BBC Antiques Roadshow expert Clive Farahar was left gobsmacked and unable to give an accurate valuation when one guest brought along their rare item.
During the classic episode, which is set to air once again tonight on BBC One, treasures included family photos of Arnold Schwarzenegger, a psychedelic chair, and a mysterious diamond ring.
Paul Atterbury hears the bizarre tale of the London bus that “jumped” over Tower Bridge as it was opening and finds out how a little girl got the chance to meet Winston Churchill on a flight from France in 1953.
However, it’s Clive Farahar who was left intrigued when he also gets the chance to appraise a valuable script for an early episode of the much-loved sitcom Dad’s Army.
When first looking at the items, Farahar noted: “I can’t believe that I am actually handling the original script from one of Dad’s Army’s programmes!
“This is all in handwriting. This is David Croft, presumably. Tell me all about it.”
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The guest explained: “I acquired back in the mid 90s, I had a work placement at the BBC attached to the comedy department and I did a week with David Croft’s office.
“I wrote to David to thank him and afterwards he sent me that as a thank you. At the time, I was thinking of maybe going into scriptwriting. It was Sargeant Saved My Boy.”
Farahar was left stunned to know that the whole script is of Croft’s first thought when going through the creative process, leaving the guest to agree with his amazement.
Farahar continued: “This is the quarry at the coal face; this is where all the thoughts lie, where everything is tidied up, it is tremendous.
“And he sent you a wonderful letter here, which you also included. ‘Thanks for your letter. I have also included a script of a Dad’s Army programme. Unfortunately, the first page is missing’.
“Clumsy. ‘But it is the script for Sargeant Saved My Boy which went out a couple of weeks ago and the original is in my own bad handwriting’.
“I can write better than this, but in trying to keep up with my thoughts, legibility goes out of the window’ which I think is absolutely wonderful because this is the whole thing!
“I’m caught in the wire, I have hurt my leg’ and then ‘The stupid boy’ it is all there.”
The guest beamed with pride and added: “Yeah! I now work in TV. Not in script writing but it did inspire me that week to go into the industry.”
Going on to explain more about its rareness and attempting to value the script, Farahar said: “These pieces of paper, are probably terribly rare and I can’t imagine there are anymore around really.
“These would all be typed up and all the actors would have a copy, they would all make their own notes on it, that sort of thing, whereas this is an original nugget of which the whole thing came was just completely discarded, give it to someone who popped in for a week or so for work experience, which is amazing.
“I suppose I have to value it now, which is the most difficult thing because I don’t think I have got anything to compare it with. I would say you have something between £5,000 and £10,000.
“Which sounds like a lot of money but when you think about how rare these scripts can possibly be, this, which I think is the most golden piece of Dad’s Army, this is where the heart of Dad’s Army is, so congratulations, wow.”
