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"Time on My Hands" is the thirteenth and final episode of the fifth series of the British comedy series ''
Dad's Army ''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 ...
''. It was originally transmitted on 29 December 1972.


Synopsis

A German pilot has bailed out and is now tangled up on the town hall's
clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure that house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another building ...
. Mainwaring's men are obliged to retrieve him. Getting up is not a problem – they can climb a makeshift ladder. Getting down again proves more difficult – Jones has broken the ladder.


Plot

Mainwaring and Wilson are enjoying a relaxing morning coffee at the Marigold Tea Rooms. Walker comes in and asks Mainwaring to go outside and tell him if the police are about. This is because Walker has to bring some unauthorised items in for the shop. Mainwaring refuses to be part of Walker's
black market A black market is a Secrecy, clandestine Market (economics), market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality, or is not compliant with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the set of goods and services who ...
business. After Walker leaves, Pike and Jones burst in, announcing that a
Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
pilot is stuck hanging from the roof of the town hall after bailing out. Gathering together the rest of the platoon, they head straight for the town hall. When they arrive, they find the ARP and Warden Hodges marshalling a large crowd of spectators, watching the stranded German hanging from his parachute, which is caught on the clock tower. Mainwaring brusquely pushes Hodges aside and takes over command of the situation himself. He leads his men (except Godfrey, who stays behind and watches from outside) up a ladder to the tower, to try to rescue the German. The ladder is a makeshift one made out of several ladders to replace the tower's old staircase that was destroyed by a fire bomb the previous year. After a number of failed attempts to rescue the pilot, with his lack of
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...
not helping matters, they eventually manage to reach him using a pole found by Jones. Unfortunately, the pole had been holding up the ladders to the tower, which collapse, leaving them stranded. While Mainwaring puts the German pilot under close arrest, he and the rest of the men try to find a way to get back down. Meanwhile, on the ground level, a sneering Hodges mocks their predicament, enraged because it was he who had erected the ladders in the first place. Mainwaring and Pike drop a note in a glass bottle to the ground asking for help, but Hodges just writes in chalk "How are you going to get down?" on the pavement, prompting Pike to throw a second bottle down at him in annoyance. The Vicar and the Verger arrive, and after being told of the platoon's predicament, the Vicar has an idea, and leaves to fetch something. The platoon suggests various ideas of getting down. Pike and Jones suggest using the German's parachute; the former says they could float down with it, while the latter says they could tear it up and "plait" it into a rope. Fraser tells a story of two
lighthouse keeper A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as ...
s who were trapped in a lighthouse and decided to get out by dismantling it as they had gone mad from the isolation. Wilson tells a story his nanny told him: a Prince rescued a beautiful Princess trapped in a tower by firing an arrow into the tower; attached to the arrow was a piece of thread, attached to the thread was a piece of
twine Twine is a strong Thread (yarn), thread, light String (structure), string or cord composed of string in which two or more thinner strands are twisted, and then twisted together (Plying, plied). The strands are plied in the opposite direction to ...
and attached to that was a rope which the Princess used to escape. All of this is just too much for Mainwaring. Eventually, Walker comes up with something: he suggests using a rope with a weight on the end in the tower to get down. Mainwaring claims he already noticed the rope and was just waiting to see if anybody else would. When the men try to free the rope, they accidentally start up the clock mechanism. After Jones gets caught up in (and rescued from) the clock automatons twice, and several of the men's finest hats are ruined to silence the large bell in order to avoid a false invasion alert, an arrow loosed by the Vicar strikes the tower – a note wrapped around it states that there is a piece of thread attached to the arrow; attached to the thread is a piece of twine and attached to the twine is a piece of rope, just like in the fairy tale Wilson's nanny told him.


