REMAKES of classics can be fraught with danger and too often they end up being flops. Psycho, Arthur and the The Omen especially spring to mind, but it’s even more risky when a film attempts to take an iconic TV series from small to silver screen.

A fact not lost on BAFTA nominated director Oliver Parker who has garnered a formidable British cast in his bid to bring back Dad’s Army. And it really is a who’s who, including global heavyweights Bill Nighy, Michael Gambon and Tom Courtenay.

Parker is also treading carefully by asking original writer Jimmy Perry to be an executive producer, but the wisest move has to be choosing Bridlington for the location.

Dad’s Army was always redolent of nostalgia, even in the 1970s, and could any other seaside town in England so perfectly act as Walmington-on-Sea?

The TV series was also noted for its acute character studies and we think Gambon as Godfrey and Nighy as Wilson are inspired castings. But naming Inbetweener star Blake Harrison as Pike is little short of genius. Dad’s Army, the movie, will have a lot to live up to, but with a cast, location and director of this calibre there is every chance it will succeed. Indeed David Croft used to say the jokes were 30 years out of date when the series went out, so they have definitely stood the test of time.

Apparently this time round the gags revolve around a spy who may have infiltrated Captain Mainwaring’s platoon. Just don’t tell him your name, Pike.