Branded (Dad's Army)

Last updated

"Branded"
Dad's Army episode
Episode no.Series 3
Episode 11
Directed by Harold Snoad
Story byJimmy Perry and David Croft
Produced byDavid Croft
Original air date20 November 1969 (1969-11-20)
Running time30 minutes
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Menace from the Deep"		Next →
"Man Hunt"
List of episodes

"Branded" is the eleventh episode of the third series of the British comedy series Dad's Army . It was originally transmitted on Thursday 20 November 1969.

Contents

On a night of programmes devoted to Dad's Army, Jimmy Perry named it his favourite episode. [1] "When we told Arnold that we'd written a part especially for him, he was absolutely delighted. When he read the script, he said, 'Jimmy, even if you just say quite simple things, it's good to mention "conchies"...because they went through hell, a lot of them; and a lot of them had high principles...I'm very honoured to play it.'...John Laurie and Arnold Ridley had both served in the First World War, and both served in the Battle of the Somme...John Laurie managed to come through it OK, but Arnold Ridley was dreadfully, badly wounded...We all knew about the war. I think, perhaps...that's what gives Dad's Army, as Clint Eastwood says in Pale Rider , gives that 'little bit of edge'...It's quite [a] serious [episode]. And in the end, dear old Godfrey is proved to have more courage than all the rest of them put together". [2]

Synopsis

Private Godfrey admits to being a conscientious objector during the Great War.

Plot

Following a standard exercise on the stealthy approach to an enemy soldier, Captain Mainwaring calls Sergeant Wilson into his office. He has received an alarming letter from Private Godfrey, informing the captain of Godfrey's intent to resign from the unit at the earliest possible convenience. Given Godfrey's vital role in the platoon (as the soldier who makes the tea), Mainwaring is unwilling to let Godfrey go, and demands an explanation. Godfrey thus tells him that his decision emerges from a recent incident in which he found a mouse in his kitchen, but found himself unwilling and incapable of killing it, and says if he cannot kill a mouse, "how can he be expected to kill a German?" During the telling of the story, Godfrey reveals that in the previous war, he was a conscientious objector who refused to fight.

Mainwaring, appalled and disgusted, orders Godfrey to get out of his sight; whilst Wilson is tolerant and understanding of Godfrey's need to follow his conscience, Mainwaring is sickened at the thought of a man not wanting to fight and, assuming Godfrey to be a coward, determines to shame and humiliate him in front of the troops. With characteristic pompousness, he convenes a parade of the remainder of the platoon to inform them of Godfrey's apparent cowardice, but his thunder is stolen by the unimpressed ARP Warden Hodges, who wants to discuss an upcoming ARP/Home Guard drill.

Once the platoon learns of Godfrey's past, opinion is divided. Many, including Jones, are undecided about their response to Godfrey's decision, and some, including Pike and Walker, do not especially care. However, Frazer is characteristically vocal in his condemnation of Godfrey's "cowardice", and has no hesitation in expressing his disgust to Godfrey's face. This is shown when they are out on patrol and Godfrey turns up with some cakes for everyone, they all turn them down (apart from Pike, who happily accepts one but Frazer knocks it out of his hands) and leave him behind. It is decided that Godfrey will remain in the unit until a replacement can be found.

The training drill arrives, during which Warden Hodges will teach the men how to retrieve unconscious bodies (represented by sacks of straw) from burning buildings filled with smoke. Naturally, Mainwaring is unimpressed by the volume of smoke in the building and fills the boiler with burning rags, thus filling the building with far more smoke than safely required. He also informs Godfrey that he has no intention of letting him use his "conchie tricks" to get out of the exercise (not that Godfrey had any intention of trying to get out of it), and intends to follow Godfrey through the hut to make sure that he completes the exercise.

Godfrey completes the exercise and waits outside the hut's exit for Mainwaring. Mainwaring does not appear, despite taking longer to conduct the exercise than expected. Without hesitation, Godfrey re-enters the smoke-filled hut in order to retrieve Mainwaring, who had fainted due to smoke inhalation.

