Timothy West joins Dad’s Army remake after Bernard Cribbins leaves production

Three episodes of the TV comedy about the British Home Guard during the Second World War are being recreated, and Cribbins was due to star as Private Godfrey, originally played by Arnold Ridley.

Cribbins has left the project for personal reasons and West, 84, is taking over.

“It is a special pleasure for me to be taking over Godfrey from Arnold Ridley who, coincidentally, wrote The Ghost Train, the play in which my parents met,” West said.

The three episodes being recreated for Gold are from the original second series and titled The Loneliness Of The Long-Distance Walker, A Stripe For Frazer and Under Fire.

Dad’s Army: The Lost Episodes will use the original scripts written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft.

The full platoon consists of Kevin R McNally as Captain Mainwaring, Robert Bathurst as Sergeant Wilson, Kevin Eldon as Lance Corporal Jones, Mathew Horne as Private Walker, David Hayman as Private Frazer and Tom Rosenthal as Pike.

The original series ran from 1968 to 1977.

Dad’s Army: The Lost Episodes will air on Gold later this year.