Cast

*
Arthur Lowe Arthur Lowe (22 September 1915 – 15 April 1982) was an English actor. His acting career spanned 37 years, including starring roles in numerous theatre and television productions. He played Captain Mainwaring in the British sitcom ''Dad ...
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 film he is played by Toby Jones and in the 2019 remake of three missing episodes he is pla ...
*
John Le Mesurier John Le Mesurier (, born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley; 5 April 191215 November 1983) was an English actor. He is probably best remembered for his comedic role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the BBC television situation com ...
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-s ...
*
Clive Dunn Clive Robert Bertram Dunn (born Robert Bertram 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 ...
as
Lance Corporal Jones Lance Corporal Jack Jones is a fictional British Home Guard, 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!", "Pe ...
*
John Laurie John Paton Laurie (25 March 1897 – 23 June 1980) was a Scottish stage, film, and television actor. He appeared in scores of feature films with directors including Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier, generally p ...
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!" Characterisation It is men ...
*
James Beck Stanley James Carroll Beck (21 February 1929 – 6 August 1973) was an English television actor. He appeared in a number of programmes, but is best known for the role of Private Walker, a cockney spiv, in the BBC sitcom ''Dad's Army'' from th ...
as
Private Walker Private Joe Walker is a fictional black market spiv (or "wholesales supplier", as he describes it) and Home Guard platoon member, first portrayed by James Beck in the British television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. Appearing in the first six series, ...
*
Arnold Ridley William Arnold Ridley (7 January 1896 – 12 March 1984) was an English playwright and actor, known early in his career for writing the 1925 play '' The Ghost Train'' and later in life for the British television sitcom ''Dad's Army'' (1968–77 ...
as
Private Godfrey Private Charles Godfrey MM is a fictional Home Guard soldier, first portrayed by Arnold Ridley in the British television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. He is retired and was previously a tailor for the Civil Service Stores or the Army & Navy Stores. ...
*
Ian Lavender Arthur Ian Lavender (16 February 1946 – 2 February 2024) was an English stage, film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Private Pike in ''Dad's Army'', a BBC sitcom set during World War II, of which he was the last survivi ...
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 ...
*
Bill Pertwee William Desmond Anthony Pertwee (21 July 1926 – 27 May 2013) was an English actor and comedian. He is best remembered for playing Chief ARP Warden Hodges in ''Dad's Army'' and P.C. Wilson in '' You Rang, M'Lord?''. Early life Pertwee was bo ...
as ARP Warden Hodges * Frank Williams as
Vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...
* Edward Sinclair as The Verger *
Harold Bennett Harold Frank Bennett (17 November 1898 – 11 September 1981) was an English actor, active in stage, television and film best remembered for being in sitcoms written and produced by David Croft, having played 'Young Mr. Grace' in the 1970s Bri ...
as Mr Blewitt *
Colin Bean Colin Bean (15 April 1926 – 20 June 2009) was an English actor. He was best known for his role as Private Sponge in the BBC comedy series ''Dad's Army''. Early life Born in Wigan, Lancashire, Bean's father played football for local side Wiga ...
as Private Sponge *
Joan Cooper Joan Cooper (23 August 1922 – 1 July 1989) was a British actress. Her second husband was the actor Arthur Lowe whom she met at the Manchester Repertory Theatre in 1946. They were married at the Register Office, Strand, London, in January 19 ...
as Miss Fortescue *
Eric Longworth Eric Groves Longworth (20 July 1918 – 20 August 2008) was a British actor, best known for his semi-regular role in the BBC comedy ''Dad's Army'' as Mr Gordon, the town clerk of Walmington-on-Sea. Life and career Longworth was born in Shaw and ...
as Mr Gordon the Town Clerk *
Christopher Sandford Christopher Sandford (1902–1983) of Eye Manor, Herefordshire, was a book designer, proprietor of the Golden Cockerel Press, a founding director of the Folio Society, and husband of the wood engraver and pioneer Corn dolly revivalist, Lettice ...
as The German Pilot


Notes

#This is the only episode since the first series (apart from " Something Nasty in the Vault") in which the platoon does not wear their uniforms for the whole episode. #Mainwaring calls his bank
Martins Bank Martins Bank was a London private bank, trading for much of its time under the symbol of "The Grasshopper", that could trace its origins back to Thomas Gresham and the London goldsmiths, from which it developed into a bank known as Martin's Bank ...
(a real-life bank, whose name is also used in the 1971 film), instead of the fictitious "Swallows Bank" usually used in the series. #Mainwaring refers to his revolver as a "thirty-eight". Considering its appearance, this means it is probably intended to be a Webley Mk IV .38/200 Service Revolver or an Enfield No. 2 Mk I. However, in some episodes, such as "
The Deadly Attachment "The Deadly Attachment" is the first episode of the sixth series of the British television sitcom ''Dad's Army''. It was originally transmitted on Wednesday, October 31, 1973. It is arguably one of the best-known episodes of the series because of ...
", the prop is recognisably a Webley Mark VI in .455 calibre.


References

{{Dad's Army 1972 British television episodes Dad's Army series 5 episodes