Dads Army

Description: Walmington on Sea 1940, the manager of Martins Bank, George Mainwaring refuses credit to a customer who wants to cash a cheque. The man protests that as a war is on he would have thought banks would have abolished red tape nonsense, Mainwaring emphasises that this man could be a spy. Mainwaring is unaware that he is a Major General. Later, Mainwaring, his chief clerk, Wilson and junior clerk Frank Pike hear the Rt. Hon. Anthony Eden's call for local defence volunteers on the radio. Sweeping into action Mainwaring takes charge when he finds the local police are not prepared for a surge of applicants. Mainwaring appoints himself Captain, Wilson the sergeant and Jones, the local butcher, Lance Corporal after the old campaigner bribes him with some sausages; they base themselves in the local church hall. Across the English Channel, the Germans plot Operation Sealion, while the LDV plot the actions they will take when faced with the enemy. As the newly formed platoon discusses petrol bomb tactics two workman arrive at the church to dismantle a church bell to be melted down for the war effort. The vicar, a campanologist decides to give his bells one final ring, unaware that he triggers off what the LDV perceive as a warning of invasion by the Germans.