"Getting the Bird" is the fourth episode of the fifth series of the British television
situation comedy ''
Dad's Army
''Dad's Army'' is a British television sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, and originally broadcast on BBC1 from 31 July 1968 to 13 November 1977. It ran fo ...
''. It 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 Mrs Pike. 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
Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...
. Meanwhile, Jones is having troubles with the butchers shop: shortages in rationed meat means his customers are getting more upset with him, which is affecting his mental health. Walker offers to give Jones a rabbit to skin (so he can sell the skin to a
furrier
Fur clothing is clothing made from the preserved skins of mammals. Fur is one of the oldest forms of clothing, and is thought to have been widely used by people for at least 120,000 years. The term 'fur' is often used to refer to a specific i ...
), but Jones refuses as a single rabbit would make things worse, and confides he is desperate for off-the-ration meat.
The following evening, the platoon inform Captain Mainwaring that after a particularly heavy night drinking, Wilson was seen about town with a young woman (a
Wren) on his arm. Private Pike reveals that Wilson and his mother had an argument about something, so he is not calling Wilson "Uncle Arthur", and will not take orders from him. However Mainwaring informs Pike that unless he wants to be charged with insubordination, he will respect Wilson's position as Chief Clark and Sergeant in the bank and on parade respectively.
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 enters the office and points them out. Immediately, the office is filled with pigeons. It emerges that Walker had stored the birds in the boiler room and they had escaped. Walker secretly proposes to Jones 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 ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson comm ...
, and ends the agreement.
On Sunday, Mainwaring and Frazer are welcoming people as they enter the church for the morning service when Mr. Hodges arrives and says to Frazer "I've been helping her (Mrs. Fox) with her blackout curtains". Just ahead of a church service we hear a conversation 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. This is reason for the argument between him and Mrs Pike, apparently it was a secret he had kept to himself. Frazer is the only person to overhear this; Wilson admits to Frazer that he hasn't seen much of her while she was growing up, but that he did his best to send her to a good school. Frazer replies that "she does you credit" and admits to Wilson that he knows he is prone to gossip, but promises never to reveal Wilson's secret.
The hymns are ruined when the
organ begins to play and dead pigeons are fired across the church: Walker is exposed as having hidden several of the pigeons in the organ pipes.
Cast
*
Arthur Lowe as
Captain Mainwaring
Captain George Mainwaring () is a fictional Home Guard captain, first portrayed by Arthur Lowe in the BBC television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. In the
2016 movie he is played by Toby Jones and in the 2019 remake of three missing episodes he is p ...
*
John Le Mesurier
John Le Mesurier (, born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley; 5 April 191215 November 1983) was an English actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his comedic role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the BBC television situation c ...
as
Sergeant Wilson
Sergeant Arthur Wilson is a fictional Home Guard platoon sergeant and bank chief clerk, first portrayed by John Le Mesurier in the BBC television sitcom ''Dad's Army''.
Background
Wilson was born in 1887, and is carefree, cheerful and well ...
*
Clive Dunn
Clive Robert Benjamin Dunn (9 January 19206 November 2012) was an English actor. Although he was only 48 and one of the youngest cast members, he was cast in a role many years his senior, as the elderly Lance Corporal Jones in the BBC sitcom ' ...
as
Lance Corporal Jones
Lance Corporal Jack Jones is a fictional Home Guard platoon lance corporal and veteran of the British Empire, first portrayed by Clive Dunn in the BBC television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. His catchphrases are "Don't panic!", "Permission to speak, ...
*
John Laurie
John Paton Laurie (25 March 1897 – 23 June 1980) was a Scottish actor. In the course of his career, Laurie performed on the stage and in films as well as television. He is perhaps best remembered for his role in the sitcom '' Dad's Army'' (19 ...
as
Private Frazer
Private James Frazer is a fictional Home Guard platoon member and undertaker, first portrayed by John Laurie in the BBC television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. He is noted for his catchphrases "We're doomed!" and "Rubbish!"
Personality
Frazer was b ...
*
James Beck
Stanley James Carroll Beck (21 February 1929 – 6 August 1973) was an English actor who played the role of Private Walker, a cockney spiv, in the BBC sitcom ''Dad's Army'' from the show's beginning in 1968 until his sudden death in 1973.
Ea ...
as
Private Walker
Private Joe Walker is a fictional black market spiv (or Wholesales Supplier, as he politely puts it) and Home Guard platoon member, first portrayed by actor James Beck in the BBC television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. In real life, Beck died suddenly ...
*
Arnold Ridley
William Arnold Ridley, OBE (7 January 1896 – 12 March 1984) was an English playwright and actor, earlier in his career known for writing the play '' The Ghost Train'' and later in life in the British TV sitcom ''Dad's Army'' (1968–1977) as ...
as
Private Godfrey
Private Charles Godfrey MM is a fictional Home Guard platoon member, first portrayed by Arnold Ridley in the BBC television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. and in the 1971 ''Dad's Army'' film. He is retired and was previously a tailor for the Civil ...
*
Ian Lavender
Arthur Ian Lavender (born 16 February 1946) is an English stage, film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Private Pike in the BBC sitcom '' Dad's Army'', and is the last surviving major cast member of the series following t ...
as
Private Pike
Private Frank Pike is a fictional Home Guard private and junior bank clerk, first portrayed by actor Ian Lavender in the BBC television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. He was appointed as the platoon's information officer by Captain Mainwaring in The Man ...
*
Bill Pertwee
William Desmond Anthony Pertwee, (21 July 1926 – 27 May 2013) was a British comedy actor. He played the role of Chief ARP Warden Hodges in the sitcom '' Dad's Army''.
Early life
Pertwee was born in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, on 21 July 192 ...
as
ARP Warden Hodges
*
Edward Sinclair
Edward Sinclair Perry (3 February 1914 – 29 August 1977) was an English actor who played the role of verger Maurice Yeatman in ''Dad's Army''. He also made appearances in ''Z-Cars'' and ''Danger Man''.
The earliest work in his belated m ...
as
The Verger
*
Frank Williams as
The Vicar
*
Pamela Cundell
Pamela Isabel Cundell (15 January 1920 – 14 February 2015) was an English character actress. She played List of Dad's Army characters#Mrs Fox, Mrs Fox in the long-running TV comedy ''Dad's Army''.
She was a descendant of Henry Condell, one ...
as
Mrs Fox
''Dad's Army'' is a British television sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, and originally broadcast on BBC1 from 31 July 1968 to 13 November 1977. It ran for ...
*
Janet Davies as
Mrs Pike
''Dad's Army'' is a British television British sitcom, sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard (United Kingdom), Home Guard during the World War II, Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft (TV producer), David Crof ...
*
Alvar Lidell as Newsreader
*
Serretta Wilson
Serretta Diane Wilson (born 8 September 1951, Fairfax, Virginia) ''Virginia, Birth Records, 1912-2014, Delayed Birth Records, 1854-1911'' is an American-born British television and film actress.
She has played parts in ''Thriller'' (1975), ''Th ...
as The Wren
Further reading
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External links
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{{Dad's Army
Dad's Army (series 5) episodes
1972 British television episodes