Actor Clive Dunn, best known for his role as Jack Jones the butcher in Dad's Army, has died aged 92. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20239694 Jones was a much loved classic British comedy character with some well known catchphrases, such as don't panic!! and they don't like it up 'em! RIP Clive - a great actor.
He always looked older then he was, so I kept forgetting that he was still alive. Just noticed that there are only 4 members of the cast of Dads Army still alive. I was listening to Some of Our Archives were Missing, which has a pilot of It sticks out half a mile, which was the radio sequel to dads army, just a few days ago.
Yes, it's a classic! And despite being somewhat old-fashioned in its comic style, it is still very watchable.
I'll track a few episodes down then. Like I said, I am aware of the show but back in my home we never really watched many BBC comedy shows such as Only Fools and horses, Last of the summer wine, Alo Alo, Faulty Towers and so on. We mostly watched low class stuff such as The Young Ones.
Last of the Summer Wine was a bit poor, really (31 series of much the same crap happening), but the rest you mention were good - Young Ones included. The 1970s to the 1990s was the golden age of British sitcoms really - particularly from the Beeb. There are some great episodes of Dad's Army - the one with Philip Madoc (The Deadly Attachment) usually comes up as a favourite with the fans, for example. Amazingly, it's been on Youtube for over a year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMHXJqpQYeo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktz80NQdRWw
Dads Army is up on The box now so I'll download a few. As for BBC sitcoms, I think they were always more suited to the south end audience than a northern one. I liked what would be classed as alternative or low humour such as anything by Ben Elton such as the Young Ones, Black Adder, Filthy Rich and Catflap or stuff like Red Dwarf, Smith and Jones and so on.
