The original pilot episode, set in 1948, involved former bank manager and Home GuardCaptain Mainwaring deciding to renovate a decrepit seaside pier in the fictional town of Frambourne-on-Sea, only to find when applying for a bank loan that the manager of the local branch is his former chief cashier and Home Guard Sergeant Arthur Wilson. The pilot, recorded in July 1981, was not used and Lowe died in April 1982, ending production; however, Lowe's widow had enjoyed the show and persuaded the writers to start again with a new cast. The original pilot was eventually broadcast on BBC 7, and later BBC 7's successor, BBC Radio 4 extra. The series would never have been made had Arthur Lowe lived. The BBC rejected the 1981 pilot, on the grounds that his illness had affected his voice. Although the slur in his speech was actually due to old age and illness, the BBC worried that it made him sound as if he was drunk, and ruled his performance as unacceptable for transmission.
The series
Still 1948, the new version involves Bert Hodges, former ARP warden and nemesis of Mainwaring's Home Guard unit, approaching former Home Guard Private Frank Pike, now 22 years old, with a proposal to renovate the near derelict pier, costing £5,000, at Frambourne. In order to finance this plan Pike has to approach bank manager Wilson, who just happens to be his "uncle", for a loan. Wilson is blackmailed by Pike over past indiscretions with a woman named Smith and Wilson suspects the only reason Hodges approached Pike was to get to the bank's money through him. Nevertheless, Pike and Wilson put aside their wartime quarrel with Hodges - more or less - and the renovation begins. As well as Frank Pike, Arthur Wilson and Bert Hodges, other characters that appear commonly are Miss Perkins, a bank clerk who giggles a lot, and is implied to be in love with Sergeant Wilson, and Guthrie, the attendant in charge with supervising the pier who has a perforated eardrum.
Broadcast
Due to the death of Arthur Lowe, the original pilot was not broadcast. The master recording was wiped, but co-writer Snoad kept a copy which he later returned to the BBC. A short excerpt was played on a documentary entitled Radio's Lost Property on 1 November 2003, with the complete programme heard on a BBC 7 compilation entitled Some of Our Archives were Missing on 29 May 2004. It was broadcast for a second time on 17 June 2008, as the first episode in a rerun of the entire series. The series proper was first broadcast on BBC Radio 2, at 1.30pm on 13 November 1983 and ran for 13 episodes. It was subsequently repeated again on BBC Radio 2, but an apparent mix-up between different BBC departments resulted in most of the original masters being wiped. The series featured some of John Le Mesurier's last performances and many listeners were shocked to discover that the BBC was still wiping material as late as the 1980s. The BBC's Treasure Hunt has unearthed off-air recordings of a great many shows that would otherwise have been lost, including It Sticks Out Half a Mile, and the digital radio archive channel BBC 7 has broadcast the recovered copies of the series. Some of these are of variable quality, but according to a message on the BBC 7 message board better quality versions have now been located. BBC Radio 4 Extra has begun repeating the whole series, including the pilot, in June 2020.
Remakes
There were two attempts to adapt the show for television – without the Dad's Army characters. The first was a BBC pilot, Walking the Planks, starring Michael Elphick. The BBC decided not to commission a series, so Knowles and Snoad took the concept to Yorkshire Television, where a seven-episode series was made, with Bernard Cribbins taking over Elphick's role. Richard Wilson and Vivienne Martin appeared in both versions.
