Characters

Captain Mainwaring
(Arthur Lowe)

Captain Mainwaring

Capt. Mainwaring was the pompous - if essentially brave and unerringly patriotic - local bank manager and self-appointed leader of his town's contingent of Local Defence Volunteers. One of only two adult members with no prior combat experience, a fact which sometimes caused tension with the other members of the Home Guard.


Sergeant Wilson
(John Le Mesurier)

Sergeant Wilson

Wilson was a diffident, upper-class bank clerk, and Mainwaring's inferior in the bank and on parade. His suave, understated social superiority, public school education and handsome looks led to a certain amount of jealousy on Mainwaring's part. During the First World War he fought in the Royal Artillery


Lance-Corporal Jones
(Clive Dunn)

Lance-Corporal Jones

Jones was the oldest member of the platoon (born 1870), but played by a younger actor. Jones was a boy soldier in the campaign of Kitchener of Khartoum in the Sudan and also fought in the First World War. By 1940 he worked as the town butcher, which occasionally enabled him to supplement his superiors' meat rations. Jones was leader of the platoon's first section. He has a story for every occasion, and will never hesitate in telling it, regardless of how long-winded or irrelevant it is.


Private Walker
(James Beck)

Private Walker

Walker was a black market "spiv" the only fit able-bodied man of military age in Walmington-on-Sea's Home Guard. His absence from the regular armed forces was due to a corned beef allergy, although it was implied that Walker had played the system. Mainwaring often turned a blind eye to his profiteering as he could sometimes supply the platoon (and Mainwaring) with useful items.


Private Pike
(Ian Lavender)

Private Pike

The youngest platoon member, Pike is a cosseted mother's boy and often the target of Mainwaring's derision as well as a junior bank clerk. He referred to Wilson as "Uncle Arthur", and although never explicitly stated, it was often implied that Wilson and Pike's mother were having a relationship, and that perhaps Wilson was Pike's father.


Private Frazer
(John Laurie)

Private Frazer

Frazer was a dour Scottish coffin maker / local undertaker and a Chief Petty Officer in the Royal Navy who fought at the Battle of Jutland. Frazer was tight with money, had wild staring eyes, and was known for issuing regular pronouncements of doom.


Private Godfrey
(Arnold Ridley)

Private Godfrey

Godfrey, whilst not as old as Jones, was certainly the frailest member of the platoon, and was the platoon's medical orderly. He had served in World War One winning the Military Medal before becoming a tailor at the Army & Navy Stores. Godfrey was an amiable, vague, lifelong bachelor who lived with his sisters in an idyllic cottage, and was a martyr to his weak bladder, leading to many requests to be "excused.”


ARP Warden Hodges
(Bill Pertwee)

ARP Warden Hodges

Hodges was the platoon's major rival and nemesis. An uncompromising, grumpy greengrocer by day, and Chief Air Raid Warden by night, he relishes in teasing the platoon when they are caught in sticky situations. His nickname for Mainwaring is "Napoleon" and he once had a fling with Mrs. Pike. He is her landlord.

Back to Dad's Army home