The Army Game is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 sitcom

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...

 that aired on ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 from 1957 to 1961. Made in black-and-white

Black-and-white

Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...

, it is about National Service conscription

Conscription in the United Kingdom

Conscription in the United Kingdom has existed for two periods in modern times. The first was from 1916 to 1919, the second was from 1939 to 1960, with the last conscripted soldiers leaving the service in 1963...

 to the post-war British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

. It was created by Sid Colin

Sid Colin

Sid Colin was an English screenwriter, working for both television and the cinema. He is best rememberd for the television comedies The Army Game , Up Pompeii! and the film Percy's Progress...

. Many stars, like Charles Hawtrey

Charles Hawtrey (film actor)

George Frederick Joffre Hartree , known as Charles Hawtrey, was an English comedy actor and musician.Beginning at a young age as a boy soprano, he made several records before moving on to the radio...

, William Hartnell

William Hartnell

William Henry Hartnell was an English actor. During 1963-66, he was the first actor to play the Doctor in the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Early life:...

, Bernard Bresslaw

Bernard Bresslaw

Bernard Bresslaw was an English actor. He is best remembered for his comedy work, especially as a member of the Carry On team.-Biography:...

, Alfie Bass

Alfie Bass

Alfred Bass was an English actor. He was born in Bethnal Green, London, the youngest in a Jewish family with ten children; their parents had fled persecution in Russia...

 and Dick Emery

Dick Emery

Richard Gilbert "Dick" Emery was an English comedian and actor. Beginning on radio in the 1950s, an eponymous television series ran from 1963 to 1981. He was the brother of Ann Emery.-Life and career:...

 became household names, and appeared in the Carry On films

Carry On films

The Carry On films are a series of low-budget British comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. They are an energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres....

, which began with Carry On Sergeant

Carry On Sergeant

Carry On Sergeant is the first Carry On film. Its first public screening was on 1 August 1958 at Screen One, London. Actors in this film who went on to be part of the regular team in the series were Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Connor and Terry Scott...

, virtually a spin-off. It was made for the ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 network by Granada Television

Granada Television

Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

.

Background

The creator, Sid Colin, was inspired by a 1956 film, Private's Progress

Private's Progress

Private's Progress is a 1956 British comedy film based on the novel by Alan Hackney. It was directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting, from a script by John Boulting and Frank Harvey.-Plot:...

, that starred Ian Carmichael

Ian Carmichael

Ian Gillett Carmichael, OBE was an English film, stage, television and radio actor.-Early life:Carmichael was born in Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The son of an optician, he was educated at Scarborough College and Bromsgrove School, before training as an actor at RADA...

, Richard Attenborough

Richard Attenborough

Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...

, Terry-Thomas

Terry-Thomas

Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens was a distinctive English comic actor, known as Terry-Thomas. He was famous for his portrayal of disreputable members of the upper classes, especially cads and toffs, with the trademark gap in his front teeth, cigarette holder, smoking jacket, and catch-phrases such as...

 and William Hartnell

William Hartnell

William Henry Hartnell was an English actor. During 1963-66, he was the first actor to play the Doctor in the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Early life:...

. Many of the cast had recently undertaken military service themselves.

Writers included Sid Colin

Sid Colin

Sid Colin was an English screenwriter, working for both television and the cinema. He is best rememberd for the television comedies The Army Game , Up Pompeii! and the film Percy's Progress...

, Larry Stephens, Maurice Wiltshire, Lew Schwarz, John Jowett

John Jowett

John D. Jowett is an English Shakespeare scholar and editor. He is the Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Birmingham and Deputy Director of the Shakespeare Institute....

, John Antrobus

John Antrobus

John Antrobus is an English playwright and script writer. He has written extensively for stage, screen, TV and radio, including the epic World War II play, Crete and Sergeant Pepper at the Royal Court...

, John Foley

John Foley (author)

Major John Foley MBE was a British soldier and author.He was educated at St Mary's College, Crosby and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst...

, Marty Feldman

Marty Feldman

Martin Alan "Marty" Feldman was an English comedy writer, comedian and actor who starred in a series of British television comedy shows, including At Last the 1948 Show, and Marty, which won two BAFTA awards and was the first Saturn Award winner for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Young...

