Review: Dad's Army

And that will be the fly in the ointment for many viewers. Yet to dismiss this new Dad’s Army out of hand is to do its ensemble cast an immense disservice. For what they have done – what they had to do – is give the characters a polish.

Thus this is not Toby Jones, Bill Nighy and Co impersonating Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier and that ilk. Instead it is Jones – with heavyweights such as Tom Courtenay and Michael Gambon – presenting old favourites to a new audience.

So they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t. In truth it makes little sense to attempt a remake of such a beloved institution. But in doing so this is definitely the right route to take.

It’s 1944 and the Allies are preparing for D-Day. In Walmington-on-Sea Captain Mainwaring (Jones) and his platoon are assigned to patrol the coastal paths around a secret base.

But all attention is diverted when journalist Rose Winters (Catherine Zeta-Jones) sashays into town. She’s writing a piece on the Home Guard and decides to focus on our local heroes.

But then news breaks of a German spy operating in the vicinity. Who could it be? Surely not the glamorous Miss Winters…

This new adventure for our superannuated soldiers (plus dopey Pike and Walker the spiv) harks back to the TV series. All the building blocks are there. And at times it perfectly channels the writing of Jimmy Perry and David Croft.

Its biggest stumbling block is the slowness of the story to develop – that and a glaring lack of whimsy. But performances are generally spot-on, particularly the triumvirate of Toby Jones, Courtenay (playing Private Jones) and Gambon (a joy as Godfrey).

It boasts a harder edge than the TV show and catchphrases are lobbed in seemingly without thought but this Dad’s Army is far from the turkey some would have you believe.

Tony Earnshaw