User Reviews

Another lost episode, there are several ways in which you can still experience A Stripe for Frazer. There's the 1974 radio version and the 2019 remake with the new cast, but the most novel adaptation is a 2016 animation made by the BBC, which uses the original soundtrack from the TV version which was recovered in 2008. The animation is basic but the caricatures are instantly recognisable and help to revive some of the visual gags that would otherwise be missed.

While I'd recommend the animated version, A Stripe for Frazer is honestly worth experiencing in any incarnation because this is another great episode with a very funny script and strong performances (from what I can hear). It's also an important episode for several reasons. For one, it provides the rather cruel closure to previous episode Sgt. Wilson's Little Secret, revealing that Wilson got out of marrying Mrs. Pike by just leaving her at the altar. This is also the episode in which Mainwaring finally gets his iconic cap, replacing the far less authoritative hat he had worn up to this point. Perhaps most importantly though, A Stripe for Frazer finally establishes Frazer as a genuinely discomfiting wild card. So far he had been portrayed as a mildly argumentative Scotsman but with this plot, in which he is given a promotion, the monstrous possibilities of his personality are unleashed as he goes power crazy in trying to secure a further promotion. By this point in the series, every main character bar Pike has had an episode dedicated to them and it has helped to flesh out the ensemble well, but Frazer's episode is a game changer, unveiling the character's full antagonistic potential. A Stripe for Frazer quickly hits its stride and maintains its very funny pace until its ambiguously disturbing ending, which leaves Frazer caught mid-violent outburst.