"Getting the Bird" is the fourth episode of the fifth series of the British television situation comedy

Situation comedy

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 Dad's Army

Dad's Army

Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...

and was originally transmitted on 27 October 1972.

Synopsis

Wilson is missing from the platoon, and Frazer assumes there has been an argument between him and Mainwaring. Godfrey comments that he spotted the Sergeant with his arm around an attractive and much younger woman.

Plot

The episode begins with rumours abounding that Sergeant Wilson has gone AWOL. The platoon inform Captain Mainwaring

Captain George Mainwaring

Captain George Mainwaring is the bank manager and Home Guard platoon commander portrayed by Arthur Lowe on the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army, set in the fictional seaside town of Walmington-on-Sea during the Second World War...

 that after a particularly heavy night drinking, Wilson was seen about town with a young woman (a Wren

Women's Royal Naval Service

The Women's Royal Naval Service was the women's branch of the Royal Navy.Members included cooks, clerks, wireless telegraphists, radar plotters, weapons analysts, range assessors, electricians and air mechanics...

) on his arm. During this discussion Wilson is found in the church hall, asleep behind the stage curtain.

While Mainwaring berates the still tipsy Wilson in his office, Wilson begins to see pigeons on Mainwaring's bookshelf. Both believe this to be the result of Wilson's drunken state until Pike

Private Frank Pike

Private Frank Pike is a fictional Home Guard platoon member and junior bank clerk portrayed by Ian Lavender in the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. He is frequently referred to by Captain Mainwaring as "stupid boy".- Personality :...

 enters the office and points them out. Immediately, the office is filled with pigeons.

It emerges that Walker

Private Joe Walker

Private Joe Walker is a fictional black market spiv and Home Guard platoon member portrayed by actor James Beck on the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. James Beck died suddenly in 1973, and is featured in just under three-quarters of the episodes...

 had stored the birds in the boiler room and they had escaped. Walker secretly proposes to Jones

Lance-Corporal Jack Jones

Lance Corporal Jack Jones is a fictional Home Guard platoon lance-corporal, veteran of the British Empire and butcher portrayed by Clive Dunn in the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army...

 - whose butcher

Butcher

A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...

 shop is having trouble obtaining meat - to buy the pigeons from Walker to augment his supply of meat, and is persuaded to help Walker to hide them in the church.

However, Jones becomes suspicious when he hears on the radio that there is a sudden and unexplained shortage of pigeons in Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...

, and ends the agreement.

Just ahead of a church service we hear a converstation between Wilson and the young woman, where we discover that she is his daughter, from a failed marriage before Wilson moved to Walmington-on-Sea

Walmington-on-Sea

Walmington-on-Sea is a fictional seaside resort where the BBC Television sitcom, BBC radio series and film Dad's Army was based.Located on the channel coast of England in the county of Kent, the national "front line" following the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk during...

. Frazer is the only person to overhear this, but he says he will keep quiet about it.

The platoon apologise for shunning Wilson, but the mood is broken when the organ

Organ (music)

The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

 begins to play and dead pigeons are fired across the church: Walker is exposed as having hidden the pigeons in the organ pipes.

Cast

Cast	Characters
Arthur Lowe Arthur Lowe Arthur Lowe was a BAFTA Award winning English actor. He was best known for playing Captain George Mainwaring in the popular British sitcom Dad's Army from 1968 until 1977.-Early life:...	Captain Mainwaring
John Le Mesurier John Le Mesurier John Le Mesurier was a BAFTA Award-winning English actor. He is most famous for his role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the popular 1970s BBC comedy Dad's Army.-Career:...	Sergeant Wilson
Clive Dunn Clive Dunn Clive Robert Benjamin Dunn OBE is a retired English actor, comedian and author, best known for his role as Lance-Corporal Jack Jones in the BBC sitcom Dad's Army.-Early life:...	Lance Corporal Jones
John Laurie John Laurie John Paton Laurie was a British actor born in Dumfries, Scotland. Although he is now probably most recognised for his role as Private James Frazer in the sitcom Dad's Army , he appeared in hundreds of feature films, including films by Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier...	Private Frazer
James Beck James Beck Stanley James Carroll Beck was a British actor best remembered for his role as Private Joe Walker, the cockney spiv in the popular BBC sitcom Dad's Army. The cast was mainly composed of older actors, but Beck was one of the younger members.-Early life:Beck was born in Islington, North London and...	Private Walker
Arnold Ridley Arnold Ridley Major William Arnold Ridley, OBE was an English playwright and actor, first notable as the author of the play The Ghost Train and later in life for portraying the elderly Private Charles Godfrey in the popular British sitcom Dad's Army .-Early life:Ridley was born in Walcot, Bath, England where...	Private Godfrey
Ian Lavender Ian Lavender Arthur Ian Lavender , better known as Ian Lavender, is an English stage, film and television actor, best known for his role as Private Frank Pike in the BBC comedy series Dad's Army.-Early life and career:...	Private Pike
Bill Pertwee Bill Pertwee William Desmond Anthony Pertwee MBE is a British comedy actor. He is best known for playing the part of antagonist ARP Warden Hodges in the popular sitcom Dad's Army.-Early and personal life:...	ARP Warden Hodges
Edward Sinclair Edward Sinclair Edward "Teddy" Sinclair was a British actor most famous for his role as the verger Maurice Yeatman in Dad's Army. He also made appearances in Z Cars and Danger Man.Edward's father was the son of a stage actor who died when he was 14...	The Verger
Frank Williams Frank Williams (actor) Frank Williams is an English actor.Williams was educated at Ardingly College. He starred in The Army Game and as the Vicar in Dad's Army. In 1970, he starred in the short-lived sitcom As Good Cooks Go...	The Vicar
Pamela Cundell Pamela Cundell Pamela I. Cundell is a British character actress. Her best known role was Mrs Fox in the long-running TV comedy Dad's Army....	Mrs Fox
Janet Davies Janet Davies Janet Kathleen Davies was an English actress.Davies's father, a solicitor, died in his early thirties, and as a result she was sent to boarding school. She started training as a solicitor but left and qualified as a shorthand typist instead...	Mrs Pike
Alvar Liddell	Newsreader
Seretta Wilson Seretta Wilson Seretta Wilson is a British television and film actor. Born in the USAShe has played parts in The Borgias and london Bridge.She played Sergeant Wilson's daughter in Dad's Army.- External links :*...	The Wren