The King Was in His Counting House

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7th episode of the 5th series of Dad's Army

"The King Was in His Counting House"

Dad's Army episode

Episode no.

Series 5
Episode 7

Directed by

David Croft

Story by

Jimmy Perry and David Croft

Original air date

17 November 1972 (1972-11-17)

Running time

30 minutes

Episode chronology

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"If the Cap Fits..."

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"All is Safely Gathered In"

List of episodes

"The King was in His Counting House" is the seventh episode of the fifth series of the British comedy series Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on 17 November 1972.

Plot

Mainwaring is organising a drinks party at his house, despite his wife's fears that he and his men will "get drunk and smash the house up". He informs Wilson that he may call him "George" at the party, something Wilson takes great delight in. However, he sternly tells him he cannot call him "George" during work hours and turns down Mr. Pike's request to also call him "George" at the party.

The party starts off with Jones' section in attendance and clearly very uncomfortable. The stilted conversation remains until the arrival of Walker, with his girlfriend Shirley, which immediately throws Mainwaring off kilter. He serves them a small amount of beer and sandwiches, which they quickly wolf down, after which Mainwaring gives them a guided tour of the room, while Walker gets down to business with Shirley on the sofa.

Much excitement is generated by the imminent arrival of Mrs Mainwaring, but an air raid warning sees her scurrying to the shelter before being introduced or even being seen by any of the platoon members. Hodges arrives, and a few moments later bombs land on the allotments, the taxi garage and the bank. Alarmed, Mainwaring and his men hurry round to the bank to salvage the money. They secure it and carry it back to the church hall where they plan to count it. Mainwaring orders the other section to guard the money, but they refuse out of spite as they were not invited to the party, forcing Mainwaring to promise to throw them a party the following week.

After a very long night, they eventually total it up. They then attempt to carry it to Eastgate using a horse and cart supplied by Walker and their own bicycles. A short way into the journey, the money starts blowing out of the hamper used to carry it. Trying to alert Mainwaring's attention to this, Pike fires his rifle, only to frighten the horse and send it charging off into a field with the platoon following close behind on their bikes.

Cast

Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring
John Le Mesurier as Sergeant Wilson
Clive Dunn as Lance Corporal Jones
John Laurie as Private Frazer
James Beck as Private Walker
Arnold Ridley as Private Godfrey
Ian Lavender as Private Pike
Bill Pertwee as ARP Warden Hodges
Frank Williams as the Reverend Timothy Farthing
Edward Sinclair as the Verger Maurice Yeatman
Wendy Richard as Shirley

Notes

This episode maintains and builds on the running gag of the unseen Mrs. Mainwaring. Her footsteps are heard before she runs off when the air-raid siren sounds. As Frazer puts it, "we'll never see her now".
In this episode, Mainwaring attempts to hide his lower-class background by claiming his father was a member of "the Master Tailors' Guild"; when he leaves the room, Jones refutes Mainwaring's claims by revealing that Mainwaring's late father was not a tailor, merely a draper with a small business in a side alley who sold poor quality workman's trousers. Mainwaring's profligate brother, Barry, confirms this fact in the episode "My Brother and I".
Goof: Once counted, the money is going to be taken to the Eastgate branch of the bank and stored in their vault. In episode 11 of series 4, “A. Wilson (Manager)?, this branch was shown to be bombed and Mainwaring informs Wilson that the bank has decided to close that branch.

Radio episode

"The King was in His Counting House" is the fifteenth episode of the second series of the British radio comedy series Dad's Army. It was originally transmitted on 20 May 1975.

References

External links

"The King Was in His Counting House" at IMDb

Dad's Army

Characters

Episodes

Adaptations & spinoffs

Merchandise

Other articles

Episodes
Series 1	"The Man and the Hour" "Museum Piece" "Command Decision" "The Enemy Within the Gates" "The Showing Up of Corporal Jones" "Shooting Pains"
Series 2	"Operation Kilt" "The Battle of Godfrey's Cottage" "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker"†‡ "Sgt. Wilson's Little Secret" "A Stripe for Frazer"†‡ "Under Fire"†‡
Series 3	"The Armoured Might of Lance Corporal Jones" "Battle School" "The Lion Has 'Phones" "The Bullet Is Not for Firing" "Something Nasty in the Vault" "Room at the Bottom" "Big Guns" "The Day the Balloon Went Up" "War Dance" "Menace from the Deep" "Branded" "Man Hunt" "No Spring for Frazer" "Sons of the Sea"
Series 4	"The Big Parade" "Don't Forget the Diver" "Boots, Boots, Boots" "Sgt – Save My Boy!" "Don't Fence Me In" "Absent Friends" "Put That Light Out!" "The Two and a Half Feathers" "Mum's Army" "The Test" "A. Wilson (Manager)?" "Uninvited Guests" "Fallen Idol"
Series 5	"Asleep in the Deep" "Keep Young and Beautiful" "A Soldier's Farewell" "Getting the Bird" "The Desperate Drive of Corporal Jones" "If the Cap Fits..." "The King Was in His Counting House" "All is Safely Gathered In" "When Did You Last See Your Money?" "Brain Versus Brawn" "A Brush with the Law" "Round and Round Went the Great Big Wheel" "Time on My Hands"
Series 6	"The Deadly Attachment" "My British Buddy" "The Royal Train" "We Know Our Onions" "The Honourable Man" "Things that Go Bump in the Night" "The Recruit"
Series 7	"Everybody's Trucking" "A Man of Action" "Gorilla Warfare" "The Godiva Affair" "The Captain's Car" "Turkey Dinner"
Series 8	"Ring Dem Bells" "When You've Got to Go" "Is There Honey Still for Tea?" "Come In, Your Time Is Up" "High Finance" "The Face on the Poster"
Series 9	"Wake Up Walmington" "The Making of Private Pike" "Knights of Madness" "The Miser's Hoard" "Number Engaged" "Never Too Old"
000!!Specials	"Santa on Patrol"† "Resisting the Aggressor Down the Ages" "Cornish Floral Dance"† "Battle of the Giants!" "Broadcast to the Empire" "My Brother and I" "The Love of Three Oranges"
† Missing episode has been reconstructed using animation. ‡ Missing episode has been recreated with new cast

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