Actor Stuart McGugan has slammed TV Channel Gold’s decision to do a remake of Dad’s Army, branding it “absolutely shameless” and accusing its creators of “cultural vandalism”.
The 75 year old, who played a soldier in an episode of the hit World War II sitcom, spoke of his dismay that three episodes had been recreated with an all-new cast.
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He told The Sun: “To make a new Dad’s Army and pump nothing new into it, which will be the case, is cultural vandalism. They could be spending that money on new drama, given that there’s not been a lot of very interesting new comedy on recently.”
The three storylines, based on episodes that were lost from the archives, marked 50 years since they were originally broadcast.
The remakes are similar to the source material, as Gold chose to stay true to the original scripts by writers Jimmy Perry and David Croft.
The cast list includes Kevin McNally (Captain Mainwaring), Robert Bathurst (Sergeant Wilson), Bernard Cribbins (Private Godfrey), Kevin Eldon (Lance Corporal Jones), Mathew Horne (Private Walker), David Hayman (Private Frazer) and Tom Rosenthal (Pike).
But Stuart, who also acted in It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, believes rebooting classic comedy shows like Porridge and Are You Being Served? is counterproductive – and that writers should instead focus on producing new stories.
He continued: “It shows a lack of talent to write and a lack of courage to make new stuff. I think it’s shameless, absolutely shameless.”
Dad’s Army, which told the story of Captain Mainwaring and his bumbling Home Guard platoon during the Second World War, ran from 1968 to 1977 across nine seasons and more than 80 episodes.
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The show has been remade before. In 2016, the concept was adapted for the big screen with a film featuring a number of big-name stars, including Toby Jones, Bill Nighy, Michael Gambon and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
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