Paul Ritter as Jimmy Perry and Richard Dormer as David Croft.
It all started with an actor called Jimmy Perry who yearned for a juicy TV role. A veteran stage performer, Jimmy had scored some small parts on television but was hungry for a breakthrough role. He hit upon the idea for Dad's Army - based on his own experiences in the Home Guard - as a way to secure himself a plum part, intending to play black market spiv Private Walker. Eventually the role would go to James Beck after Perry was advised that being both writer and star might be overstretching.
John Sessions as Arthur Lowe and Julian Sands as John Le Mesurier.
David Croft, meanwhile, was working as a BBC comedy producer and had racked up many years of experience in television production. When he was introduced to Perry, the aspiring TV star pitched him his idea for a sitcom and Croft liked it immediately.
The pair took Perry's outline to the head of BBC comedy who expressed an interest and suggested that Croft work on the scripts with Perry, as he'd never written for TV before. So far so good, but it was far from smooth sailing as the budding sitcom writers were about to find out.
Sally Phillips as Ann Croft.
We're Doomed - The Dad's Army Story lovingly recreates the bumpy journey getting Perry and Croft's show onto Britain's tellies. Running from Perry's initial idea in 1967 until the transmission of the first episode in 1968, this affectionate and witty comedy-drama shows the beginnings of Perry and Croft's writing partnership and the casting woes, personal clashes and production difficulties that put the show's very existence in jeopardy.
Starring a host of notable actors and comedians including John Sessions, Sally Phillips, Julian Sands, Mark Heap, Shane Richie and Roy Hudd, the show reveals to fans and newcomers alike what went on behind the scenes of the classic sitcom that ran for eighty episodes and was eventually celebrated as the very essence of British humour.