, Barry Took

Barry Took

Barry Took was an English comedian, writer and television presenter. He is best remembered in the UK for his weekly role as presenter of Points of View, a BBC TV programme in which viewers' letters criticising or praising the BBC were broadcast...

, David Climie, David Cumming, Derek Collyer, Brad Ashton, John Junkin

John Junkin

John Francis Junkin was an English radio, television and film performer and scriptwriter.In 1960 Junkin joined Joan Littlewood's Stratford East Theatre Workshop, and played the lead in the original production of Sparrows Can't Sing...

, Talbot Rothwell

Talbot Rothwell

Talbot Nelson Conn Rothwell, OBE was an English screenwriter.Rothwell was born in Bromley, Kent, England. He had a variety of jobs during his early life: town clerk, police officer, and Royal Air Force pilot....

, Sidney Nelson, Stan Mars, Bob Perkins and Alan MacKinnon. At least three episodes are uncredited.

Cast

• Geoffrey Sumner
  Geoffrey Sumner
  Geoffrey Sumner was a British actor. As well as appearing in a number of films, he was also a commentator for British Movietone News.-Selected filmography:* Too Many Husbands * - narrator* Helter Skelter...
  
   - Major Upshot-Bagley (series 1, 2 and 5)
• Jack Allen
  Jack Allen (actor)
  Jack Allen was a British film, theatre and television actor.He made his stage debut in 1931 at The Liverpool Playhouse, appearing in The Swan and had a long theatrical career which lasted until 1980, when he appeared at The Old Vic in a production of The Merchant of Venice.He made his film debut...
  
   - Major Upshot-Bagley (some episodes of series 2)
• William Hartnell
  William Hartnell
  William Henry Hartnell was an English actor. During 1963-66, he was the first actor to play the Doctor in the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who.-Early life:...
  
   - Sgt Major Percy Bullimore (series 1, 2 and 5)
• Michael Medwin - Corporal Springer (series 1 to 3)
• Alfie Bass
  Alfie Bass
  Alfred Bass was an English actor. He was born in Bethnal Green, London, the youngest in a Jewish family with ten children; their parents had fled persecution in Russia...
  
   - Private Montague 'Excused Boots' Bisley (series 1 to 4)
• Norman Rossington
  Norman Rossington
  Norman Rossington was an English actor best remembered for his roles in The Army Game, the Carry On films and the Beatles film A Hard Day's Night.-Early life:...
  
   - Private 'Cupcake' Cook (series 1 to 3)
• Keith Banks - Private 'Cupcake' Cook (some episodes of series 2)
• Charles Hawtrey
  Charles Hawtrey (film actor)
  George Frederick Joffre Hartree , known as Charles Hawtrey, was an English comedy actor and musician.Beginning at a young age as a boy soprano, he made several records before moving on to the radio...
  
   - Private 'Professor' Hatchett (series 1 and 2)
• Keith Smith
  Keith Smith (actor)
  Keith Smith is an English actor he is best known to for his roles in The Army Game and The Beiderbecke Trilogy. Smith also appeared in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin as a manager of a Grot shop.-Roles:* Private Hatchett, The Army Game * Mr Wheeler, The Beiderbecke Trilogy -External links:...
  
   - Private 'Professor' Hatchett (some episodes of series 2)
• Bernard Bresslaw
  Bernard Bresslaw
  Bernard Bresslaw was an English actor. He is best remembered for his comedy work, especially as a member of the Carry On team.-Biography:...
  
   - Private 'Popeye' Popplewell (series 1 and 2)
• Geoffrey Palmer
  Geoffrey Palmer (actor)
  Geoffrey Dyson Palmer, OBE is an English actor, best known for his roles in sitcoms such as Butterflies and As Time Goes By.-Career:...
  
   - Soldier - (series 1, 2 and 4)
• Bill Fraser
  Bill Fraser
  -External links:* *...
  
   - Sgt Major Claude Snudge (series 2 to 4)
• Bernard Hunter - Captain Pilsworthy (series 2)
• Ted Lune
  Ted Lune
  Ted Lune was a British actor, best known for portraying Private Len Bone in the TV series The Army Game...
  
