The best military sitcoms…
There is something inherently ridiculous about the military that makes it an ideal topic for a sitcom.
The military is inherently ridiculous, and I say that as a former soldier, yet over the years some of our best television sitcoms have featured military life.
So lets have a look at the best five military sitcoms of all time, in my humble opinion.
5. It ain’t half hot mum
Not many people under fifty have seen It ain’t half hot mum! This early 1970’s sitcom contains content that doesn’t sit well with audiences today. It is available on Brit Box but comes with a warning. It is unlikely to ever be broadcast on live TV again, unless GB News sets up a light entertainment channel.
The sitcom, which ran to eight series, follows the exploits of a Royal Artillery Concert Party, in India, then Burma at the end of the Second World War. The series ran from 1974 to 1981 attracting up to 17 million viewers at its peak.
The star of the show was undoubtedly Windsor Davies as the constantly thwarted, Battery Sergeant-Major Williams, who wants the concert party disbanded so he can return to the front. His catch phrases, “Oh dear, how sad, Never mind!” and “Shut Up!” were part of the vocabulary of the 1970s.
On the negative side, “It ain’t half hot mum”is racist, homophobic and celebrates colonialism in a way that is unacceptable today, but it was also very, very funny.
Like many comedies it hasn’t aged well.
It aired at a time when many people in their fifties and sixties vividly remembered the war, and had fond memories of the events laid on to entertain, often horribly amateurish, but for troops waiting for the next “big push” or rotating out of the front line they offered a few hours of respite. I remember watching it with my grandfather, a former sergeant-major, with tears [of laughter] streaming down his face.
4. ‘Allo, ‘Allo!
‘Allo, ‘Allo is a parody of the BBC’s excellent Secret Army, which far eclipsed the original show. The Secret Army followed members of the Belgian resistance who helped repatriate Allied aircrews.
‘Allo, ‘Allo! focuses on the complex life and times of the hapless Rene Artois, played by Gordon Kaye, who lives with his wife, mother-in-law, two mistresses and aims help the resistance and collaborate with the Germans all at the same time without being shot by either side.
The show’s baudy humour, cultural stereo-typing and homophobia doesn’t play well to audiences today, but again at its height the show was a hugely popular prime-time TV show.
Instead the characters speaking English, French, German and Italian all of the actors speak English with strong stereo-typed accents. Everyone can understand everyone else except the British Airmen, and a highlight of the show was when Michelle from the resistance, played by Kirsten Cooke, would explain the plan to the increasingly confused airmen in a strong, upper class English accent, “Listen up chaps,…” This device was expanded upon by the addition of officer Crabtree in Series 2. Officer Crabtree, played by Arthur Bostrom, was an SOE (Special Operations Executive) agent dropped into occupied France, and whose French is so badly pronounced, and frequently innuendo laden, that it confused everyone. The phrase, “Good moaning” instead of “Good morning” kept us all amused throughout the eighties.
There was even a very popular, very adult, stage show, which I saw in 1988. Watching Gavin Richards, Captain “What a mistaka to maka” Bertorelli, telling the classic “My dogs got no nose…” joke in the style of Hitler at the Nuremberg rallies is one of funniest things I’ve ever seen.
3. Bluestone 42
Bluestone 42 is probably the most realistic of all of the military sitcoms in terms of capturing “Squaddie humour”. It follows the exploits of a bomb disposal detachment in Afghanistan. Bluestone four-two is the units call-sign.
Broadcast by BBC in 2013, at the height of the UK’s deployment in Afghanistan, many people thought that is was “Too soon?” to quote Scott Hoatson’s Private Euan “Rocket” Armstrong. At the end of series 1, episode 1 Rocket does an impression of the recently deceased American colonel, and when no one laughs he asks, “Too soon?”
Bluestone 42 is probably the most “woke” of all the military sitcoms, but that's not saying much. The padre asks (Corporal) Bird if she minds being called “Bird” and Katie Lyon’s character says, “…but that's my name.”
