''Dad's Army'' (1968–1977) Inspired after seeing a television showing of the
Will Hay comedy
Oh, Mr Porter! (1937), he decided to use Hay's comedy device of "the pompous man in charge, old man and young boy", for his own project. Meanwhile, Perry was also gaining work in television bit parts. He was sent by his agent, Ann Callender, to be cast in an episode of a sitcom starring
Reg Varney entitled
Beggar My Neighbour which was being produced by Callender's husband,
David Croft. Perry showed Croft an outline for a sitcom derived from his experiences in the Home Guard, then entitled
The Fighting Tigers, which resulted in the producer taking the idea to
Michael Mills, then the BBC Head of Comedy. As well as the character of Private Pike, modelled on himself, an elderly man he had known in the Home Guard had served with
Lord Kitchener and became the basis for Corporal Jones. Despite the doubts, the first episode was screened on 31 July 1968, with Perry making a
cameo appearance as the entertainer Charlie Cheeseman in the sixth episode, "
Shooting Pains". At its peak, the show had ratings of 18 million. It ran for nine years, from 1968 to 1977, and led to two film versions (
released in 1971 and
2016), a
stage show and a
radio version. In the 2013
Telegraph interview, Perry said: "It amazes me. I think it's because it's the thing that all British people savour: we were on our own at that time and we didn't turn away. ''Dad's Army'' reminds us of our finest hour." It lasted for one series of six episodes, and although Perry claimed the series was quite well received, it did not warrant a second series. However, the critics largely did not approve, one saying "I found the script banal and beyond reason", with another simply saying "what a load o of rubbish". All six episodes are missing from the
BBC Archives, and are presumed lost; only a few stills and audio fragments survive.
Lollipop Loves Mr Mole (later Lollipop, 1971–1972) Lollipop Loves Mr Mole (1971–1972), shortened to
Lollipop for its second series, also featured Hugh Lloyd, and was Perry's only domestic sitcom. Both were written without a collaborator.
''It Ain't Half Hot Mum'' (1974–1981) Perry and Croft continued their collaboration with ''
It Ain't Half Hot Mum'' (1974–1981), which Perry's
Times obituarist termed "humour of the broadest kind". Perry defended the series, acknowledging the language was homophobic, The character of bombardier Solomons (played by
George Layton) is thought to represent Perry when he was working with
ENSA during WW2.
The Rear Guard (1976) The Rear Guard was a 1976 pilot episode based on the ''
Dad's Army'' episode, "
The Deadly Attachment" made for the American network
ABC, but neither Jimmy Perry or David Croft were involved in the writing process. The pilot was aired on 10 August 1976, and received overwhelming poor feedback from American audiences and did not develop into a series. In an interview Perry said that he and Croft "arrived in a limousine and left in a taxi".
Turns (1982–1989) At the end of the 1970s, Perry became involved as presenter in a BBC series called
Turns, dedicated to
music hall acts of the 1930s and 1940s as featured in films of the era.
Hi-de-Hi (1980–1988) For
Hi-de-Hi! (1980–1988), Perry once again collaborated with David Croft. He used his time working as a Butlin's Redcoat as an inspiration. Perry said of the series in 2009 that "of all the shows that David Croft and I did together
Hi-de-Hi!, from the first time it went on air, took off like a rocket." Despite the pilot episode attracting audience ratings of only 4.4 million, by the time the series came out audience ratings had increased to 15.45 million. and has been successful in
Hungary. The series featured many cast members from other series that Perry had worked on, including
Michael Knowles and
Donald Hewlett from ''It Ain't Half Hot Mum
, Paul Shane, Jeffrey Holland and Su Pollard from Hi-de-Hi!
, and Bill Pertwee from Dad's Army
. Both Perry and Croft later cited You Rang, M'Lord?'' as their best work.
London Calling (1994) In 1994, he worked on a sitcom about the early years of the BBC in the 1920s,
London Calling, which was broadcast on radio for four episodes. "That's the one I was most proud, but the BBC said it was a bit old-fashioned", Perry said in 2014. Perry even admitted that "they were terrible, so bad even the cameramen walked out. People are kind and often say 'Oh they couldn't have been as bad as all that.' Believe me, they were as bad as all that."
''That's Showbiz, 'The Lights, The Music & The Knife In The Back'' (1997) Perry always retained a special fondness for the theatre. In the late 1990s, he started his most ambitious theatrical venture, a stage musical about the cut-throat world of comedy and the variety theatre which was called ''That's Showbiz, 'The Light, The Music & The Knife In The Back'.
The music was by Roy Moore. The show premiered at the New Wimbledon Theatre in 1997. The show had a familiar cast for British television viewers, including Ted Rogers, Su Pollard, Carmen Silvera and Peter Baldwin. Perry said of the play that "the show had become an obsession. I got carried away totally with my own conceit and ego. But it was nearly there. It was originally called Dirty Old Comics.'' If I could have cut about half an hour off it and re-cast some of it, the show could have worked. Unfortunately I lost about £80,000."
Unmade Series Throughout Perry's career there have been a number for ideas for series that were never pursued. After ''
Dad's Army Perry wanted to do a show called True Brits'' which was to be set in
Roman Britain with
Donald Hewlett and
Michael Knowles as Roman officers and
Paul Shane as a local tribes person painting 'Romans Go Home' on walls and so on. Perry also wanted
Su Pollard to feature in the series as a local Briton wearing square wooden glasses.
David Croft was not keen and the series was never taken any further; it was also later pointed out that the series may have been too similar to
Up Pompeii! and ''
Monty Python's Life of Brian. In 2009, Perry admitted that he had also written a pilot for another series saying "The idea I thought could have worked. I also wrote a pilot with Rosemary Anne Sisson called Women With Wings'' about the women who delivered planes during the war." Perry's career as a scriptwriter effectively ended with ''You Rang, M'Lord?''. "I don't think my type of writing is watched any more," he told James Rampton, writing for
The Independent in 1997. "There's a certain hardness and ruthlessness about today's humour. There's not a lot of love. The world's a tougher place now, and my type of writing is just too gentle." He did though admire
Absolutely Fabulous,
Men Behaving Badly and
One Foot in the Grave. Perry's autobiography,
A Stupid Boy, was published in 2002. == Personal life, honours and death ==