   - Private Leonard Bone (from series 3)
• Harry Fowler
  Harry Fowler
  Harry James Fowler, MBE is an English actor in film and TV. He started in juvenile roles, most notably in the first recognised Ealing Comedy Hue and Cry, made in 1947...
  
   - Corporal 'Flogger' Hoskins (from series 3)
• 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...
  
   - Captain T R Pocket (from series 3)
• C B Poultney - Major Geoffrey Gervaise Duckworth (series 3)
• Mario Fabrizi
  Mario Fabrizi
  Mario Fabrizi was an English comedian and actor of Italian descent active in Britain in the 1950s and early 1960s....
  
   - Lance-Corporal Ernest 'Moosh' Merryweather (from series 4)
• Harry Towb
  Harry Towb
  Harry Towb was a Northern Irish actor.-Early life and career:Towb's father was Russian and his mother was Irish. He attended the Finiston School and Technical College, Belfast...
  
   - Private Dooley (series 4)
• Robert Desmond
  Robert Desmond
  Robert Desmond was a British film and television actor of the 1950s and 1960s.He started out as a juvenile performer, making his film debut in 1948's The Guinea Pig and recreated his television role of Spud Parker the following year in the film version of Boys in Brown...
  
   - Private Billy Baker (series 4)
• Dick Emery
  Dick Emery
  Richard Gilbert "Dick" Emery was an English comedian and actor. Beginning on radio in the 1950s, an eponymous television series ran from 1963 to 1981. He was the brother of Ann Emery.-Life and career:...
  
   - Private 'Chubby' Catchpole (series 5)

Plot

The show centres on a group of conscripts assigned to the Surplus Ordnance Department at Nether Hopping, Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

. Billeted in Hut 29, the men are determined to work little and have fun.

Series One (1957)

1. "The Army Game" (19 Jun 57)
2. "The Misguided Missiles" (3 July 57)
3. "The Convicts Return" (17 Jul 57)
4. "Open Day" (31 Jul 57)
5. Episode 5 (14 Aug 57)
6. Episode 6 (28 Aug 57)
7. "The Mad Bull" (11 Sep 57)
8. "The Still" (25 Sep 57)
9. "The Volunteers" (9 Oct 57)
10. "The Civilian Clerk" (23 Oct 57)
11. "Security" (6 Nov 57)
12. "The Rise And Fall Of Private Popplewell" (20 Nov 57)
13. "The New Officer" (4 Dec 57)

Series Two (1957–58)

1. "The Thing From Outer Space" (20 Dec 57)
2. "W.R.A.A.C.S." (27 Dec 57)
3. "Getting Shot Of" (3 Jan 58)
4. "The Quarrel" (10 Jan 58)
5. "Any Complaints" (17 Jan 58)
6. "To A Haggis" (24 Jan 58)
7. "The Marshall's Baton" (31 Jan 58)
8. "Brothers In Law" 8 (7 Feb 58)
9. "That's The Ticket" (14 Feb 58)
10. "The Kindest Man In Britain" (21 Feb 58)
11. "Brother Officers" (28 Feb 58)
12. "The Recruits" (7 Mar 58)
13. Episode 13 (14 Mar 58)
14. Episode 14 (21 Mar 58)
15. "Bring On The Dancing Girls" (28 Mar 58)
16. "Quiz Kids" (4 Apr 58)
17. "Guinea Pigs" (11 Apr 58)
18. "The Investigator" (18 Apr 58)
19. Episode 19 (25 Apr 58)
20. "Money To Burn" (2 May 58)
21. "The Initiative Test" (9 May 58)
22. "A Piece Of Cake" (16 May 58)
23. "Treasure Trove" (23 May 58)
24. "Derby Day" (30 May 58)
25. "Poetry Prize" (6 Jun 58)
26. "Insurance" (13 Jun 58)

Series Three (1958–59)

