Talk:It Ain't Half Hot Mum

Flag of Burma

I am having trouble of editing on this page beacuse i am putting the flag of Burma on but i want the BRITISH one on you see. This is the flag i want on

The Colonial Flag (1937–1948)

but not this flag

Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma Flag (adopted on Jan. 3rd, 1974).
Flag ratio: 5:9 (also 2:3 and 6:11)

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.69.213.88 (talk) 17:26, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

I am also putting flags up of ALL the Characters and i hope you will like them (They will only go to Series 1 to Series 5)

ENSA

The whole article fails to mention ENSA - the official wartime entertainment organisation. Whyever not? Totnesmartin (talk)

Are you intentionally being a tit? This is a wikipedia artitle and you can edit it if you want to. Dainamo (talk) 21:09, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

"Privates On Parade" ?

This article states:
The scenario of the series is similar to the Peter Nichols play and film Privates on Parade.

That wording implies Privates On Parade appeared first.
IAHHM ran from 1974 to 1981, whereas PoP appeared in 1977.

Andy Ho's nationality

You have Andy Ho's nationality down as 'Chinese', and have the Taiwanese flag next to it. Taiwan is the "Republic of China", and China is the "People's Republic of China". The nationality for people from the Republic of China is generally given as 'Taiwanese', and people from the People's Republic of China are Chinese. In any case, the Internet Movie Database says he was from Singapore, which again is another place entirely. If you were referring to the character's nationality, as you have said on this talk page, and not that of the actor, then, as the character was serving in the British Army I would still recommend Singapore, as the Republic of China was never in the British Empire, and the People's Republic of China did not exist until after WW2. --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 20:49, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

Hong Kong was part of the British Empire but there were many ethnic Chinese in Singapore and Malaya. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.145.115.114 (talk) 09:42, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

Dino Shafeek's nationality

Dino Shaffer is put down as an Indian, but he is a Bangladeshi, as the imdb website and the Dino Shaffer wiki page says. Why is this the case? Ratibgreat (talk) 06:10, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

The show is set in the 1940s; Bangladesh has only existed from 1971 onwards. Jim Michael (talk) 20:25, 5 October 2011 (UTC)

What's that got to do with the nationality of the actor? --195.234.243.2 (talk) 09:35, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

Nothing, but given that the actor was born in 1930, he must have been born Indian..... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.225.149.5 (talk) 15:20, 22 May 2014 (UTC)

Prior to independence in 1947 all people born in India, with the exception of those born in the Princely states, were British subjects. That is why so many were able to come to Britain and live after Indian independence, they were already British 'citizens'. Anyone born within the British Empire was born "British", whether born in Huddersfield, Bombay, Kampala, Lagos, Kuala Lumpur, etc.

So when Rangi Ram (Michael Bates) refers to "We British" he wasn't being ironic. It only looks that way because the series was written in the 1970s. In the time the series was set, 1945, he was simply stating fact.

So if Mr Shafeek was born in India in 1930 then he was/is "British" unless he chose to be something else later, perhaps when Bangladesh was formed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.145.115.114 (talk) 09:40, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

Harold/Stanley/Willie Sugden

Gunner Sugden's name seems to change whenever it's mentioned. The first time it's mentioned as "Harold Herbert Horace", the secont ime it's mentioned as "Willie" and the third mention is in a music track by Windsor Davies as "Stanley". Which one is correct? ggctuk (2005) (talk) 18:53, 28 June 2012 (UTC)

Trivia

I don't recall a "bunch of poofs", but just "poofs", and always mouthed. "Bunch of" is U.S. slang. The Welsh origins of the sergeant imply a dislike of the English, particularly the educated middle class Gunner Graham. I didn't realize we are cunning and devious! Well perhaps Owen Ap Gryffyd was quite devious in the way he got his fat ugly daughter married off to an English prince.220.244.79.211 (talk) 09:15, 15 March 2013 (UTC)

I'm watching series 5 at the moment, and the sergeant major has called the concert party a "bunch of poofs" 2 or 3 times, out loud, not mouthed. 211.31.206.14 (talk) 03:19, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Was it true that Leonard Rossiter once auditioned for the part of BSM Williams, but it went to Windsor Davies instead?

