Dad's Army (TV Series) Asleep in the Deep (1972) User Reviews

'Doomed, we're doomed!'

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 26 April 2018]

Series five's opening episode 'Asleep in the Deep' is an absolute belter, one that contains some hilarious moments, great one liners, and as always wonderful performances.

You get to see the characters behaving exactly as you'd expect, Fraser is his usual self, seeing the downside, Jonesy is as caring and enthusiastic as ever, and Captain Mainwaring shows his bravery and care for his platoon. I'm also glad to see Hodges more involved with the story, he's a great character and bounced off the team brilliantly. I also think Pike got some hilarious lines, Lavender was brilliant in this one.

The perfect mix of funny and moving, by this point the show truly was in a purple patch. That scene of Pike up to his chest in water, just hilarious.

Gold, 9/10

When a Comedy can turn serious

[disastrousdallas · 8/10 · 19 March 2017]

Whilst Dads army is an early form of satirical comedy with them laughing off a serious event in history, this episode no different, for much of the first half you can truly see a serious nature that only one episode rivaled in the series.

After Pvt's Walker and Godfrey are trapped, with the latter believed to be seriously I'll The Platoon in one of the Heroic and Serious Moments of the series, plan and successfully carry out a rescue mission, only to become trapped again and stuck in a slowly flooding room when the series returns to comedy again.

The opening to series 5 shows great warmth and Character development, as the Platoon know that they're taking a risk that the Home guard should never take, but face it with strength and a truly heart warming moment when Captain Manwaring (Arthur Lowe) risks his own life at the possible chance that if he doesn't the Young Pvt Pike (Ian Lavender) could be put in great Danger.

The episode features some of the greatest effects of a 1970's comedy by filling up a set full of water, (which was very expensive to do back then) and traps the Characters in a situation where they begin to bond with each-other.

Whilst not the best it's still up there and deserves more love from the fans for the great writing and development.

A great series opener, with my favourite heroic Mainwaring moment

[phantom_tollbooth · 10/10 · 30 June 2023]

The excellent first episode aside, Dad's Army had got into a subsequent habit of opening series with very silly episodes. This tendency is final broken by the brilliant Asleep in the Deep, a nifty little wartime adventure tale with a genuine sense of impending danger. Though it might not be one of the funniest episodes, Asleep in the Deep is one of the most effectively dramatic, as the platoon race against time to save Godfrey and Walker from a bombed-out gasworks. This episode includes one of my favourite Mainwaring moments of the whole series. While having to decide which two members of the platoon will brave the dangerously unstable corridor in order to clear the rubble trapping Godfrey and Walker, the men put two crosses on pieces of paper and draw them from a hat. After Warden Hodges draws the first cross, Mainwaring takes his turn, opens the paper unseen by the others, sees it is blank and announces "And I've got the second". It's a quiet, moving moment of heroism to which the episode never returns. That it goes unacknowledged by anyone but Mainwaring himself makes it all the more powerful, again showing that this man, so often shown as a pompous figure of fun, also has the makings of a great leader when a desperate situation emerges.