It Sticks Out Half a Mile is a British radio sitcom that was first broadcast on BBC Radio 2 from 1983 to 1984. Starring John Le Mesurier, Ian Lavender, Bill Pertwee and Vivienne Martin, the series served as a sequel to the television wartime sitcom Dad's Army, for which writers Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles had previously written radio adaptations.

Following the end of Dad's Army, writers Snoad and Knowles wrote a pilot episode starring Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier, reprising their roles of Captain Mainwaring and Sergeant Wilson from that series. Recorded in 1981, the episode was left unbroadcast due to Lowe's death in April 1982; it was subsequently broadcast for the first time in 2004 on BBC 7.

In consequence, Snoad and Knowles introduced Lavender and Pertwee, reprising their roles of Private Pike and Warden Hodges, and Vivienne Martin as secretary Miss Perkins, to produce a thirteen-episode series. The series followed the group's attempts to renovate a near-decrepit pier in the seaside town of Frambourne-on-Sea. Ratings were strong enough for a second series to be commissioned. However, Le Mesurier's death in November 1983 resulted in the series's end.

The series spawned two television adaptations. The first, Walking the Planks, was broadcast on BBC1 in 1985. Despite achieving positive viewing figures, the pilot was not commissioned for a full series. In consequence, Snoad and Knowles took their concept to Yorkshire Television, who produced a series titled High & Dry, which ran for seven episodes in 1987.

Plot

It Sticks Out Half a Mile serves as a sequel series to the television wartime sitcom Dad's Army, which followed a platoon of Home Guard soldiers during the Second World War. The sequel series follows the lives of two of the members of the Home Guard platoon, the former Sergeant Arthur Wilson and Private Frank Pike, and their nemesis, the former Chief ARP Warden Hodges, three years after the war in 1948.

Bert Hodges arrives in the seaside town of Frambourne-on-Sea (which is located on the same stretch of coastline as Dad's Armys Walmington-on-Sea, on the South Coast of England) with a plan to restore the town's near-decrepit pier back to its former glory. To achieve this goal, Hodges meets Frank Pike, now twenty-two and working at Woolworths, to convince him to enter a partnership to raise the needed funds. Pike's "uncle" (actually Pike's father), Arthur Wilson, is now the bank manager of the Frambourne branch of Swallow's Bank, so Hodges convinces Pike to ask Wilson for the £5,000 loan needed to purchase the pier. When Wilson refuses to invest such a sum of money in a such a venture, Pike blackmails Wilson over an affair that occurred when Wilson first moved to Frambourne. Wilson reluctantly agrees to give Hodges and Pike the loan, and the pier's renovation begins, but not without its challenges. The trio are met with opposition from Fred Guthrie, the lone chief attendant in charge of supervising the pier, while Wilson must ward off the advances of Miss Perkins, the chief cashier at Swallow's Bank, who is in love with him.

Cast and characters

thumb|The cast of It Sticks Out Half a Mile (left to right): [[Ian Lavender (Pike), John Le Mesurier (Wilson), Vivienne Martin (Miss Perkins), Bill Pertwee (Hodges).]]

Main

  • John Le Mesurier as Arthur Wilson, a former Sergeant in the Home Guard, who is now the manager of the Frambourne-on-Sea branch of Swallow's Bank. Possessing a calm and relaxed attitude to life, Wilson reluctantly acts as Pike and Hodges's financial advisor upon their purchase of Frambourne Pier. Hodges's first name in Dad's Army is William, but in It Sticks Out Half a Mile, his first name has changed to Bert.
  • Hilda Braid as Mrs Briggs, a kindly widower.|episodes=

Series 1 (1983-84)

Production

Development

When Dad's Army ended after nine series in 1977, there were discussions about either continuing the series on the ITV network or for a sequel series to be produced which would follow the Walmington-on-Sea platoon as members of the town council in post-war Walmington. However, Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles instead submitted the idea for It Sticks Out Half a Mile to the BBC's radio department. Initially, the writers had intended the series to be produced for television, but the BBC suggested that a radio series would be more appropriate.

Lowe had struggled to record the pilot, owing to his narcolepsy, which caused him to slur his words and fall asleep part way through recording; and the tape was wiped, but co-writer Snoad retained a copy which he later returned to the BBC. with the complete programme being heard on a BBC 7 compilation entitled Some of Our Archives Were Missing on 29 May 2004.

It was believed that the aborted series had ended; however, Lowe's wife, actress Joan Cooper, assured Snoad and Knowles that the series should continue, with Ian Lavender, Bill Pertwee and Vivienne Martin joining the cast. This being a success, twelve more episodes were commissioned as part of a thirteen-part series.

Aftermath

In a 1998 interview, Bill Pertwee, when prompted, believed that, had John Le Mesurier not died, the BBC "probably would have done another series". Up until 2000, the only episodes held in the BBC archives were "The Business Proposition", "The Bank Loan" and "Pike in Love", in addition to the original pilot, "Loyal Support", which had been returned by co-writer Harold Snoad prior to the BBC Treasure Hunt campaign.

Media releases

The original pilot and the first three episodes of the series were released in September 2010, on a compact disc titled Classic BBC Radio Comedy: It Sticks Out Half a Mile. A second CD, containing the next four episodes and titled It Sticks Out Half a Mile: Continued, was released in February 2012. Both were also released as audiobooks. The whole series, including the original pilot, was subsequently released as a CD and audiobook in October 2019.

The original pilot was released on the Dad's Army: The Complete Radio Series: Series 3 compact disc in May 2015. The pilot was also released on the collector's edition of series three, released in March 2004.

Reception

Reception for the series was mixed, with reviewers praising the performances of the central actors yet criticising the show's humour and its overall quality compared to Dad's Army. According to Pertwee, large groups of people, many of whom were Dad's Army fans, lined up to attend the recording for the first episode of the series on 11 September 1982, a rare occurrence for radio programmes at that time.

Television adaptations

There were two attempts to adapt It Sticks Out Half a Mile for television, without the Dad's Army characters. The first attempt was a pilot episode for BBC1, titled Walking the Planks. Filmed on location at a real pier, it starred Michael Elphick as Ron Archer (Hodges's equivalent), Richard Wilson as Richard Talbot (Wilson's equivalent), Gary Raynsford as Trevor Archer (Pike's equivalent) and Vivienne Martin as Talbot's secretary, now called Miss Baxter. Despite being watched by eleven million viewers, the BBC did not commission a series. In the role previously performed by Elphick, Bernard Cribbins was cast, and Angus Barnett took over the role of Trevor Archer. Snoad and Knowles were unhappy with this series, since, unlike the pilot for the BBC, High & Dry was filmed solely in the studio; they believed this was the reason the series lasted for only seven episodes.

See also

  • Dad's Army
  • Dad's Army radio series
  • Share and Share Alike
  • High & Dry

References

Citations

Works cited

  • It Sticks Out Half A Mile episode guide
  • BBC Treasure Hunt entry, with sound clip