The widow of Dad’s Army star Clive Dunn desperately hopes a remake of the British TV favourite airing tonight for the first time will do his memory proud.
Dunn’s widow Priscilla is Clive’s biggest fan and still watches re-runs of the sitcom every Saturday night.
The 85-year-old says seeing him in the show 50 years after it first aired still makes her happy, despite missing him. “I don’t see Clive, I see Corporal Jones,” she says.
She’s delighted that three episodes of series two, lost from the BBC archives, have been lovingly recreated by UKTV for channel Gold.
She says: “It will be strange seeing someone else play Clive’s role. Let’s hope he’s good at it.
“There’s nobody there who was there the first time around, so it will be a challenge.
“They need to make it their own. I’m interested to see what they do – I hope it does it justice.”
Recalling Clive’s time in the sitcom, Priscilla says: “Part of the magic was that the men were all great friends. They had such a good laugh on set.
“And they were all so talented – they were properly trained actors. Me and the other wives would go to the studios in White City to watch it being filmed.
“It was like watching theatre – to me it was perfect.”
The episodes – The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker, A Stripe for Frazer and Under Fire – were broadcast in 1969 but are thought to have been lost when the BBC took to reusing video tape to save money.
The pressure is on for Kevin Eldon, the man charged with reprising the role of Corporal Jack Jones, Dad’s Army’s over-enthusiastic septuagenarian butcher.
As well as Eldon, 59 – police sergeant Tony Fisher in Hot Fuzz – the remakes star comic icons Timothy West and Mathew Horne, Kevin McNally as Mainwaring and Cold Feet’s Robert Bathurst as the smug Sgt Wilson.
The first is on Gold tonight at 8pm.
At its peak, Dad’s Army pulled in at least 20 million viewers. Its 80 episodes, written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, tell of a hapless Home Guard platoon in the Second World War.
Despite playing the unit’s oldest member, Dunn was one of the youngest in the cast, taking the role of 70-year-old Lance Corporal Jones when he was just 48.
He died seven years ago at 92, after an operation to remove a small tumour from his intestine.
The cottage in Portugal that he retired to with Priscilla – herself an actress – is brimming with photographs from his Dad’s Army days, larking around with his old pal John Le Mesurier, who played Wilson.
There are also family snaps with daughters Jessica, 55, and Polly, 58, as well as his granddaughters Alice, 23, and Lydia, 20.
Priscilla revealed it was his friendship with Le Mesurier that led to them both joining the comedy hit.
She recalls: “John and Clive were very close friends. When they got the Dad’s Army script, John rang up and said, ‘Are you going to do it?’ and Clive said, ‘I will if you will.’ John replied, ‘Well, I will if you will.’ So they said, ‘All right then, we will.’
“I thought they were both insane for having doubts – I knew it was a great script straight away. Once filming started, it was obvious.
“I loved it when Clive did stunts and would hang upside down from church steeples and that sort of thing.
“He did all of his stunts himself. He hugely enjoyed it. They all did.” Dunn met Priscilla while in a variety show at the Palace Theatre, near London’s Charing Cross.
Priscilla was singing, while he sang, danced and performed comedy. She says: “I was at the back of the stalls, and Clive walked all the way down the stage, then he walked back again and said, ‘Are you married?’ That’s the first thing he ever said to me.
“We went for a drink that night, it was Valentine’s Day, and we never parted from that day. We got engaged after about a week, and were wed by May – we were married for 60 years.”
Daughter Jessica fondly recalls her bohemian childhood in London.
She says: “The doors were always open at our home. Dad would sing a lot and tap dance.
“He’d have people playing the piano, there would always be jazz playing, singing and laughter.
“The house was full all the time.
“My parents had great parties – the Dad’s Army cast would come, Benny Hill would pop in, and Michael Bentine. Dad was very funny and such a people person.
“He was fun, very sweet and caring.”
An avid painter, Dunn also had a No1 in 1971 with the single Grandad, later starring in a children’s show of the same name. He was a familiar sight around the picturesque village, often accompanied by his golden retriever, Daisy.
Jessica says: “Losing his sight was awful and very frustrating for Dad.
“But he always managed to joke about it. He’d see friends in the street and say, ‘Who’s that?’ to make them laugh and relax about it. He always looked for the funny side of life. He was like an encyclopaedia for jokes.
“He always had time for Dad’s Army fans. He’d go and sit at their table in a restaurant if people recognised him and asked for an autograph.”
Priscilla adds: “He loved being a real grandad. The girls adored him. I think watching Dad’s Army upsets them now, but I enjoy it just as much as ever.
"It still brings me great joy.”
- Don’t forget to tune into Dad’s Army: The Lost Episodes – on Gold tonight, 8pm
