ITV's Victoria producer blames Dad’s Army for Brexit because it romanticises the war

The cast of Dad's Army. Photograph: BBC. - Credit: Archant

The creator of ITV drama Victoria says that programmes like Dad’s Army have been responsible for romanticising the war and making people pro-Brexit.

Daisy Goodwin said that the BBC’s real bias in support of the European Union was by repeating the comedy, which she believed was “embedded in this country’s imagination”, and were getting more views than programmes like Newsnight.

In the latest edition of the Radio Times, she said: “If you really want to nail the BBC for influencing the nation’s state of mind about Brexit, you might look at how often Dad’s Army has been shown on BBC Two.

“The BBC, if it wants to maintain its claim to impartiality, needs to retire the home guard (or send them on leave), because in the words of Private Frazer, ‘we are all doomed!'”

Goodwin said that the programme was a place of comfort for those who hear stories about the effects of no-deal Brexit, especially for those who did not live through the war themselves.

“Forget Game of Thrones, Dad’s Army is the show that is embedded in this country’s imagination,” Goodwin wrote.

“The world of Dad’s Army is a comforting place – it was reassuring during the mayhem of the three-day week and it’s soothing to those of us who worry about the effects of a no-deal Brexit.

“But while David Davis may sound like Corporal Jones, Philip Hammond has Sergeant Wilson’s hangdog look about him and there is more than a touch of wide-boy Walker to Boris Johnson, perhaps the Conservatives, indeed the whole nation, need to be reminded that we are not living in Walmington-on-Sea.

She continued: “Our current difficulties will not be resolved with a comic flourish and a jaunty burst of Bud Flanagan.”

Just the day before former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott claimed that fighting in two world wars was reason enough for no-deal Brexit.

Despite being born in 1940, the 78-year-old claimed the “spirit and the determination of the British people” means “we’ll survive”.

It followed Brexit Party MEP Ann Widdecombe’s claims that no-deal Brexit is “nothing compared to the sacrifice that we asked a previous generation to make in order to ensure Britain’s freedom”.