1. Episode 1 (19 Sep 58)
2. Episode 2 (26 Sep 58)
3. Episode 3 (3 Oct 58)
4. Episode 4 (10 Oct 58)
5. Episode 5 (17 Oct 58)
6. Episode 6 (24 Oct 58)
7. Episode 7 (31 Oct 58)
8. Episode 8 (7 Nov 58)
9. Episode 9 (14 Nov 58)
10. Episode 10 (21 Nov 58)
11. Episode 11 (28 Nov 58)
12. Episode 12 (5 Dec 58)
13. Episode 13 (12 Dec 58)
14. Episode 14 (19 Dec 58)
15. Episode 15 (26 Dec 58)
16. Episode 16 (2 Jan 59)
17. Episode 17 (9 Jan 59)
18. Episode 18 (16 Jan 59)
19. Episode 19 (23 Jan 59)
20. Episode 20 (30 Jan 59)
21. Episode 21 (6 Feb 59)
22. Episode 22 (13 Feb 59)
23. Episode 23 (20 Feb 59)
24. Episode 24 (27 Feb 59)
25. Episode 25 (6 Mar 59)
26. Episode 26 (13 Mar 59)
27. Episode 27 (20 Mar 59)
28. Episode 28 (27 Mar 59)
29. Episode 29 (3 Apr 59)
30. Episode 30 (10 Apr 59)
31. Episode 31 (17 Apr 59)
32. Episode 32 (24 Apr 59)
33. Episode 33 (1 May 59)
34. Episode 34 (8 May 59)
35. Episode 35 (15 May 59)
36. Episode 36 (22 May 59)
37. Episode 37 (29 May 59)
38. Episode 38 (5 Jun 59)
39. Episode 39 (12 Jun 59)

Series Four (1959–60)

1. "Snudge and Jimmy O'Goblin" (9 Oct 59)
2. "The Take-Over Bid" (16 Oct 59)
3. "Enter a Dark Stranger" (23 Oct 59)
4. "Snudge's Budgie" (30 Oct 59)
5. "Where There's Smoke" (30 Oct 59)
6. "The Camera Never Lies" (6 Nov 59)
7. "When the Poppies Bloom Again" (13 Nov 59)
8. "Miracle in Hut" 29 (20 Nov 59)
9. "Night Train to Itchwick" (27 Nov 59)
10. "Officers and Gentlemen" (27 Nov 59)
11. "Tiger Bisley" (4 Dec 59)
12. "The Bisley Court Martial" (11 Dec 59)
13. "The Long Walk" (18 Dec 59)
14. "Happy New Year" (1 Jan 60)
15. "The Invisible Man" (8 Jan 60)
16. "The Bowler Hatting of Pocket" (15 Jan 60)
17. "The Soft Life" (22 Jan 60)
18. "Son of Snudge" (29 Jan 60)
19. "A Rocket Called FRED" (5 Feb 60)
20. "Don't Send My Boy to Prison" (12 Feb 60)
21. "A Piece of Cake" (19 Feb 60)
22. "Never Volunteer" (26 Feb 60)
23. "A Marriage has been Arranged" (4 Mar 60)
24. "The Good Old Days" (11 Mar 60)
25. "A Question in the House" (18 Mar 60)
26. "The Claude Snudge Story" (25 Mar 60)
27. "April Fool" (1 Apr 60)
28. "Goodnight Ladies" (8 Apr 60)
29. "One of the Lads" (15 Apr 60)
30. "Holding the Baby" (22 Apr 60)
31. "Pen Pals Anonymous" (29 Apr 60)
32. "Are You Receiving Me" (6 May 60)
33. "The Efficiency Expert" (13 May 60)
34. "Bull by the Horn" (20 May 60)
35. "A Touch of the Other" (27 May 60)
36. "The Feud" (3 Jun 60)
37. "Out of this World" (10 Jun 60)
38. "Emergency Hut 29" (17 Jun 60)

Series Five (1960–61)

