The Rear Guard

The Rear Guard

The Rear Guard was a 1976 pilot episode for an American adaptation of Dad's Army. Set in World War II, The Rear Guard followed a band of men in the American Civil Defense (circa 1942) who were part of an auxiliary force in the event of an invasion of the USA. The episode was an adaptation of the season six episode The Deadly Attachment, in which a German U-Boat crew are placed under the supervision of the platoon. The pilot was aired on Tuesday the 10th August 1976, broadcast simultaneously on American Broadcasting Company channel 7 and 8. However it was not popular and never made it past its pilot to become a series. As it was a failure, the original tapes which the pilot was recorded on were apperently wiped. However copies of the pilot are in the possession of the show's director Hal Cooper and other producers that were associated with the show, so it does exist.

Cast

As The Rear Guard was a remake of Dad's Army, many of the characters were visible in the remake, under alternative names. Here is a list of the characters, the character's original counterparts and their portrayers.

Sergeant Max Raskin (Arthur Wilson) - Lou Jacobi

Captain Nick Rosatti (George Mainwaring) - Cliff Norton

Bert Wagner (Jack Jones) - Eddie Foy Jr.

Don Crawford (Joe Walker) - John McCook

Bobby Henderson (Frank Pike) - Dennis Kort

The characters of Privates Godfrey and Frazer were not re-created.