Bluestone 42 captures the spirit and humour of the modern army well, including the tension between “working class” soldiers and “upper class” officers. Matthew Lewis, better know to many as Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter Films, calls Nick a “Rupert” to his face, earning his own sobriquet, “Tower Block” in reprisal. Of all the episodes the one where Rocket and Mac have a “screech” eating contest, screech being the name given to the powdered orange or lemon drink found in ration packs. As they point out, “Screech is the hardest soft-drink known to man”.
2. Blackadder Goes Forth
The fourth series with Rowan Atkinson in the eponymous role of Edmund Blackadder is set in the trenches of the Western Front in the First World War. Initially considered “Bad taste” Blackadder Goes Forth is arguably the best and funniest of the series. It largely revolves around the escapades of Captain Black Adder, the dim-witted, upper-crust Lieutenant George, played by High Laurie, and their even more dim-witted batman (servant) Baldrick, played by Tony Robinson.
The cast were supported by the insane General Melchitt, played by Stephen Fry, Tim McInnery as Captain Darling and with a memorable cameo from the late-great Rik Mayall. With only six episodes Blackadder Goes Forth is short and sweet. My favourite episode is “Private Plane” where Rik Mayall plays the ebullient Squadron Commander the Lord Flashhart, at his non-PC best, with lines like, “…always treat your kite like you treat your woman!…get inside her five times a day and take her to heaven and back!” unlikely to get written today.
The final episode was particularly poignant, airing a few days before Armistice Day 1989, highlighting the futility of trench warfare and the bravery of those who served in the First World War. The final scene fades to the poppy fields of Flanders.
1. Dads Army
For me Dad’s Army was the best military sitcom of all time. With nine series, broadcast from 1968 to 1977 its eighty episodes are comedy gold. I remember watching Dad’s Army with my grandfather, a veteran of Dunkirk and the Normandy landing and laughing at the antics of the hapless Captain Mainwaring, Sergeant Wilson, Corporal Jones and Private Pike.
Dad’s Army follows the exploits of the Warmington-on-Sea” Home Guard through the Second World War. The Home Guard was a real-life military organization, effectively and armed citizen militia made up of those too old or too young serve in the regular armed forces or those in reserved occupations, such as coal miners.
Dad’s Army had a huge impact on British culture, with catch-phrases such as “Stupid Boy”, “Don’t panic, don’t panic!”, and “We’re all doomed. Doomed.” still in usage today. During officer training at Sandhurst one of my fellow cadets asked the Colour Sergeants leading our bayonet training about why in an era of tanks, drones and guided missiles soldiers were still effectively being taught how to use a spear. The answer, “…because they don’t like it up ‘em” which was of course Corporal Jones’ most famous catch-phrase.
My favourite episode of all time was when a German U-boat crew were captured and the Warmington-on-Sea Home Guard were given the task of guarding them until morning. The officious U-boat captain takes the names of anyone who insults him, the Nazis or Hitler. After Private Pike sings a song about Hitler he demands to know his name, and Captain Mainwaring says, “Don’t tell him, Pike”. This is a phrase deeply ingrained in the UK’s cultural heritage.
Dad’s Army was gentle, silly and thoroughly engaging comedy that subtly subverted the British Class System and the horrors of the war. Even now I still remember my grandfather, a veteran who saw action in some of the bitterest fighting in the war, chuckling at the antics of Dad’s Army.
Military comedies
I know many people will disagree with my list. You may note my focus has been very much on British military comedies. I guess a shout-out goes to Sgt. Bilko and of course, M*A*S*H, from the other side of the pond but there are far fewer US based military comedies. Perhaps the US take their military much more seriously than we do? Certainly the British armed forces have a well-defined sense of humour, and as my soldiers used to say, “If you can’t take a joke, you shouldn’t have joined”.