Dad’s Army creator Jimmy Perry passes away

Some of you may have seen that the creator of Dad's Army sadly passed away this week. Jimmy Perry, who created so many of Britain's favourite sitcoms died on October 22nd at the grand age of 93.

Not only did he come up with the idea for Dad's Army – which recently got a great reboot with an all-star cast – he, alongside David Croft, was also responsible for Hi-de-Hi and It Ain't Half Hot Mum, which are still watched today. 

What makes these shows so great is that the dynamic duo based a lot of the comedy on their own experience, which is probably why the shows resonated so much with the people of Britain.

Jimmy was born in 1923 in South-west London, making him too young to join the army when World War Two started. However, he did serve in the local Home Guard for two years – the character of Private Pike was based loosely on himself – before joining up in 1941. This was when he got sent to Burma, which gave him experiences enough to write It Ain't Half Hot Mum.

Showing that he was a man of many talents, after serving in the Army, he became a redcoat at Butlins, with the money he earned going toward helping him pay for actor training at Rada. It was this job experience that ultimately inspired Hi-de-Hi.

Dad's Army is arguably his best-known work – he also wrote the very catchy theme song – running for nine years from 1968. At a time when television was still a fledgeling industry, the show did incredibly well, regularly drawing audiences of more than 18 million people. 

Jimmy passed away at home surrounded by family and loved ones after a short illness. Tributes immediately began pouring in from fans and colleagues, not only for his work but for him as a person.

Ian Lavender, who played Private Pike in the original series of Dad's Army, said: "I am sorry to hear about Jimmy, he has been a part of my life for such a long time.

"He was half of one amazing partnership, it is certainly the end of an era and of course brings back so many wonderful memories.

"There were lots of good times together with much laughter."

It looks like we all need to tuck into some Dad's Army reruns this week.