Obituary: David Croft OBE, Producer and scriptwriter whose sitcoms have become classics of British television

DAVID Croft has given British viewers some of the most loved television sitcoms. These ranged from such stalwarts as Dad’s Army, Hi-De-Hi, Are You Being Served? It Ain’t Half Hot Mum and ’Allo, ’Allo to You Rang, M’Lord and Oh Dr Beeching. Many are still being shown and Dad’s Army has a special place in the nation’s heart, with repeats every Saturday night.

This longevity demonstrates Croft’s skill in casting, keeping the scripts simple but witty and providing all his characters with a straightforward format that shocked and endeared in equal measures.

His sitcoms are all now classics and, rightly, he is a much revered man in television.

David John Sharland (always known professionally as David Croft) was the son of the actress Anne Croft while his father, Reginald Sharland, had a successful career as a radio actor, mostly in the United States.

Croft appeared in the film Goodbye, Mr Chips in 1939 while he was at Rugby School. He was then commissioned from Sandhurst in 1942 to serve in the Royal Artillery for the rest of the war in North Africa, India and Singapore. He was demobbed with the rank of major and a reservoir of ideas from which he could draw in the years to come.

Croft spent some years working in TV studios as a producer, but his first break came when he was asked by Tyne Tees Television to produce a variety show called The One O’Clock Show.

While in the north-east of England, Croft gained valuable experience by working on his first sitcom, Under New Management, which was set in a derelict pub in the north of England. His expertise was recognised by the BBC and he moved south to be in charge of several popular shows of the mid-1960s. These included Beggar My Neighbour, Up Pompeii! and Hugh and I.

It was while working on the latter, in 1968, that the actor Jimmy Perry handed him a script he had drafted called The Fighting Tigers.

It was about the Home Guard. Croft worked on the show, changed the name to Dad’s Army and the two went on to script nine series, a stage show and a feature film.

The show remains popular today and various catch phrases (“You silly boy”; “Don’t panic”; “We’re doomed”) reflect Croft’s sure touch in providing humorous entertainment that was never smutty or disrespectful.

He had an instinct for casting. At a late stage in rehearsals, he switched around Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier’s roles in Dad’s Army: neither actor was best pleased but Croft felt that the rivalry would flourish better that way. How right Croft was.

He created characters that the public enjoyed watching and inspired immense affection. The plots may have been straightforward, but – as with all other Croft sitcoms – they were fun, well-crafted and provided excellent entertainment.

While working on Dad’s Army, he began to co-write Are You Being Served? with Jeremy Lloyd.

He was to continue both writing partnerships very amicably for the rest of his career.

Just as in Dad’s Army, Croft was able to introduce outrageous characters – John Inman’s Mr Humphries and Mollie Sugden’s Mrs Slocombe in Are You Being Served or Su Pollard’s lovelorn Peggy in Hi-De-Hi – but all preserved an element of credibility and warmth.

Croft took immense trouble with rehearsals and filming outdoors. He also was keen to create the right atmosphere with the title music.

To invent, write and then see into production so many very different sitcoms is an outstanding achievement. It takes a very particular form of imagination to create a programme such as ’Allo, ’Allo, which makes fun of the French, lampoons the Gestapo and satirises the English without causing offence.

Even in the famous scene in Dad’s Army – “Don’t tell them, Pyke,” orders the bossy Captain Mainwaring, in front of a German invader asking the private his name – Croft presents the scene with a subtle skill. The audience just laughs.

In his final paragraph of his autobiography, Croft typically and graciously thanks all the actors and technicians with whom he has worked and concludes: “I have been exceedingly lucky. I have indeed had the best of it.”

In an interview Croft recently commented: ‘I am not naturally a funny person, I am a fairly serious.” Throughout his career he has, nonetheless, provided many treasured moments on television and brought many a smile to many faces.

Croft was awarded an OBE in 1978 and many television awards – most notably in 1981 the Bafta for his outstanding contributions to the industry. His scripts and sitcoms were also much individually honoured. Croft married the theatrical agent Ann Callender in 1940 and she and their seven children survive him.