How to watch Dad’s Army in the UK: where to stream full series and 2016 film - what happened to lost episodes?

You can stream all episodes of iconic British sitcom Dad’s Army, set on the home front during the Second World War. Today it was announced that Ian Lavender, who played Private Pike in the series, which originally aired from 1968-1977, died on February 2.

Lavender was the last surviving member of the show’s main cast, and following his passing many fans of the show that made him famous will want to revisit the series.

Dad’s Army is available to stream in the UK - but some of the original episodes have been missing for decades. This is where you can stream the original show and the 2016 movie, and how to find restored versions of the missing episodes. 

Where can you watch Dad’s Army TV series in the UK?

All nine seasons of Dad’s Army are available to stream on BritBox - where the show has been split into 10 seasons, with series three, which originally contained 14 episodes, cut into two seven episode seasons on the platform.

BritBox contains all of the surviving episodes of the show, including the three Christmas specials. A BritBox subscription costs £5.99 per month. You can get a seven day free trial of BritBox through an Amazon Prime membership.

The full series is also available on ITVX Premium, which costs £5.99 per month, which also gives you access to BritBox content on ITVX. Only one episode of Dad’s Army is available to watch on BBC iPlayer - season four opener The Big Parade. 

Where can you watch the Dad’s Army film in the UK?

The 2016 movie, starring Bill Nighy, Toby Jones, and Michael Gambon, is available to stream on the Sky Store, or you can rent or buy the film from Amazon, Apple TV+, YouTube, and more from £3.49.

What happened to Dad’s Army missing episodes?

In the 1960s, many British TV shows were lost because the expensive tape that they were recorded on was reused, wiping the original episode to replace it with a new one in order to save money.

However, as some shows, such as Doctor Who and Dad’s Army, became extremely popular, there was a clamour for earlier episodes to be repeated, and in the streaming age, fans want to have access to the full show online.

Fortunately, Dad’s Army didn’t suffer as badly as Doctor Who, which is missing 97 episodes. Only three episodes of the show are missing, however, they all come from season two of the show.

The missing episodes are: season two episode three The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker, episode five A Stripe for Frazer and the second season finale Under Fire. These episodes were remade for BBC Radio with most of the original cast reprising their roles.

Animated restorations of the three missing episodes were made, as had previously been done for several missing Doctor Who episodes. The soundtrack for A Stripe for Frazer was rediscovered and used in the animated episode. You can watch the animated versions of the missing episodes on NOW.

Additionally, whilst every episode from season three onwards was filmed in colour, one season three episode only survived in black and white as the only original copy was one used for overseas broadcasting where colour was not yet the norm. The episode, Room at the Bottom, has since been restored to its original colour and this version is available to stream.