Oliver Crocker: Remembering Ian Lavender

In this episode we pay tribute to the last of Dad’s Army’s ‘Magnificent Seven’, Ian Lavender (Private Pike), who passed away on February 2nd, 2024, aged 77.

Leading UK television historian, publisher, author and podcaster, Oliver Crocker, joins us to share his thoughts on this very talented gentleman, and to recall his own memorable experience working with Ian Lavender on a segment for ITV’s This Morning.

Although Private Pike remains his most enduring and universally beloved creation, we also take a wider look at Ian Lavender’s remarkable career beyond Dad’s Army, encompassing television, radio, feature films and theatre.

A note for our listeners: There are a couple of instances of in-context profanity during the podcast

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‘The Magnificent Seven’ – James Beck, John Le Mesurier, John Laurie, Arnold Ridley, Clive Dunn, Ian Lavender, and Arthur Lowe. (Image: Radio Times)

Just one of the abiding friendships within the cast of Dad’s Army was between Ian Lavender himself (born 1946) and John Laurie (born 1897). Both were competitive dab hands at The Times crossword, and John Laurie was Godfather to Ian Lavender’s children.

Talking to the BBC in 2022, Ian Lavender recalled that at drama school he’d been playing juvenile and romantic leads, and that his only comedy experience before Dad’s Army was in Restoration plays. He was spotted by Dad’s Army producer David Croft in a television play, Flowers at My Feet, part of a Rediffusion (ITV) anthology series, Half Hour Stories, and was cast from the very first Dad’s Army episode, broadcast in black and white, in the summer of 1968.

Although the character of Private Pike has been immortalised by Captain Mainwaring’s famous Don’t tell him, Pike, many fans look to some of the quieter, character driven moments when considering what made Dad’s Army special and why the characters and actors are held in such affection; Private Frazer discovering that Sergeant Wilson has a secret daughter and promising not to breathe a word, or Captain Mainwaring’s emotional farewell to Mrs Grey at the railway station. Ian Lavender himself cited a scene from The Making of Private Pike, an episode from the final series in 1977; Pikey has taken the ARP warden’s niece, Sylvia, to the pictures and at Sylvia’s urging, they’ve ‘borrowed’ Captain Mainwaring’s staff car, which runs out of petrol on the way home. The pair end up staying out all night with Pikey pushing for nine miles to get home, while Sylvia sulks behind the wheel. It doesn’t stop everyone getting entirely the wrong idea, and this leads to a man-to-man chat with Sergeant Wilson, a quiet two-hander between Ian Lavender and John Le Mesurier which remained one of Ian Lavender’s favourites.

Pikey’s femme fatale, Sylvia (Jean Gilpin). Their night out together at the pictures doesn’t go entirely according to (Sylvia’s) plan…

Originally scheduled for the studio, Ian Lavender and John Le Mesurier’s ‘kindred spirits’ scene was shot on location, in the back seat of the Austin Eight staff car, now part of the Dad’s Army vehicle collection at Bressingham Steam and Gardens.

Ian Lavender always expressed his deep gratitude for having worked on Dad’s Army, his first ongoing television role, but admitted that typecasting had held back his career to a degree, particularly in movies, although he did appear in a handful of classic mid-seventies British films, including Carry on Behind, Not Now Comrade, and Confessions of a Pop Performer.

In Ring Dem Bells (1975), the platoon are engaged as extras for a military training film, and to Captain Mainwaring’s disgust they are cast as enemy soldiers. Ian Lavender’s standout, joyously comic performance as a Nazi officer was singled out for particular acclaim in BBC audience research.

He reprised his Dad’s Army character, Frank Pike, in a BBC radio sequel, It Sticks Out Half a Mile, co-starred with Arthur Lowe, Liz Fraser and Kenneth Connor in a delightful BBC radio comedy centred around a country railway station, Parsley Sidings, and featured with Mollie Sugden in one of David Croft’s rare catastrophes, the sci-fi sitcom Come Back Mrs Noah.

Come Back Mrs Noah was hastily commissioned by the BBC to capitalise on the science fiction programming trend, and as a star vehicle for Mollie Sugden. It lasted one series.

He featured with Jimmy Edwards in The Glums, and had a series of memorable cameos in British television, including Man About the House, two episodes of Yes Minister; Goodnight Sweetheart, and Keeping Up Appearances.

With Sally Thomsett and Paula Wilcox in Man About The House (left), and as Dr Cartwright, a professional economist in series three of Yes Minister (right). Cartwright explains to Minister Jim Hacker why he’ll never rise to the upper echelons of the civil service, “Alas, I’m an expert!” Pictured with Paul Eddington and Ian Lavender is Doug Fisher, another Man About the House connection.

According to Ian Lavender’s obituary in The Guardian:

“…In addition to various live Dad’s Army productions, his stage work included the Peter Hall Company’s The Merchant of Venice, with Dustin Hoffman as Shylock in 1989, touring as the Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show in 2005, Monsignor Howard in the London Palladium production of the musical Sister Act in 2009, The Shawshank Redemption at the Edinburgh fringe in 2013, and his own one-man show of reminiscences, Don’t Tell Him, Pike…”

Onstage at the London Palladium as Monsignor Howard in Sister Act.
(Image credit: The Independent)

He appeared in 245 episodes of Eastenders, and was one of only two of the original Dad’s Army cast members, along with Frank Williams (the Vicar), to appear in the 2016 feature film. (For which Oliver produced the DVD extra featurettes, The Women of Walmington and Legacy).

In 2013 while working on ITV’s This Morning, Oliver was producing a series of interviews with cancer survivors. Ian Lavender agreed to take part, and Oliver recalls this wonderfully entertaining and warm encounter during the podcast.

Keyboard virtuoso and prog rock legend, Rick Wakeman, has paid tribute on his official site and BBC Suffolk; they’d met in a hotel bar on the Isle of Man in 1988 while Ian Lavender was performing in a play, Who Killed Agatha Christie?

“…I said ‘Could I ask you a couple of questions about Dad’s Army?’ and he said, ‘Yes, if I can ask you a couple of questions about music’. We’ve been friends ever since…”

“…Ian Lavender was my best friend. We lived half an hour apart and my love of comedy and Perry & Croft in particular, was matched equally by his love of music and especially the piano. Ian had suffered with ill health for many years but always remained in good spirits…”

Rick Wakeman and Ian Lavender. Image credited to Lee Wilkinson, Rick Wakeman’s official site, and also BBC Suffolk.

Ian Lavender’s friend, Judy Dean, told BBC Suffolk that he was an active member of the local community in Woolpit , watched village cricket and supported local drama clubs, including playing a ‘terrifying’ Herrod in a church walkabout nativity.

“….The thing that struck me most about him was that he always had time for the fans, he never pushed himself forward but he always made sure people had some of his time if they asked for autographs and so…”

Pikey’s scarf and forage cap accompany Ian Lavender on his final journey.
Image credit: Charlotte Bond in the East Anglian Daily Times

Very special thanks to Oliver Crocker for sharing his memories of Ian Lavender with us. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, you might also like our tribute to Frank Williams.

Thank you for reading, and listening.