Factual error: The motorbike and sidecar used by the verger is a post-war 1945 BSA M21 with sidecar. The period is supposed to be 1942.
Dad's Army (1968)
1 factual error in Everybody's Trucking
Starring: John Laurie, Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Clive Dunn, Ian Lavender
Audio problem: Jonesy is playing the organ. A pigeon 'flies' out the top of the organ and lands on the keys, so Jonesy picks it up and moves it, taking both his hands off the keys. Yet the music plays on.
Vicar: Captain Mainwaring, this whole affair is not well organised at all, they all started eating as soon as their plates arrived.
Mainwaring: Of course, otherwise it would go cold.
Vicar: But it's not right, Before I even said for what we are about to receive half of them had already received it.
Trivia: Hodge's BSA motorbike, reg. no. JVB54, used in Dad's Army is the same one used in the TV series on the buses as Arthur's motorbike.
Question: A set of complicated events mean that Captain Mainwaring and some other members of the platoon have to drive a railway engine. After they leave the railway station it turns out that the railway engine has no brake wheel and cannot stop. The ARP warden, the mayor of Walmington, the vicar and verger take the brake wheel, jump on a handcar and chase after the engine. Catching up with the engine, they throw the brake wheel to Captain Mainwaring. The engine then reverses, so they must pedal the handcar even faster to avoid being run over. Could four men (all obviously in late middle age, and past peak fitness) pedal a handcar to outrun a railway engine at full steam? When the engine reverses, why do they pedal the handcar to stop being run over? Why don't they jump off the handcar, then pull the handcar off the track? (Also it takes the engine less than a minute to reverse. In reality, it would take several minutes to change a moving railway locomotive from forward to reverse).
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Answer: The show is a comedy, this was played for comedic effect and to show that in times of extreme fear, in this case about to be crushed by a steam train, the men had an adrenaline surge strong enough to pedal fast enough.