PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
1940. Britain is on the alert for an imminent Nazi invasion. With full-time troops occupied overseas, the coastal defenses are left to a handful of veteran soldiers-The Home Guard. And in Walmington-on-Sea, one inept, feeble and inadequately-armed platoon is very keen to do its bit.

Led by the self-appointed Captain Mainwaring (a bank manager nicknamed Napoleon), the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard are a casual, disruptive troop. His second-in-command, Sergeant Wilson, has the breeding Mainwaring lacks but is largely ineffectual. And Corporal Jones, the local butcher and a veteran of the Boer War, tempers his eagerness with an infallible ability to completely mess-up anything he is asked to do. Outstanding among the rest of the platoon are Private Walker, a black marketeer who can lay his hands on anything--for a price; mummy's boy, Private Pike; Private Frazer, a cynical Scottish undertaker who always foresees trouble (and is usually right); and the oldest of them all, the near-incontinent Private Godfrey.

With Mainwaring's irritating pomposity (especially riled are Hodges, the Air Raid Warden, and the local vicar, who lends them his church hall for practice), and the platoon's total incompetence, life in the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard is more chaotic than most. Challenges such as unexploded bombs in the church clock tower, manning the look-out point, or guarding captured U-boat prisoners produce such fun and farce, this series still commands high audiences whenever it is repeated.

CAST
Arthur Lowe (as Captain Mainwaring)
John Le Mesurier (as Sergeant Wilson)
Clive Dunn (as Lance Corporal Jones)
John Laurie (as Private Frazer)
Arnold Ridley (as Private Godfrey)
Ian Lavender (Private Pike)
James Beck (as Private Walker)

PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft
Produced by David Croft

DURATION
65 x 30' & 3 specials