Mark Gatiss says the Dad’s Army movie is a ‘lovely script’ and ‘fantastic cast’ and is being made by a group of people who are big fans of the original television series.
It was announced this week that Dad’s Army was set to hit the big screen in February next year, as the popular television series is given a bit of a makeover by director Oliver Parker.
Gatiss is set to take on the role of Colonel Theakes in the film, and says that there was less pressure on him during filming because he wasn’t playing one of the iconic platoon characters like other members of the cast.
Speaking to the Press Association, the actor said: "There's not too much pressure for me because I'm not playing one of the platoon so I can get away with it. I'm playing Captain Mainwaring's colonel and chief, the sort of person who would come in and say 'it's a bloody shambles Mainwaring'.
"It's a lovely script and a fantastic cast, I think everyone involved loves the original. I was actually very sceptical when I first heard about it, but it's being remade by people who love the original and want to do right by it. It's very much in the flavour of the original, it's very funny but also very sad and poignant.
"I always used to think about Dad's Army that the backdrop is the worst conflict in history, but what we're doing in a very British way is managing to get through by having a laugh."
Toby Jones is set to lead the cast as Captain Mainwaring, while Bill Nighy, Michael Gambon, Black Harrison, Tom Courtenay, Daniel Mays, and Bill Paterson are on board as Wilson, Godfrey, Pike, Jones, Walker, and Frazer.
The cast list will be completed by Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sarah Lancashire, Alison Steadman, Annette Crosbie, Martin Savage, and TV series original Ian Lavender.
As for Gatiss, we are going to be seeing him in TV series Mapp and Lucia and Wolf Hall next year, as well as TV film Coalition and Victor Frankenstein.
Dad’s Army is released 5th February 2015.
Tagged in Dad's Army Mark Gatiss