Meltingpot (talk) 13:46, 5 October 2024 (UTC)

Yes. According to this article, writers Perry and Croft initially wanted Rossiter to play Williams. However, Rossiter rubbed Croft and Perry the wrong way in a meeting, critisising the role, so the writers offered Windsor Davies the part instead. Mr Sitcom (talk) 00:26, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

"Racism" stops repeats on TV

Jimmy Perry says the series isn't aired any more because of the perceived racism prevalent at the time the series portrays. https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/lack-of-repeats-for-it-aint-half-hot-mum-is-censorship-says-dads-army-creator-092822349.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.151.30.194 (talk) 16:58, 14 June 2016 (UTC)

Reception section

This currently consists entirely of uber recent, racist, 'SJW' whining about the casting of a native Hindi speaking, India born, actor of European heritage in an Indian role without any reference whatsoever to the extremely positive contemporary reaction to the show which established it as a fondly remembered cult classic. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.16.208.239 (talk) 15:18, 16 August 2017 (UTC)

Yes, it's funny that the only 'Indian' actor in the show who was actually born and grew up in India was in fact Michael Bates. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.150.11.160 (talk) 12:29, 10 October 2017 (UTC)

Gunner Graham

Is it ever explained why an educated man like Gunner Graham is not a commissioned officer?Paulturtle (talk) 15:50, 17 November 2018 (UTC)

There's no need. A lot of 'educated men' served in the ranks, and the media stereotype of 'upper-class officer, working-class private soldier' isn't very accurate. In Graham's case presumably he either didn't have the necessary qualities of leadership and initiative, or simply didn't want the job. Paulwilliam2 (talk) 15:03, 19 January 2019 (UTC)

Well, yes and no, and the fact he is not an officer is worthy of comment. Commissioning because people came from the right background wasn't completely automatic like it was until about 1916, but at the same time there was a pressing need for officers, and those who were in a position to talent-spot were expected to do so, both during initial recruitment and thereafter. My own father, a grammar school boy but not at the time a university graduate, was commissioned from the ranks about halfway through the war, and declined to apply for a commission the first time he was encouraged to do so (his own father told him not to be so stupid). In fact, frontline units sometimes complained about the poor quality of junior officers sent out to them, but it was a bit of a necessary conveyor belt. During the 1950s the threshold for achieving a commission was sharpened up quite a bit, doubtless for political reasons - I have a number of elderly friends who failed their officer training during National Service, and ended up in a clerical NCO role to soften the blow a bit. Quite a few famous people failed their officer training during National Service as well (John Peel, Tam Dalyell, Richard Ingrams, Martin Bell MP off the top of my head). But I've never heard of anyone "failing" in WW2 (it may have happened in a few cases, but I've never come across a single one).

Many of the characters in Dad's Army have their back stories explained, but in this series apparently not.Paulturtle (talk) 05:59, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

"his own father told him not to be so stupid" - do you mean not to be so stupid as to apply, or not to be so stupid as to decline to apply? Harfarhs (talk) 11:54, 2 October 2024 (UTC)

From memory, there is one episode where they are being attacked (by bandits or whoever) and are carrying (?) some dummy rifles. Graham suggests putting the dummy rifles out to tempt the baddies so they can apprehend them, or something. Captain Ashwood is impressed, and says to the Colonel "He's a smart man, he should be an officer", but the Colonel just sucks on his pipe and says "takes more than brains to make an officer" or whatever. But I don't recall they ever took that plot thread any further.Paulturtle (talk) 19:56, 22 January 2019 (UTC)

It was quite common for people considered to be 'officer material' to refuse commissions and instead serve in the ranks, mostly because they had socialist or pacifist sympathies. This also happened in the 14-18 war. Gunner Graham is actually one of the more realistic characters in the show. --Ef80 (talk) 13:46, 10 July 2021 (UTC)

Missing the point

"Though he often speaks of himself as British, he will show divided loyalty when his Indian aspect is under threat – when asked to burn the Indian flag by the Sergeant Major, he refused."

He's extremely nervous when ordered to burn the flag, because he has a number of Indians standing behind him. When Battery Sergeant Major Williams askes where his loyalties lie, he replies it depends who asks him. His divided loyalties at this moment are from self preservation, they are not part of his identity.81.101.246.55 (talk) 19:51, 27 March 2019 (UTC)

It Ain't Half Four Hours Mum

"and once stayed on punishment in the canteen four hours after he was relieved as he was enjoying himself" - two hours, not four.81.101.246.55 (talk) 12:05, 28 March 2019 (UTC)

Blood groups

I looked into this in an old episode on youtube, I thought that they might have got this wrong, but Gunner Graham is actually right when he says that Parky cannot be the BSM's son. Maybe the scriptwriters consulted somebody who knew a bit about blood groups. PatGallacher (talk) 14:54, 10 April 2019 (UTC)

In the days before DNA testing, comparing blood groups was a fairly standard and widely recognised way of determining - or rather discounting - paternity. Nick Cooper (talk) 20:16, 10 April 2019 (UTC)

Parkin's age

"Parkins was born on 2 October 1924, making him 21 years old, a birthday which he celebrates in at the end of Series 4 in the episode "Twenty-One"."

