The two iconic Dad’s Army episodes BBC viewers will never watch again

Fans of Dad’s Army will never be able to watch two iconic episodes of the classic BBC sitcom ever again. The hit series aired from 1968 to 1977, before being brought back for a film adaptation in 2016 with a new cast. However, plenty of episodes were lost to the sands of time. This was due to the BBC's storage methods, as they regularly reused video tapes for cost-saving measures. Several lost episodes were later remade in 2019 starring an all-new cast, meaning episodes like The Loneliness of the Long Distance War and A Stripe for Frazer could be viewed by fans for the first time.

Other episodes will never be seen, including part of the BBC’s Christmas Night with the Stars from 1958 until 1972. The festive segment featured specially made seasonal shorts of some of the BBC’s best programmes, including Dad’s Army.

 Four segments aired in total as part of the special – Present Arms, Resisting the Aggressor Down the Ages, The Cornish Floral Dance and Broadcast to the Empire.

Currently, Present Arms is sadly missing from the BBC archives, after originally being transmitted in 1968. The soundtrack to the episode was recovered in 2008, but the footage remains missing after the master transmission tapes at the BBC were wiped for reuse.

Also missing is The Cornish Floral Dance – the BBC lost the recording, though an amateur sound recording remains available.

The BBC is well known for losing some of its broadcasts as it had no central archive until 1978, when the BBC Film and Videotape Library was created. Due to limited storage space, various videotapes were wiped to be used again for new programming.

Because series one of Dad’s Army sold poorly, and the BBC lacked interest in selling series two abroad, only a few copies of episodes were made for the first two seasons.