It Sticks Out Half a Mile

It Sticks Out Half a Mile serves as a sequel series to the television wartime sitcom ''Dad's Army'', which followed a platoon of Home Guard soldiers during the Second World War. The sequel series follows the lives of two of the members of the Home Guard platoon, the former Sergeant Arthur Wilson and Private Frank Pike, and their nemesis, the former Chief ARP Warden Hodges, three years after the war in 1948. Bert Hodges arrives in the seaside town of Frambourne-on-Sea (which is located on the same stretch of coastline as ''Dad's Army'''s Walmington-on-Sea, on the South Coast of England) with a plan to restore the town's near-decrepit pier back to its former glory. To achieve this goal, Hodges meets Frank Pike, now twenty-two and working at Woolworths, to convince him to enter a partnership to raise the needed funds. Pike's "uncle" (actually Pike's father), Arthur Wilson, is now the bank manager of the Frambourne branch of Swallow's Bank, so Hodges convinces Pike to ask Wilson for the £5,000 loan needed to purchase the pier. When Wilson refuses to invest such a sum of money in a such a venture, Pike blackmails Wilson over an affair that occurred when Wilson first moved to Frambourne. Wilson reluctantly agrees to give Hodges and Pike the loan, and the pier's renovation begins, but not without its challenges. The trio are met with opposition from Fred Guthrie, the lone chief attendant in charge of supervising the pier, while Wilson must ward off the advances of Miss Perkins, the chief cashier at Swallow's Bank, who is in love with him. ==Cast and characters==

(Pike), John Le Mesurier (Wilson), Vivienne Martin (Miss Perkins), Bill Pertwee (Hodges). Main • John Le Mesurier as Arthur Wilson, a former Sergeant in the Home Guard, who is now the manager of the Frambourne-on-Sea branch of Swallow's Bank. Possessing a calm and relaxed attitude to life, Wilson reluctantly acts as Pike and Hodges's financial advisor upon their purchase of Frambourne Pier. Hodges's first name in ''Dad's Army is William, but in It Sticks Out Half a Mile'', his first name has changed to Bert. • Hilda Braid as Mrs Briggs, a kindly widower. • Janet Davies as Mavis Pike, Pike's mother and Wilson's secret lover. ==Episodes==

All episodes, including "Loyal Support", the original pilot, were recorded at the Paris Studios in London. "Loyal Support" was produced by Jonathan James-Moore, while the regular series was produced by Martin Fisher. Original pilot (1981) Series 1 (1983-84) ==Production==

Development When ''Dad's Army ended after nine series in 1977, there were discussions about either continuing the series on the ITV network or for a sequel series to be produced which would follow the Walmington-on-Sea platoon as members of the town council in post-war Walmington. However, Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles instead submitted the idea for It Sticks Out Half a Mile'' to the BBC's radio department. Initially, the writers had intended the series to be produced for television, but the BBC suggested that a radio series would be more appropriate. Lowe had struggled to record the pilot, owing to his narcolepsy, which caused him to slur his words and fall asleep part way through recording; and the tape was wiped, but co-writer Snoad retained a copy which he later returned to the BBC. with the complete programme being heard on a BBC 7 compilation entitled Some of Our Archives Were Missing on 29 May 2004. It was believed that the aborted series had ended; however, Lowe's wife, actress Joan Cooper, assured Snoad and Knowles that the series should continue, with Ian Lavender, Bill Pertwee and Vivienne Martin joining the cast. This being a success, twelve more episodes were commissioned as part of a thirteen-part series. Aftermath In a 1998 interview, Bill Pertwee, when prompted, believed that, had John Le Mesurier not died, the BBC "probably would have done another series". This was supported by Lavender, who, in 1999, revealed that there were again discussions about adapting the series for television after the first series had aired. However, it was not until 2014 that news of a second series having been commissioned was confirmed. Producer Martin Fisher, speaking in a separate interview recorded before 2014, recalled that the first series "went out and [was] quite popular" with the public. Fisher was editing the final episode when he received the news that Le Mesurier had died, which "spelt the end of a second series, which had already been commissioned". The series was notable in that it featured some of Le Mesurier's final performances, being the final radio series he recorded before his death on 15 November 1983, two days after the first episode, "The Business Proposition", was broadcast. Pertwee later recalled, in May 2000, that the series "was like one last get-together, one last party with great friends". ==Release==

Broadcast and archival status The first nine episodes of the series were broadcast from 13 November 1983 to 15 January 1984 on Sunday afternoons at 1:30 pm. Each episode was repeated the following Friday at 10:00 pm, from 18 November 1983 to 20 January 1984. Later in the year, following a repeat airing of the first five episodes beginning 17 July 1984, the final four episodes of the series were broadcast from 21 August to 9 October 1984 at 10:30 pm. Up until 2000, the only episodes held in the BBC archives were "The Business Proposition", "The Bank Loan" and "Pike in Love", in addition to the original pilot, "Loyal Support", which had been returned by co-writer Harold Snoad prior to the BBC Treasure Hunt campaign. Media releases The original pilot and the first three episodes of the series were released in September 2010, on a compact disc titled Classic BBC Radio Comedy: It Sticks Out Half a Mile. A second CD, containing the next four episodes and titled It Sticks Out Half a Mile: Continued, was released in February 2012. Both were also released as audiobooks. The whole series, including the original pilot, was subsequently released as a CD and audiobook in October 2019. The original pilot was released on the ''Dad's Army: The Complete Radio Series: Series 3'' compact disc in May 2015. The pilot was also released on the collector's edition of series three, released in March 2004. ==Reception==

Reception for the series was mixed, with reviewers praising the performances of the central actors yet criticising the show's humour and its overall quality compared to ''Dad's Army. According to Pertwee, large groups of people, many of whom were Dad's Army'' fans, lined up to attend the recording for the first episode of the series on 11 September 1982, a rare occurrence for radio programmes at that time. ==Television adaptations==

There were two attempts to adapt It Sticks Out Half a Mile for television, without the ''Dad's Army characters. The first attempt was a pilot episode for BBC1, titled Walking the Planks.'' Filmed on location at a real pier, it starred Michael Elphick as Ron Archer (Hodges's equivalent), Richard Wilson as Richard Talbot (Wilson's equivalent), Gary Raynsford as Trevor Archer (Pike's equivalent) and Vivienne Martin as Talbot's secretary, now called Miss Baxter. Despite being watched by eleven million viewers, the BBC did not commission a series. In the role previously performed by Elphick, Bernard Cribbins was cast, and Angus Barnett took over the role of Trevor Archer. Snoad and Knowles were unhappy with this series, since, unlike the pilot for the BBC, High & Dry was filmed solely in the studio; they believed this was the reason the series lasted for only seven episodes. == See also ==