Hello and welcome to part 1 of Episode 35 - a very special edition of the Dad’s Army podcast. Special, for two reasons – (1) it’s the 2009 Locations Tour podcast and (2) I had a nightmare in editing this edition so it’s much shorter than usual – and this is also the reason why the podcast has been delayed so much this time around.

Anyway - the day before Perry and Croft day 2009, a group of intrepid Dad’s Army fans boarded a double decker bus (a routemaster, no less) and ventured over Stanta – the huge Ministry of Defence training ground used by the Dad’s Army production crew for the vast majority of location shooting back in the 1960 and 70s. We were accompanied by a very large soldier who prevented us from getting blown up. This podcast are (the majority) of the recordings I made during the tour. Frank Williams (the Vicar) joined us and regaled us with tales of filming Dad's Army. Tony Pritchard of the Dad’s Army Appreciation Society provides the inside info on a number of locations.

So hop on the bus, come with us as we visit locations used in Command Decision, The Test, Come in, Your Time is Up, Room at the Bottom, Battle of the Giants and even the copse of woods used in the end titles! Part 2 of the locations tour will be on-line in a couple of weeks - sorry its not all on one podcast - computer problems!

My thanks go to Paul Carpenter, Tony Pritchard and Tony Tarran for inviting me along, and I hope you enjoy the results.