Everybody's Trucking

Infobox Dad's Army
episode_number episode_name=061 - Everybody's Trucking
script=Jimmy Perry and David Croft
director=David Croft
producer=David Croft
recorded=Sunday 27/10/74
original_transmission=Friday 15/11/74 7.45pm
series=Seven
length=30 minutes
viewing_figures=14.1 million
preceding=The Recruit
following=Man of Action

Everybody's Trucking is the first episode of the seventh series of the British television sitcom "Dad's Army" that was originally transmitted on Friday 15 November 1974.

ynopsis

Mainwaring's platoon have to signpost the route for a military convoy passing through the area. All goes well until they find an abandoned traction engine and showman's trailer blocking the route. It's just a case of driving around them...

Plot

The episode begins in the church hall yard, where Jones is showing off his newly-restored butchers' van to the platoon. Mainwaring enters with some very important news: three battalions of regular troops are to move into the Walmington and Eastgate areas as part of the divisional scheme, and as the signposts have been removed, the platoon have been asked to signpost the route to allow the convoys to pass through safely.

En-route, they find the road blocked by an abandoned traction engine and showman's trailer, and a note from its driver reveals that he's gone to get some coal. The platoon proceed to drive round the engine, but the attempt to avoid it is thwarted when Jones' van gets stuck in the mud. Before long, Hodges' van, a coach load of pensioners on a day trip, and Hodges' motorbike and side-car also end up stuck, and with time running out, it falls to Godfrey's Auntie Elsie to save the day and divert the convoy.

Notes

This episode was mostly filmed on location with the exception of the first scene, in the church hall yard, which was shot in the studio. This was fairly unusual in an age where most sitcoms took place entirely on set.

According to "Dad's Army: The Story of a Television Legend", the bird song heard in the episode is in fact the whistling of guest star Felix Bowness, who played the coach driver.

Cast

Radio episode

Infobox Dad's Army
episode_number episode_name=060 - A Jumbo-Sized Problem
script=Harold Snoad & Michael Knowles
director=
producer=John Dyas
recorded=Wednesday 18/6/75
original_transmission=Tuesday 20/7/76 12.27pm
series=Three
length=30 minutes
viewing_figures=0.5 million
preceding=The Recruit
following=The Cricket Match

When this episode was adapted for radio, Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles made big changes to the script. The most significant change was that rather than being held up by a traction engine, a steam roller and a caravan, the platoon is held up by a circus truck, containing one elephant.

ynopsis

Ordered to signpost the area for convoy, the platoon set off on one beautiful spring, carrying out the orders, only to be stopped by a van carrying a huge circus elephant.

Plot

Cast