User Reviews

The gradual improvement of series 9 continues apace with probably its best episode. Number Engaged isn't quite vintage Dad's Army but it is a very good episode. One of those heightened-stakes mini-adventures that Dad's Army did so well, Number Engaged sees the platoon guarding a crucial telephone line and finding an unexploded bomb tangled up in it. The attempts to retrieve the bomb without setting it off use good physical comedy without drifting into silly, repetitive slapstick. One scene, in which Pike plummets from an awkwardly stacked pile of furniture, is comparatively spectacular for a 70s sitcom, and the conclusion cleverly loops back to a seemingly unrelated plot point from earlier that Croft and Perry expertly layer in without drawing attention to its eventual function. It's noticeable that Arnold Ridley is missing from a good deal of the location shooting, with a brief insert of Godfrey in a studio only making this more conspicuous. Apparently he had a heavy cold during filming, which is testament to just how fragile the elderly stars of Dad's Army were becoming. It's a credit to director Bob Spiers that he could still turn in such a lively, physical episode this late in the game.