The Recruit is the seventh episode of the sixth series of the British television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 sitcom 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...

that was originally transmitted on 12 December 1973.

Synopsis

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...

 is indisposed due to an ingrowing toenail

Ingrown nail

Onychocryptosis , also known as an ingrown toenail, or unguis incarnatus is a common form of nail disease. It is an often painful condition in which the nail grows so that it cuts into one or both sides of the paronychium or nail bed...

, so Sergeant Wilson

Sergeant Arthur Wilson

Sergeant The Honourable Arthur Wilson is a fictional Home Guard platoon sergeant and bank clerk portrayed by John Le Mesurier on the BBC television situation comedy Dad's Army....

 takes charge temporarily of the platoon. When, however, he allows the vicar and the verger to join the ranks, the rest of the men are far from happy.

Plot

With Captain Mainwaring absent from the platoon, Sergeant Wilson signs on two new recruits into the platoon, the Vicar and the Verger. When Mainwaring returns from hospital, he learns of the changes that Wilson has made and does not approve. However he can do nothing about it as the official papers for the Vicar and Verger have already been sent to GHQ. Mainwaring states that he will not go easy on the two of them.

On their first night on watch, the Vicar and the Verger have a run in with a young boy who gives them nothing but trouble. Unable to handle the situation, they call for rest of the section, who identify the boy as a local trouble maker. Mainwaring arrives and asserts his authority on the boy and tells him to clear off. The boy states that he is going to "tell his Uncle Willy," who turns out to be the Chief Warden, Hodges.

Hodges confronts Mainwaring and his platoon about the way they treated his nephew. After a war of words breaks out between Hodges and the platoon, his nephew states that "they are as bad as the Wardens," which prompts Hodges to turn his anger on his nephew and they both storm out of the church hall. After having a laugh, Mainwaring turns to the Vicar and the Verger and states that "this never would have happened if you had handled the situation properly." Upset with Mainwaring's attitude, the Vicar resigns, prompting the Verger to do the same.

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
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
Susan Majolier	Nurse
Lindsey Dunn	Hamish, the Small Boy