TV Producer: Cancel Classic Comedy ‘Dad’s Army’ Because It Makes Britons Pro-Brexit

Dads Army BBC
BBC Still
Victoria Friedman

A television producer has said that the BBC should cancel repeats of classic British comedy Dad’s Army because it makes the broadcaster appear pro-Brexit and inspires pro-Leave sentiments in Britons.

Writing in the Radio Times, Daisy Goodwin, writer of the ITV drama Victoria, said that the late 1960s show was affecting Britons’ attitudes about Brexit, writing: “Forget Game of Thrones, Dad’s Army is the show that is embedded in this country’s imagination.”

“The world of Dad’s Army is a comforting place – it was reassuring during the mayhem of the three-day week and it’s soothing to those of us who worry about the effects of a No Deal Brexit,” she added in comments reported by  The Sun.

On her belief that the notoriously left-wing, anti-Brexit BBC is actually demonstrating a pro-Brexit bias by showing the programme, Ms Goodwin said: “If you really want to nail the BBC for influencing the nation’s state of mind about Brexit, you might look at how often Dad’s Army has been shown on BBC2.

“The BBC, if it wants to maintain its claim to impartiality, needs to retire the Home Guard (or send them on leave), because in the words of Private Frazer, ‘We are all doomed!'”

Dad’s Army, which ran from 1968 to 1977, was a British BBC comedy depicting the Home Guard — volunteers who prepared to defend Britain’s coastline in the event of a German invasion — during World War Two and enjoys cult status, being repeated frequently on the taxpayer-funded network and other channels.

This is not the first time that a classic television programme has fallen foul of modern, progressive-left sensibilities. A spiritual sequel to Dad’s Army‘s created by the same writing team, It Ain’t Half Hot Mum, set in India and Burma during the end of World War Two, is no longer shown on British television after accusations that it was homophobic and racist.

Co-creator and World War Two veteran Jimmy Perry based the series on his experiences serving in the Far East, and said the comedy show reflected “historical truth” and “the reality” of the times.

Mr Perry told The Telegraph in 2013: “It was at the time the only British sitcom to have been set outside of Britain. I’ve proposed doing a short film to introduce it which would explain how we came from having the biggest Empire in the world to having a multi-racial society.

“It Ain’t Half Hot Mum helps us understand an important part of our history and the changes which came about.”

Speaking to The Times a year later, Mr Perry, who passed away in 2016, rejected suggestions that the show was politically incorrect and warned against the rising culture of sensitivity, saying: “You might as well be in Stalin’s Russia. You don’t want to upset anyone.”

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