Turkey Dinner is the sixth episode of the seventh series of the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 comedy series Dad's Army

Dad's Army

Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...

that was originally transmitted on Monday the 23 December 1974.

Synopsis

After Jones' section shoots down a turkey, the platoon decide to hold a turkey dinner for the local OAPs

Pensioner

In common parlance, a pensioner is a person who has retired, and now collects a pension. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom and Australia where someone of pensionable age may also be referred to as an 'old age pensioner', or OAP. In the United States, the term retiree is more...

. Meanwhile, Mainwaring is preparing for a Rotary Club

Rotary International

Rotary International is an organization of service clubs known as Rotary Clubs located all over the world. The stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help...

 dinner.

Plot

Mainwaring tells Wilson that before a battle, their commander told them a joke. However, when Mainwaring attempts to cheer up his unusually quiet platoon with a joke, it doesn't work. Jones asks Mainwaring if he and his section can speak to him in private. Once in the office, Jones admits that he took his section for a quick drink in the Horse and Groom. Mainwaring is less than impressed, so is annoyed when he hears that they also stopped in the King's Head to stop Cheeseman shivering, and stopped in the Goat and Compasses.

Mainwaring is then amused to learn that Godfrey had begun to sing rather raucously, so he was taken into the Red Lion to sober up. The landlord had come up to Jones and had told him about something rustling in the haystack. Jones shot at the rustler, and was shocked to learn that it was a turkey, which is now plucked and stuffed in his fridge! Mainwaring is shocked, and insists that they pay Mr Boggis, farmer at the North Berrington Turkey Farm, the only place where the turkey could have come from, for the loss of his turkey.

However, Mr Boggis is not there. Mainwaring asks his slightly dim-witted farm worker where he is;

Mainwaring: "Where is Mr Boggis?"

Worker: It's Wednesday!"

Mainwaring (slowly): "Where is your master?"

Worker: It's Wednesday!"

Mainwaring (to Wilson): The man's an idiot, Wilson

Eventually they discover Mr Boggis is at market day. They attempt to count the birds, and discover after much chaos that one bird is missing, however the farm worker is unwilling to accept money for the bird. Therefore, Jones' section decides to hold a turkey dinner for the OAPs of Walmington-on-Sea

Walmington-on-Sea

Walmington-on-Sea is a fictional seaside resort where the BBC Television sitcom, BBC radio series and film Dad's Army was based.Located on the channel coast of England in the county of Kent, the national "front line" following the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk during...

. Mainwaring is delighted and decides to organise a Turkey Dinner General Purposes Committee, with himself as chairman of course. Mrs Fox will cook the turkey, Mrs Pike decides to make the stuffing, and Mrs Cheeseman will make the gravy.

Everything goes well, until Mainwaring emerges from the office in his dinner suit: he is guest speaker at a Rotary Club dinner. Pike whirls around with a plate in his hand, and accidentally spills gravy all over Mainwaring's suit. Jones uses blotting paper to get rid of the gravy, but ends up making a mess of Mainwaring's shirt, which he covers up with white enamel paint, which ends up on Mainwaring's dinner jacket.

A sling is the only answer to the problems, as it will not only hide the paint, but it will also make Mr Mainwaring appear more brave at the dinner. However, Hodges comes bursting through the door, bumping into Pike, and knocking gravy onto his sling once again.

Quotes

• Hodges (during the meeting for the planning of the dinner): "There's just one thing. Will old Jones here be serving turkey as a Home Guard, or eating it as a pensioner?"

Cast

Cast	Characters
Arthur Lowe Arthur Lowe Arthur Lowe was a BAFTA Award winning English actor. He was best known for playing Captain George Mainwaring in the popular British sitcom Dad's Army from 1968 until 1977.-Early life:...	Captain Mainwaring
John Le Mesurier John Le Mesurier John Le Mesurier was a BAFTA Award-winning English actor. He is most famous for his role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the popular 1970s BBC comedy Dad's Army.-Career:...	Sergeant Wilson
Clive Dunn Clive Dunn Clive Robert Benjamin Dunn OBE is a retired English actor, comedian and author, best known for his role as Lance-Corporal Jack Jones in the BBC sitcom Dad's Army.-Early life:...	Lance Corporal Jones
John Laurie John Laurie John Paton Laurie was a British actor born in Dumfries, Scotland. Although he is now probably most recognised for his role as Private James Frazer in the sitcom Dad's Army , he appeared in hundreds of feature films, including films by Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier...	Private Frazer
Arnold Ridley Arnold Ridley Major William Arnold Ridley, OBE was an English playwright and actor, first notable as the author of the play The Ghost Train and later in life for portraying the elderly Private Charles Godfrey in the popular British sitcom Dad's Army .-Early life:Ridley was born in Walcot, Bath, England where...	Private Godfrey
Ian Lavender Ian Lavender Arthur Ian Lavender , better known as Ian Lavender, is an English stage, film and television actor, best known for his role as Private Frank Pike in the BBC comedy series Dad's Army.-Early life and career:...	Private Pike
Bill Pertwee Bill Pertwee William Desmond Anthony Pertwee MBE is a British comedy actor. He is best known for playing the part of antagonist ARP Warden Hodges in the popular sitcom Dad's Army.-Early and personal life:...	ARP Warden Hodges
Talfryn Thomas Talfryn Thomas Talfryn Thomas was a British character actor, best known for supporting roles on British television in the 1970s.-Biography:Talfryn Thomas was born in Swansea on 31 October 1922....	Private Cheeseman
Edward Sinclair Edward Sinclair Edward "Teddy" Sinclair was a British actor most famous for his role as the verger Maurice Yeatman in Dad's Army. He also made appearances in Z Cars and Danger Man.Edward's father was the son of a stage actor who died when he was 14...	The Verger
Frank Williams Frank Williams (actor) Frank Williams is an English actor.Williams was educated at Ardingly College. He starred in The Army Game and as the Vicar in Dad's Army. In 1970, he starred in the short-lived sitcom As Good Cooks Go...	The Vicar
Harold Bennett Harold Bennett Harold Bennett was an English actor best remembered for having played 'Young Mr. Grace' in the 1970s British sitcom Are You Being Served?.-Biography:...	Mr Blewett
Pamela Cundell Pamela Cundell Pamela I. Cundell is a British character actress. Her best known role was Mrs Fox in the long-running TV comedy Dad's Army....	Mrs Fox
Janet Davies Janet Davies Janet Kathleen Davies was an English actress.Davies's father, a solicitor, died in his early thirties, and as a result she was sent to boarding school. She started training as a solicitor but left and qualified as a shorthand typist instead...	Mrs Pike
Olive Mercer	Mrs Yeatman
Dave Butler	Farmhand