Doctor Who Vs. We're Doomed! The Dad's Army Story

Produced in the same vein as
BBC Two's previous celebra-
tory dramas, The Road to
Coronation Street (broadcast
 in 2010) and An Adventure in

Space and Time (2013), this

film chronicled the troubled

conception of another iconic

British television institution,
namely Dad's Army.
In 1967, actor Jimmy Perry
 (1923-2016) submitted a
script (based on his time in
the Home Guard, entitled
Fighting Tigers) to Michael Mills (BBC Head of Comedy). Perry and his
friend David Croft (1922-2011) were commissioned to write a pilot
episode then a full series. Dad's Army launched in July 1968.
Perry and Croft (portrayed here by Paul Ritter and Richard Dormer)
assembled a now legendary ensemble cast - Arthur Lowe (depicted
by John Sessions), John Le Mesurier (Julian Sands), Clive Dunn

(Mark Heap), John Laurie (Ralph Riach), Arnold Ridley (Michael

Cochrane), James Beck (Kevin Bishop), Kieran Hodgson (Ian
Lavender), and Bill Pertwee (Shane Ritchie).

Dad's Army was watched by over 18 million viewers at its peak and
became one of the best-loved and most successful British sitcoms 

ever. The show endured for nine years, and spawned two films (in 

1971 and 2016), a radio series (1974-76), two stage shows (1975 

and 2007), a newspaper comic strip (1973), and even a musical 

(2004). Presented by Victoria Wood, documentary Don't Panic: 

The Dad's Army Story celebrated the writers' legacy in 2000.

UKTV marked the comedy's golden anniversary in July 2018
with Saluting Dad's Army, and the Gold channel (home to
regular repeats) debuted The Lost Episodes last September.

Croft and Perry later conceived other hit period pieces, It Ain't
 Half Hot Mum (1974-81) and Hi-De-Hi (1980-88). Croft also
collaborated with Jeremy Lloyd and they created Are You Being 
Served? (1972 to 1985) and Allo' Allo' (1982-92).

Originally shown in December 2015 (then repeated on BBC2 to

celebrate fifty years of the comedy), We're Doomed! aired again

today - it featured Keith Allen and seven Doctor Who cast alumni:

• Ritchie voiced Drax for Big Finish's Connections (2022)
• Hodgson voiced Findel for Last of the Cybermen, Arin/Dennis for The Red House, Alam and Hilsee for The Isos Network, Bennus for The Innocent (all 2015), Klick Chervain for The Skin of the Sleek and The Thief Who Stole Time (both 2017), and Devon Pryce for Tales from New Earth (2018)
• Cochrane was Charles Cranleigh in Black Orchid and Redvers Fenn-Cooper in Ghost Light, then voiced Lieutenant Colonel Brook for No Man's Land (2006), Murgat for Brotherhood of the Daleks (2008), Colonel Hugh Spindleton for The Trail of the White Worm and The Oseidon Adventure (both 2012), Professor Chivers for The Time Machine (2013), and Geralk for The Fate of Krelos and Return to Telos (both 2015)
• Sessions provided the voice of Gus for Mummy on the Orient Express, and voiced Tannis for Death Comes to Time, Mozart for 100: My Own Private Wolfgang (2007), and Roland for Castle of Fear (2009)
• Heap voiced the Middleman for The Middle (2017)
• Harry Peacock (Mills) was Proper Dave in Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead
• Roy Hudd (Bud Flanagan) voiced Max Miller for Pier Pressure (2006)

Doctor Who Vs. Single Father

Produced by BBC Scotland (and filmed in

Glasgow, Paisley and Edinburgh), this four-

part drama focused on Dave Tiler (played by

David Tennant), a photographer struggling

to care for his four children after the death 

of his partner, Rita (Laura Fraser) in a traffic

accident. 

Tennant debuted in Big Finish's Doctor Who

range in 2001 (for Colditz), and he recently

reprised the lead role for The Tenth Doctor 

Adventures.

The series was originally shown in October

2010 (and last repeated on the True Enter-

tainment Channel in 2015), and featured
Neve McIntosh, and thirteen further Doctor 
Who cast and crew connections:

• Suranne Jones (Sarah) was the titular antagonist in The Sarah Jane Adventures: Mona Lisa's Revenge, then depicted Idris in The Doctor's Wife
• Isla Blair (Beatty) was Isabella in The King's Demons, and voiced Paula for Exotron (2007)
• Warren Brown (Matt) voiced Stephen Gibson for Industrial Evolution (2011), Rufus Stone and To'Koth for Signs and Wonders (2014), then Lieutenant Sam Bishop for UNIT: Extinction (2015), UNIT: Shutdown, UNIT: Silenced (both 2016), UNIT: Assembled (2017), UNIT: Cyber Reality, Lady Christina 1 (both 2018) and UNIT: Incursions (2019)
• Rupert Grave (Stuart) was John Riddell in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
• Mark Heap (Robin) voiced the Middleman for The Middle (2017)
• Sanjeev Kohli (Dad) voiced Brother Boyle/Vallot for The Quin Dilemma (2024)
• Sophie Kennedy Clark (Tanya) voiced Mhairi Campbell/the Slips for Wicked! (2025) 
• stunt co-ordinator Paul Heasman was a Nazi in Silver Nemesis, and the stunt arranger on Survival
• Belinda McGinley was also a stunt performer on Amy's Choice and The Girl Who Waited
• stuntman Lee Sheward was a stunt co-ordinator on eleven adventures (from The End of the World to The End of Time), and Torchwood: Miracle Day
• Steve Smith was also a make-up artist on forty-one episodes (from The Christmas Invasion to The Waters of Mars), and Music of the Spheres
• sound mixer Brian Milliken was the sound recordist on The Sontaran Stratagem, The Poison Sky and The Sarah Jane Adventures
• composer Murray Gold has worked on the revived run (from Rose to Twice Upon a Time)