Dad's Army

Dad's Army (1968)

9 mistakes in season 4 - chronological order

(15 votes)

Don't Forget the Diver - S4-E2

Factual error: While Capt. Square is looking through his binoculars at what he thinks is Mainwaring's platoon marching with their rifles, a 1960's Bedford lorry drives past on the road behind them.

The Test - S4-E10

Factual error: In several scenes during the cricket match while the Walmington platoon are bowling/fielding, cars can be seen on the road behind the cricket ground that were made well after the 1940s.

Battle of the Giants! - S4-E14

Visible crew/equipment: Early in this episode, when Mainwaring and Wilson are in the office, there is a knock on the door. Mainwaring tells Wilson to answer the door. As Wilson makes his way to the door, there is a shadow of the overhead mic on the wall behind him.

eric 64

Battle of the Giants! - S4-E14

Factual error: When Mainwaring is driving the van and Jones is in the back suffering from malaria, just after Pike shouts out that Jones has changed colour, if you look out the side window you can see a triangular road sign. These did not come into use until the 1960s.

Battle of the Giants! - S4-E14

Revealing mistake: Just before the two vans drive round in circles, when Mainwaring has trouble with the gearbox, the shot from inside the van shows a house through the driver's window. But in the exterior shots there are no buildings around, just trees.

Battle of the Giants! - S4-E14

Continuity mistake: When the Walmington platoon stop their van to open the gate to let the sheep out in attempt to hold up the Eastgate platoons van the Eastgate van drives through the gate into the field with Hodges on his motorbike following, but when the camera cuts back to the road the Eastgate van and the motorbike are on the road behind Walmington's van, the Eastgate van and the motorbike are next seen coming out of the field further up the road.

Battle of the Giants! - S4-E14

Continuity mistake: When Mainwaring and Square, driving the vans, are trying to push each others' van off the bridge, Hodges parks his motorbike at the end of the bridge behind the eastgate platoon's van. In all the following shots Hodges' motor bike has disappeared.

Battle of the Giants! - S4-E14

Other mistake: Mainwaring hangs his new cap on a hook on the inside of his office door, the rest of the platoon are having bayonet practice in the hall. Pike is running with the bayonet but misses the dummy and his bayonet goes through the office door and Mainwaring's cap. The bayonet only goes through the cap once, but there are two tears in the cap.

eric 64

Mainwaring: In the words of the great E.C Cochran. "Early to bed, early to rise, no jolly good if you don't advertise."

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The Royal Train - S6-E3

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).

Rob Halliday

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.

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