Battle School (Dad's Army episode)

=TV episode=

Infobox Dad's Army
episode_number episode_name=014 - Battle School
script=Jimmy Perry and David Croft
director=David Croft
producer=David Croft
recorded=Sunday 1/6/69
original_transmission=Thursday 18/9/69 7.30pm
series=Three
length=30 minutes
viewing_figures=11.4 million
preceding=The Armoured Might of Lance Corporal Jones
following=The Lion Has Phones

"Battle School" is the second episode of the third series of the British comedy series "Dad's Army" that was originally transmitted on Thursday 18 September 1969.

ynopsis

The platoon go on a weekend guerilla-warfare exercise. If they ever manage to find it, they have to capture Captain Rodrigues' HQ.

Plot

The platoon are travelling to a battle school in the country. Save for an incident involving Godfrey's weak bladder, the journey is uneventful. It is when they arrive at the station however, that disaster strikes. Mainwaring opens the secret instructions, and it is clear that he doesn't know how to read a map. They start off confidently, but it's not long before they end up back at the station again! They try again and Mainwaring leads them into an ambush led by a rugged Captain.

When they finally reach the school, they are greeted by a cheery Major Smith, who then proceeds to tell them that, to the platoon's horror, they have missed the evening meal by four hours! He introduces them to Captain Rodrigues, a tough Spanish Captain (the captain who had lead the ambush) who fought in the Spanish Civil War and doesn't approve of military disciplines such as arm-waving. He gives Mainwaring and the platoon a single blanket each to keep them warm and some carrots and onions to eat.

Rodrigues wakes up the sleepy platoon in the morning with a fire cracker, telling them that they have missed breakfast as well! Walker is fed up with this and is determined to search for food at a nearby farm, but is scared off by the unimpressed farmer. Rodrigues hints that they will have an opportunity to capture his HQ; unfortunately no one has succeeded due to the fierce Alsatians, barbed wire and the electrified fence.

The platoon are soon put to the test, and are handed a clearly quickly made meal. As the exercise continues, Mainwaring falls down a hole, and discovers Rodrigues' HQ. Later that night, he takes the platoon through the tunnel and ends up in the stores. Walker is impressed, and it isn't long before the HQ is captured, and the platoon are full laden with food once more.

Notes

The opening shot of the episode was taken from the film The Titfield Thunderbolt. As the film had been made some 16 years previously the train was not available for use in footage of their arrival, and so another, more local (to Thetford) train deputised. Neither originated on the South Coast, where the series is based - unlike the shots of the train interior.

The area where the main exterior filming took place was also used for the new shots for the end credits (necessitated as the end credits for the previous two series had been filmed in black and white). A reminder of this episode was therefore present for the rest of the run of Dad's Army, with the cast walking past the trees which the Spanish Captain is briefly seen standing in front of with a megaphone, and the shot of the platoon running across an open heath being used at the very end of all subsequent episodes under the producer's credit.

The idea of the platoon getting lost on their way to a training base and subsequently missing supper and breakfast was re-used in the 1971 film.

Cast

Radio episode

Infobox Dad's Army
episode_number episode_name=010 - Battle School
script=Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles
director=
producer=John Dyas
recorded=Thursday 28/6/73
original_transmission=Monday 1/4/74, 6.15pm
series=One
length=30 minutes
viewing_figures=1 million
preceding=Operation Kilt
following=Under Fire

ynopsis

Plot

Notes

Cast

References

*cite book|title=The Complete A-Z of Dad’s Army|author=Croft, David; Perry, Jimmy; Webber, Richard|date=2000|publisher=Orion|isbn= 0-75284-637-X
*imdb title|0552277
*tv.com episode|67088