pike

==List of missing content==
=== Episodes ===
{| class="wikitable"
!  scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background :#bdb76b; width: 5%;" | Series<br/> {{Abbr|no.|number}}
!  scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background: #bdb76b; width: 5%;" | Episode<br/> {{Abbr|no.|number}}
!  scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background: #bdb76b; width: 10%;" | Title
!  scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background: #BDB76B; width: 10%;" | Recorded
!  scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background: #bdb76b; width: 10%;" | Original airdate
!  scope="col" colspan="3" style="background: #bdb76b; width: 60%;" | Notes
|-
!  scope="col" style="background: #bdb76b; width: 20%;" | Video
!  scope="col" style="background: #bdb76b; width: 20%;" | Audio
!  scope="col" style="background: #bdb76b; width: 20%;" | Radio episode
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="4" | 2
|-
| 9
| "[[The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker]]"
| 27 October 1968
| 15 March 1969
| Missing
| Missing
| Exists
|-
| 11
| "[[A Stripe for Frazer]]"
| 15 November 1968
| 29 March 1969
| Missing{{efn|name=a}}
| Exists<ref name=daas>{{cite web|title=Missing Episodes|url=http://www.dadsarmy.co.uk/lostepisodes.html|website=Dad's Army Appreciation Society|access-date=9 June 2015}}</ref>
| Exists  
|-		
| 12
| "[[Under Fire (Dad's Army episode)|Under Fire]]"
| 27 November 1968
| 5 April 1969
| Missing
| Missing
| Exists
|}

=== Sketches ===
{| class="wikitable"
!  scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background: #bdb76b; width: 5%;" | {{Abbr|No.|number}}
!  scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background: #bdb76b; width: 15%;" | Title
!  scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background: #BDB76B; width: 10%;" | Recorded
!  scope="col" rowspan="2" style="background: #bdb76b; width: 10%;" | Original airdate
!  scope="col" colspan="3" style="background: #bdb76b; width: 60%;" | Notes
|-
!  scope="col" style="background: #bdb76b; width: 20%;" | Video
!  scope="col" style="background: #bdb76b; width: 20%;" | Audio
!  scope="col" style="background: #bdb76b; width: 20%;" | Radio episode
|-
! scope="row" | 1
| "[[Santa On Patrol]]"
| 27 October 1968
| 25 December 1968
| Missing
| Exists<ref name=daas />
| No radio version
|-
! scope="row" | 3
| "[[Cornish Floral Dance (Dad's Army Sketch)|Cornish Floral Dance]]"
| 4 December 1970
| 25 December 1970
| Missing
| Exists
| Exists{{efn|name=b}}
|}


==Further research==

===Documentaries===
*''Dad's Army: Missing Presumed Wiped'' (2001) – a 30-minute documentary about episode recoveries and restoration.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dad's Army: the Lost Episodes|url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/b90bae579d56483e83810b13c8566d76|publisher=[[BBC Genome]]|access-date=6 October 2016}}</ref>
*''Time Shift&nbsp;– Missing Believed Wiped'' (2003) – a general documentary about archive television, featuring some clips and discussions about ''Dad's Army''.<ref name="Time Shift – Missing Believed Wiped">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2003/11_november/25/digital_christmas.shtml |title=Have A Very Merry Digital Christmas!|publisher=BBC|access-date=12 January 2012}}</ref>

==Overseas broadcasters that purchased Series 2==
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Country<ref>[http://www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz/Dads%20Army%20Abroad.html www.cambridgeairforce.org.nz]</ref>
! TV Network(s)
|-
| {{flag|Australia}} 
| [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]]
|-
| {{flag|Bahrain}}
| [[Bahrain Radio and Television Corporation|BRTC]]
|-
| {{flag|Barbados}}
| [[Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]]
|-
| {{flag|Finland}}
| [[Yle]]
|-
| {{flag|Gibraltar}}
| [[Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation|GBC]]
|-
| {{flag|British Hong Kong|name=Hong Kong}}
| [[Rediffusion Television|RTV]]
|-
| {{flag|Jamaica}}
| [[Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation|JBC]]
|-
| {{flag|Malta}}
| [[Television Malta|TVM]]
|-
| {{flag|Netherlands}}
| [[Nederlandse Omroep Stichting|NOS]]
|-
| {{flag|New Zealand}}
| [[New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation|NZBC]]
|-
| {{flag|Nigeria}}
| 
|-
| {{flag|Saudi Arabia}}
| 
|-
| {{flag|Singapore}}
| 
|-
| {{flag|Sweden}}
| [[Sveriges Television|SVT]]
|-
| {{flag|SFR Yugoslavia|name=Yugoslavia}}
| [[Yugoslav Radio Television|JRT]]
|-
| {{flag|Zambia}}
| [[Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation|ZNBC]]
|-
|}

==See also==
* [[w:Wiping|Wiping]]
* [[w:BBC Archive Treasure Hunt|BBC Archive Treasure Hunt]]
* [[w:Missing Believed Wiped|Missing Believed Wiped]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist|refs=

{{efn|name=a|The episode has been animated and was released on 4 February 2016.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lost Dad's Army episode to be released as an animation|url=http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2016/01/07/23902/lost_dads_army_episode_to_be_released_as_an_animation|publisher=chortle.co.uk|access-date=7 January 2016|date=7 January 2016}}</ref> }}

{{efn|name=b|Video still missing, amateur soundtrack recording found (can be heard as an extra on the Christmas Specials DVD). The script was recycled for a scene in the radio adaptation of [[The Godiva Affair]] and as part of the [[Dad's Army (stage show)|Dad's Army stage show]] (a segment of which was also included in the 1975 [[Royal Variety Performance]]).}}

}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131112215719/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/treasurehunt/missing/dadsarmy.shtml BBC Missing episode list ]
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/c0bd7edb-5be3-4d4f-b36d-7ab6d91e22ef A Stripe For Frazer: Animating the lost episode of Dad's Army at BBC Blogs]
* {{IMDb title|10181132|Dad's Army: The Lost Episodes}}
* {{British Comedy Guide|tv|dads_army_lost_episodes|Dad's Army - The Lost Episodes}}
* {{IMDb title|5420292|Dad's Army: A Stripe for Frazer (animated episode)}}
* {{British Comedy Guide|online|dads_army_a_stripe_for_frazer|Dad's Army: A Stripe for Frazer (animated)}}

{{Dad's Army}}

[[Category:Dad's Army missing episodes| ]]
[[Category:Dad's Army]]
[[Category:Dad's Army episodes| ]]