Later, Godfrey recuperates from the training exercise in bed, having also experienced smoke inhalation, and is visited by the entire platoon, having overcome their earlier feelings for him in concern for his health. As Mainwaring attempts to express uncomfortable gratitude to Godfrey for saving his life, he notices a photo of a younger Godfrey, in military uniform, wearing the Military Medal. Godfrey's sister Cissy explains that, whilst refusing to fight in the First World War, Godfrey instead joined the Royal Army Medical Corps as a stretcher bearer, and was responsible, during the Battle of the Somme, for a tremendous act of heroism in rescuing several wounded soldiers from No Man's Land under heavy fire (which, with characteristic modesty, he downplays, and he refuses to wear his medal on the grounds that it feels "ostentatious"). Embarrassed at their earlier treatment of him as a coward (although Frazer, typically, insists that he knew it would be the case all along), the platoon apologise, and at Wilson's suggestion, Mainwaring has no hesitation in declaring Godfrey the platoon's new medical orderly, having learnt that heroism is not a matter of appearance.

Cast

Notes

  1. Although the entire third series of Dad's Army was produced in colour, the early episodes were first transmitted before the launch of BBC1's colour service on 15 November 1969. "Branded" was the first episode to be transmitted in colour.
  2. The episode was repeated on BBC1 in March 1984 as a tribute to Arnold Ridley following his death.

Related Research Articles

"The Man and the Hour" is the first episode of the British television sitcom Dad's Army. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, and was first broadcast on 31 July 1968. It was later adapted for radio.

"Under Fire" is a missing episode in the British comedy series Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on Saturday 5 April 1969. One of the three missing Dad's Army episodes, the videotape was wiped for reuse. The last episode of series 2, it was the final Dad's Army episode to be recorded in black and white.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Armoured Might of Lance Corporal Jones</span> 1st episode of the 3rd series of Dads Army

"The Armoured Might of Lance Corporal Jones" is the first episode of the third series of the British comedy series Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on Thursday 11 September 1969. It is also the first episode to be made in colour, though it was originally broadcast in black and white.

"The Lion Has 'Phones" is the third episode of the third series of the British comedy series Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on 21 September 1969.

"Menace from the Deep" is the tenth episode of the third series of the British comedy series Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on Thursday 13 November 1969.

"Man Hunt" is the twelfth episode of the third series of the British comedy series Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on Thursday 27 November 1969.

"The Big Parade" is the first episode of the fourth series of the British comedy series Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on Friday 25 September 1970.

"Don't Forget the Diver" is the second episode of the fourth series of the British comedy series Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on 2 October 1970.

"Sgt – Save My Boy!" is the fourth episode of the fourth series of the British comedy series Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on Friday 16 October 1970.

"Absent Friends" is the sixth episode of the fourth series of the British comedy series Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on 30 October 1970.

"The Test" is the tenth episode of the fourth series of the British comedy series Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on Friday 27 November 1970.

"Asleep in the Deep" is the first episode of the fifth series of the British television sitcom Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on 6 October 1972. The title may have come from the song, Asleep in the Deep that is referenced by Private Walker in the episode.

"Uninvited Guests" is the twelfth episode of the fourth series of the British comedy TV series Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on Friday 11 December 1970.

"Keep Young and Beautiful" is the second episode of the fifth series of the British comedy series Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on 13 October 1972.

"Getting the Bird" is the fourth episode of the fifth series of the British television situation comedy Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on 27 October 1972.

"The Recruit" is the seventh episode of the sixth series of the British television sitcom Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on 12 December 1973.

"Never Too Old" is the final episode of the ninth and final series of the British television sitcom Dad's Army. It was originally broadcast on Sunday, 13 November 1977, the same day of the Remembrance Sunday 1977 Commemorations.

"Is There Honey Still for Tea?" is the third episode of the eighth series of the British sitcom Dad's Army, which was originally transmitted on Friday 19 September 1975. The title is taken from the concluding lines of Rupert Brooke's 1912 poem, The Old Vicarage, Grantchester:

"Knights of Madness" is the third episode of the ninth and final series of the British comedy series Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on 16 October 1977.

"Wake Up Walmington" is the first episode of the ninth and final series of the British comedy series Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on 2 October 1977.

References

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.