But the Second World War was over by 2 October 1945; so either the birthday is wrongly stated here, or the description in the lead of the series' setting ought to read something like "during and after the last months of the Second World War". I imagine the second of these is correct. Harfarhs (talk) 08:50, 17 February 2020 (UTC)

The series is not free of continuity errors and also there was some poor foresight of how long it would last. There's a scene in the first season where Germany's surrender is announced which would mean about fifty episodes are set in a period of just over three months (which, I presume, is the presumption behind "the last months of the Second World War"). However it's somewhat difficult to fit almost the whole series into such a narrow window of time and there are later episodes that reference dates outside the window of 8 May - 15 August. The German surrender isn't a defining element of the overall story so I guess that scene was either forgotten about or considered a minor comedy moment that was worth ignoring to tell later stories (in the 1970s British TV repeats were mainly second screenings from the preceding season or the one before, not revisits to the early years of a long running show, so audiences were unlikely to remember this sort of detail).

Parkin's year of birth is also inconsistent - early on it's given as 1925, long before the birthday episode. Timrollpickering (Talk) 21:51, 23 February 2020 (UTC)

Interesting - I wonder whether there's a technical word for this sort of thing - events in the fictional world clearly taking far longer than the real world backdrop against which they are supposedly set. Obviously true of "Dad's Army" which went on longer than the actual war. Also famously true in literature of Patrick O'Brian's Aubtrey-Maturin novels, in which several years' worth of fictional events are crammed into six-month time slots in 1812 and 1813, because he wrote far more novels than he had originally planned to write. An amusing bit of chronological fudge in the early episodes has the officers reading in their newspaper about the end of the war in Europe - and also about the death of Lloyd George. For many years I wrongly thought that Lloyd George had died around the time of VE Day, because I had that imprinted in my mind. In fact he died at the end of March 1945.Paulturtle (talk) 15:04, 10 May 2020 (UTC)

"events in the fictional world clearly taking far longer than the real world backdrop against which they are supposedly set. Obviously true of "Dad's Army" which went on longer than the actual war."

Not "obviously true" at all. Dad's Army only lasted longer than the actual war because of TV scheduling, and there is never any reason in principle to assume a simple and unchanging relationship between the schedule and the fictional time depicted. In some cases an episode might show events immediately following those of the previous episode (as with the use of a "cliffhanger", though not restricted to the use of that device). Harfarhs (talk) 11:23, 4 October 2024 (UTC)

I ought to have stated in my original comment that "during and after the last months of the Second World War" is obviously correct, because it is ludicrous to imagine that anyone would have been demobilized from the East (as opposed to posted elsewhere) while hostilities continued there - and yet the concert party members are demobilized, in the final episode of the final series, at a time of year when thick fog blankets the British port at which they arrive. Harfarhs (talk) 20:18, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

Not repeated

The series is not repeated because it has dated badly, according to the BBC. The idea that it is not repeated because it's racist was just a theory by the late Jimmy Perry. (81.147.63.254 (talk) 15:51, 29 May 2020 (UTC))

Do you have a source that says this? --Escape Orbit ^(Talk) 15:59, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

The BBC denied reports it isn't repeated due to the racist content. (81.147.63.254 (talk) 16:52, 29 May 2020 (UTC))

Yes, so you have said before. Do you have a source that confirm this? Your word alone is not sufficient. --Escape Orbit ^(Talk) 17:12, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

Neutrality

The sections on the representations of Indians etc should includes both the quotes which consider that criticizing the programme is just "political correctness" and quotes from people (Indians, for example) who think it is appropriate not to repeat such material because it is offensive.2A01:CB08:8BE:AA00:4831:741A:E522:7211 (talk) 06:22, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

I moved your contribution to keep sections in chronological order. Yes, it is unfortunate all of the citations are to writers of European descent. Feel free to add citations to reliable sources by people from the sub-continent or its diaspora. Philip Cross (talk) 06:33, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

Will they also be looking into Little Britain and Benidorm and... This is not supposed to be intellectualized, its comedy! What about pantomimes? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:8800:1701:AFD0:7DAD:5848:1E7E:98C0 (talk) 16:10, 30 April 2022 (UTC)

Character biographies: BSM Williams

"The Sergeant Major is the only professional soldier among the concert party and its officers."

According to my memory (albeit clear memory) this is untrue, although the dreaded script inconsistency may be the reason. In (what I suppose must have been) the final episode, covering the soldiers' demobilization, Col. Reynolds speaks (doesn't he?) to Gloria, saying "Of course you are not a professional soldier like the Sergeant-Major and myself, but you have proved that.. you are a man!" (this is a near paraphrase of what I heard). Harfarhs (talk) 17:12, 19 June 2023 (UTC)