"Resisting the Aggressor Down the Ages" is the second ''

Christmas Night with the Stars ''Christmas Night with the Stars'' is a television show broadcast each Christmas night by the BBC from 1958 to 1972 (with the exception of 1961, 1965 and 1966). The show was hosted each year by a leading star of BBC TV and featured specially made s ...

'' sketch from the British comedy series '' Dad's Army''. It was originally transmitted on Christmas Day 1969.

Synopsis

The platoon are busy rehearsing their performance for the town pageant, a propaganda show to inspire the locals and raise funds for "War Weapons Week".

Plot

The platoon's pageant item tells of England's defeat of many oppressors down the ages, including

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

(played by Godfrey), William the Conqueror (Frazer), Philip of Spain (Pike) and

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

(Wilson). Captain Mainwaring, in the guise of John Bull, is, as usual, struggling to motivate his platoon to give convincing performances. The conceit of the item is that England has always defeated its aggressors (generally ignoring historical fact), with each aggressor in turn saying "England shall be crushed, never to rise again" and each segment ending with the proclamation "The aggressor shall not pass, the aggressor did not pass" jointly said by the spirits of Agriculture and Commerce (Jones and Walker respectively). However, the rehearsal is rudely interrupted by an

air raid Air raid may refer to: Attacks * Airstrike * Strategic bombing Other uses * ''Air Raid'' (album), by the improvisational collective Air * Air Raid ''(Transformers)'', the name of three characters in the Transformers universes * ''Air Raid'' ...

and Chief ARP Warden Hodges brings a

bailed out A bailout is the provision of financial help to a corporation or country which otherwise would be on the brink of bankruptcy. A bailout differs from the term ''bail-in'' (coined in 2010) under which the bondholders or depositors of global syst ...

Luftwaffe pilot to see the Home Guard. When presented to Captain Mainwaring, the airman proclaims, "England shall be crushed, never to rise again – Heil Hitler!", at which point Corporal Jones pokes the pilot from behind with a pitchfork (to the pilot's obvious discomfort) and proclaims: "They don't like it up 'em, Captain Mainwaring".

Cast

Arthur Lowe Arthur Lowe (22 September 1915 – 15 April 1982) was an English actor. His acting career spanned 36 years, including starring roles in numerous theatre and television productions. He played Captain Mainwaring in the British sitcom ''Dad' ...

as Captain Mainwaring / John Bull * John Le Mesurier as Sergeant Wilson /

* Clive Dunn as Lance Corporal Jones / Spirit of Agriculture * John Laurie as Private Frazer / William the Conqueror * James Beck as Private Walker /

Spirit of Commerce ''Spirit of Commerce'' is a public artwork by German artist Gustav Haug located in Jackson Park, which is on the south side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This zinc sculpture is tall and sits on a red granite pedestal near the park's lagoon. It is ...

* Arnold Ridley as Private Godfrey /

* Ian Lavender as Private Pike /

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

* Bill Pertwee as ARP Warden *

Robert Aldous Robert Aldous (born 1934 in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celt ...

as German Pilot

Notes

#An extract from this sketch was shown as part of ''Fry & Laurie Host a Christmas Night of the Stars''

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

special broadcast 27 December 1994 as part of a 20-minute ''Dad's Army'' item. #

also appeared as another German pilot in the Series 3 episode " Man Hunt", which was recorded on the same day. #Mainwaring asks Wilson (who is dressed as Napoleon) if he has seen Charles Boyer in

a film A. Film Production A/S (previously A. Film A/S, A. Film ApS and A. Film I/S) is a Denmark, Danish animation studio currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Affiliated to the Copenhagen studio are A. Film Estonia located in Estonia and A. Film L ...

with Greta Garbo, to which Wilson says that he has not. This film becomes an important plot point of the Series 5 episode " A Soldier's Farewell", where the platoon watches the film at a cinema (for which a reenactment clip is shown) which leads to Mainwaring dreaming that he is Napoleon.

References

{{Dad's Army Dad's Army special episodes 1969 British television episodes