Directed by David Croft Running time 30 minutes | Produced by David Croft | |
Episode no. Series Seven
Episode 061 Story by Jimmy Perry and David Croft Original air date Friday 15/11/74 7.45pm
(recorded Sunday 27/10/74) | ||
Everybody's Trucking is the first episode of the seventh series of the British television sitcom Dad's Army that was originally transmitted on Friday 15 November 1974.
Contents
Synopsis
Mainwaring's platoon have to signpost the route for a military convoy passing through the area. However, an abandoned steam roller and fairground organ trailer are blocking the route, which threatens to plunge the convoy into chaos.
Plot
In the church hall yard, Jones is showing off his newly restored butchers' van to the platoon. Mainwaring arrives with some very important news: three battalions of regular troops are to move into the Walmington and Eastgate areas as part of the divisional scheme, and as the signposts have been removed, the platoon have been asked to signpost the route to allow the convoys to pass through safely.
En route, they find the road blocked by an abandoned steam roller and fairground organ trailer, and a note from its driver reveals that he's gone to get some coal. Rather than wait for him to return, Mainwaring decides to drive around the vehicles. Whilst doing so, Jones's van gets stuck in the mud and before long it is joined by Hodges' van, his motor-bike and side-car and a coach carrying pensioners on a day trip (who take the opportunity to dance to the organ when Pike who is trying to move the trailer accidentally starts it up). With time running out, it falls to Godfrey's Auntie Elsie to save the day and divert the convoy.
Radio episode
When this episode was adapted for radio, Harold Snoad and Michael Knowles made big changes to the script. The most significant change was that rather than being held up by a steam roller, the platoon is held up by a circus truck, containing one elephant.