Dirty Den in Dad's Army revamp

Leslie Gratham is set to star in the comeback of classic sitcom Dad's Army.

The comedy television series which ran for nine years between 1968 and 1975 has been revived for the stage with former EastEnders actor Grantham, 59, playing Private Joe Walker.

The theatre production will showcase three of the show's episodes, including two that were lost by the BBC in the 1960s and have never been found.

In the first of the lost episodes, which have only survived in the form of scripts, the platoon try to ensure that Pte Walker is not drafted into the war by giving him flat feet.

The show, being put together by the Herefordshire-based theatre production company Calibre, begins in September and is expected to tour venues in Stevenage, Northampton, Dartford, Southend, Cardiff, Wycombe and Manchester's Lowry Centre.

It is the first professional stage production since Dad's Army, A Nostalgic Music and Laughter Show of Britain's Finest Hour, in 1975, which featured some of the original cast.

The show's producer, Ed O'Driscoll, said: "The British public love Dad's Army and they will not have been able to see the lost episodes unless they watched the original the first time around."

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