Past perfect

Last week I had the pleasure of lunching with Michael Medwin, who is the only surviving member of the cast of The Army Game (ITV, 1957–61).

Last week I had the pleasure of lunching with Michael Medwin, who is the only surviving member of the cast of The Army Game (ITV, 1957–61). He is 86 now, but amazingly sharp and chipper, still an active and successful impresario. He is anxious that the show is not forgotten, because in its day — shortly after the start of ITV — it was the most popular programme on television. But it has inevitably faded from memory; the first few series were broadcast live, which meant there were no recordings (and they’d probably have been destroyed anyway — the tapes of two later series made by Medwin were simply binned by Associated-Rediffusion. And later the BBC unforgivably destroyed nearly all episodes of Cook and Moore’s brilliant Not Only, But Also, while, for some reason, keeping every Trooping the Colour. ‘And now, another chance to see 1962, when it rained.’ In those days television was as disposable as a paper tissue).

The Army Game began just two years after ITV started. The set was basic — a hut, and to one side the CO’s office. They had to hit the ‘natural break’ and the ending on time, or else they’d have been faded, even if it meant losing a punchline. The show soon kept people in on Friday nights, though there were still middle-class families who refused to watch commercial television. But it was performed in Chelsea, and Medwin recalls women from Belgravia phoning to ask if nanny could bring the children. One general thought it was a documentary, and complained to the War Office.