Operation Kilt
| "Operation Kilt" | |
|---|---|
| Dad's Army episode | |
| Episode no. | Series Two Episode 007 |
| Directed by | David Croft [1] |
| Story by | Jimmy Perry and David Croft [1] |
| Produced by | David Croft [1] |
| Original air date | Saturday 1/3/69 7.00pm [1] (recorded Sunday 13/10/68 [1]) |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
Operation Kilt is an episode in the British comedy series Dad's Army which was originally transmitted on Saturday 1 March 1969.
Synopsis
The platoon have to defend the church hall from a platoon of Highlanders on an exercise.
Plot
Captain Mainwaring leads the platoon in required PT exercises, injuring himself in the process and being briefly interrupted by Mrs Pike, who brings a rifle bolt Private Pike left at home and that she cleaned in the sink. Captain Ogilvie of the Highland Unit then arrives to inform them that they are to participate in a training exercise where the Highlanders will attempt to capture the Platoon's headquarters, starting at 10pm tomorrow. A complicated system of paints will be used to mark the dead, wounded, captured and so on. Ogilvie is dismissive of the group's competency as soldiers and punches Pike in the stomach to test him - only to recoil in pain while Pike doesn't even flinch. After Ogilvie leaves, it turns out he punched Pike's rifle bolt (which he put down his vest earlier).
The platoon decide to sneak into the Highlanders' headquarters at a local farm to spy on them, so Private Walker and Private Frazer 'borrow' a pantomime cow costume. Mainwaring dismisses the idea, insisting it won't work, but Walker and Frazer decide to try anyway - only to return bruised and battered after running into a bull. Sergeant Wilson then suggests a Trojan Horse, with a haycart containing a platoon member being placed at the farm. After Pike turns out to have hayfever, Lance Corporal Jones acts as the spy and discovers that the Highlanders plan to start early and sneak through the woods to get to Walmington-on-Sea.
Early that night, Mainwaring leads the platoon in rigging all the paths through the woods with man traps inspired by a Tarzan film. Seven traps work, but when Jones goes to lead the last man in the eighth trap, he gets caught himself. As the platoon rescue him, they find themselves at the mercy of Captain Ogilvie, the last free member of the Highland Unit. Declaring that they are now all 'dead', Ogilvie goes to snatch their paint, only to blunder into the man trap. Mainwaring and Wilson are disgusted as they suddenly discover what Scotsmen REALLY wear under their kilts.
Notes
- This episode was missing from the BBC's television archives for many years and was thought to be lost forever. However in June 2001 this episode and The Battle of Godfrey's Cottage were returned to the BBC after almost 25 years. The containers that the episodes were held in were in poor condition and the film was badly deteriorated. However, following laborious work by BBC technicians, it was restored to an acceptable condition and re-transmitted.
Cast
- Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring
- John Le Mesurier as Sergeant Wilson
- Clive Dunn as Lance Corporal Jones
- John Laurie as Private Frazer
- James Beck as Private Walker
- Arnold Ridley as Private Godfrey
- Ian Lavender as Private Pike
- Janet Davies as Mrs Pike
- James Copeland as Captain Ogilvy
- Colin Daniels as Small Boy
Radio episode
| "Operation Kilt" | |
|---|---|
| Dad's Army episode | |
| Episode no. | Series One Episode 009 |
| Story by | Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles [1] |
| Produced by | John Dyas |
| Original air date | Monday 25/3/74, 6.15pm [1] (recorded Monday 23/7/73 [1]) |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
Notes
References
- "Operation Kilt" at BBC Programmes
- "Operation Kilt" at IMDbLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- "Operation Kilt" at TV.com