1. "The Return of the Pig" (27 Sep 60)
2. Episode 2 (4 Oct 60)
3. "The Do-Gooders" (11 Oct 60)
4. "The Marshal's Baton" (18 Oct 60)
5. "Insurance" (25 Oct 60)
6. "It's in the Book" (1 Nov 60)
7. "Waltzing Matilda" (8 Nov 60)
8. "The Kindest Man in Britain" (15 Nov 60)
9. "Say It With Flowers" (22 Nov 60)
10. "Music Hath Charms" (29 Nov 60)
11. "Suddenly This Write" (6 Dec 60)
12. "Quiz Kids" (13 Dec 60)
13. "The Artist" (20 Dec 60)
14. "Private Cinders" (27 Dec 60)
15. "Tunes Of Glory" (3 Jan 61)
16. "Now It Can Be Told" (10 Jan 61)
17. "Keep It Out Of The Draught" (17 Jan 61)
18. "Outward Bound" (24 Jan 61)
19. "All At Sea" (31 Jan 61)
20. "Decline And Fall" (7 Feb 61)
21. "My Funny Valentine" (14 Feb 61)
22. "Any Complaints?" (21 Feb 61)
23. Episode 23 (28 Feb 61)
24. "The Beast Of Nether Hopping" (7 Mar 61)
25. "The Green Fingers" (14 Mar 61)
26. "Cold Cure" (21 Mar 61)
27. "The Man Who Never Was" (28 Mar 61)
28. "Poison Pen" (4 Apr 61)
29. "Into The Breach" (11 Apr 61)
30. Episode 30 (18 Apr 61)
31. "Vice Versa" (25 Apr 61)
32. "The Body In The Bath" (2 May 61)
33. Episode 33 (9 May 61)
34. "Fun And Adventure" (16 May 61)
35. "A Certain Thing" (23 May 61)
36. "Tea And Sympathy" (30 May 61)
37. "The D-Day Dodger" (6 Jun 61)
38. The Importance Of Being Eric (13 Jun 61)
39. Episode 39 (20 Jun 61)

Theme tune

The theme tune was sung by Michael Medwin, Bernard Bresslaw, Alfie Bass and Leslie Fyson. In June 1958, it reached number five in the UK singles chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

. Bresslaw's song "Mad Passionate Love", sung in the style of Private Popplewell, also did well in the charts.

Royal Variety Performance

In June 1959, Alfie Bass, Michael Medwin, Ted Lune, Bill Fraser and Norman Rossington performed a short The Army Game scene at the Royal Variety Performance

Royal Variety Performance

The Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held annually in the United Kingdom, which is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family, usually the reigning monarch. In more recent years Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince of Wales have alternately attended the performance...

 in front of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon

Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...

. This was the last Royal Variety Performance not to be televised, although highlights were broadcast on BBC radio on 29 June 1959.

Other media

A film based on the series, I Only Arsked, appeared in 1958. The plot concentrated on Bresslaw's character and included Hawtrey, Alfie Bass, Rossington and Michael Medwin playing their characters. "I Only Arsked" became Bresslaw's catchphrase.

A paperback was produced, and Granada

Granada Television

Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

 brought out a board game in 1959.

Fraser and Bass's characters turned up in a spin-off, Bootsie and Snudge

Bootsie and Snudge

Bootsie and Snudge was a British television situation comedy series written, in the early days, by Barry Took and Marty Feldman, later writers were John Antrobus, Jack Rosenthal, ventriloquist Ray Alan and Harry Driver. The show featured Clive Dunn, more famous as Corporal Jones in Dad's Army, as...

, between 1960 and 1963 and in 1974.

DVD releases

Of the 154 episodes made, only 50 are thought to survive. On 6 June 2005, Network

Network DVD

Network DVD is a DVD publishing company that specialises in classic British television. In particular, it has the rights to a number of well-known ITV programmes...

 released the first 26 episodes from series 4 under the title The Army Game - Volume 1. On 14 August 2006, the remaining twenty-four episodes were released under the title The Army Game - Volume 2. An episode of Bootsie and Snudge

Bootsie and Snudge

Bootsie and Snudge was a British television situation comedy series written, in the early days, by Barry Took and Marty Feldman, later writers were John Antrobus, Jack Rosenthal, ventriloquist Ray Alan and Harry Driver. The show featured Clive Dunn, more famous as Corporal Jones in Dad's Army, as...

was included. The Army Game Collection, containing every surviving episode, was released on 13 August 2008.

External links

• The Army Game at Nostalgia Central