Starring: John Laurie, Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Clive Dunn, Ian Lavender
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.
Frazer: Sorry about the candles. The blinds are a bit thin for the gleam of the gas light.
Godfrey: Oh, I like candles. They're more romantic.
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).
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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.