Private Walker

Private Joe Walker
Dad's Army character

First appearance	The Man and the Hour
Last appearance	Things that Go Bump in the Night
Portrayed by	TV Series: James Beck Radio Series: James Beck Graham Stark Larry Martyn Stage Shows: John Bardon Leslie Grantham
Information
Occupation	Black market spiv
Relatives	Unnamed Grandmother
Affiliated with	Home Guard

Private Joe Walker is a fictional black market spiv (or Wholesales Supplier, as he politely puts it) and Home Guard platoon member portrayed by actor James Beck on the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. James Beck died suddenly in 1973, and is featured in just under three-quarters of the episodes. Despite this, the character of Walker was possibly one of the most prominent and popular in the show. Following his character's departure the series attempted to replace him with a war reporter called Private Cheeseman (played by Talfryn Thomas) who had made a previous cameo appearance in My British Buddy.

Personality

Walker was the second youngest member of the platoon, the youngest being Pike. A pleasant and amiable (if slightly shifty) personality, Joe Walker is nevertheless a constant thorn in Mainwaring's side as he doesn't share his idealism and makes cheeky and witty interruptions during his serious lectures. However, despite this he is good-natured and loyal to his commanding officer and platoon comrades, and is a valuable asset to the platoon, due to his many "business" connections and his ability to mysteriously conjure up almost anything that is rationed or no longer in the shops due to the War - and he will also have it in vast supply (for a price). He also demonstrates keen improvisational skills and cunning; as a result, owing to these attributes and his cheerful willingness to use tactics that Mainwaring might not consider to be 'cricket', he is usually responsible for getting the platoon out of many of the scrapes that they find themselves in. He is constantly on the lookout for opportunities to make a few bob, and can normally be found trying to sell such things as petrol coupons and black market foodstuffs to his platoon comrades, usually at high prices and from dubious sources.

Walker considers himself a ladies' man, and his recurring girlfriend Shirley (played by Wendy Richard) is seen in several episodes. In the platoon, he mostly associates with Jones, Pike and Frazer. Despite merely being a Private, Walker clearly has some form of influence over the platoon, not least due to his black-market dealings which have got them out of (and into) numerous scrapes. Moreover, when Frazer is temporarily promoted to Captain in If the Cap Fits..., he selects Walker as his Sergeant.

He is supposedly allergic to corned beef, and this is given as the reason why he has not been called up for the regular army, although it is generally assumed that he has found a way to dodge the rules. This allergy was exposed in the episode The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker, which has since been lost from the BBC's archives. He was conscripted, only to be discharged when it was found that corned beef fritters were the only rations left for the soldiers to eat. Although a superficially implausible explanation for Walker's discharge it is actually possible to have an allergy to certain types of corned beef but not beef itself as a result of various antioxidants that may be used in the curing process.

Walker's final appearance was in the episode Things That Go Bump in the Night, where the platoon spent the night in a mysterious house. In fact he is only seen in the location shots, filmed some time before the studio recording. Beck was ill for the recordings of both this episode and the next, The Recruit, in which the story suggested that Walker had "gone to the smoke" (a then-common expression for London) to "do a deal". After Beck's death, Walker was never mentioned again in the show after this (though the character survived the war; the very first episode begins with a scene set in 1968, as Mainwaring, now an alderman, launches his "I'm Backing Britain" campaign - Walker is seen as one of the town worthies present at the launch).

In the radio adaptations of the series, Graham Stark stood in until Larry Martyn gave his portrayal of Walker for subsequent shows. In 1976 John Bardon played Walker in the stage production. Jimmy Perry originally intended to play the part himself, but was advised against it by David Croft.

Walker was based on a spiv character created and performed by British comedian and actor Arthur English (English was in the controversial episode Absent Friends and starred in Are You Being Served?).

Dad's Army

Characters

Cast

Crew

Television
episodes

Series 1	"The Man and the Hour" "Museum Piece" "Command Decision" "The Enemy Within the Gates" "The Showing Up of Corporal Jones" "Shooting Pains"

Series 2	"Operation Kilt" "The Battle of Godfrey's Cottage" "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Walker" "Sgt. Wilson's Little Secret" "A Stripe for Frazer" "Under Fire"

Series 3	"The Armoured Might of Lance Corporal Jones" "Battle School" "The Lion Has Phones" "The Bullet is Not for Firing" "Something Nasty in the Vault" "Room at the Bottom" "Big Guns" "The Day the Balloon Went Up" "War Dance" "Menace from the Deep" "Branded" "Man Hunt" "No Spring for Frazer" "Sons of the Sea"

Series 4	"The Big Parade" "Don't Forget the Diver" "Boots, Boots, Boots" "Sgt – Save My Boy!" "Don't Fence Me In" "Absent Friends" "Put That Light Out!" "The Two and a Half Feathers" "Mum's Army" "The Test" "A. Wilson (Manager)?" "Uninvited Guests" "Fallen Idol"

Series 5	"Asleep in the Deep" "Keep Young and Beautiful" "A Soldier's Farewell" "Getting the Bird" "The Desperate Drive of Corporal Jones" "If the Cap Fits..." "The King was in his Counting House" "All is Safely Gathered In" "When Did You Last See Your Money?" "Brain Versus Brawn" "A Brush with the Law" "Round and Round Went the Great Big Wheel" "Time on My Hands"

Series 6	"The Deadly Attachment" "My British Buddy" "The Royal Train" "We Know Our Onions" "The Honourable Man" "Things that Go Bump in the Night" "The Recruit"

Series 7	"Everybody's Trucking" "A Man of Action" "Gorilla Warfare" "The Godiva Affair" "The Captain's Car" "Turkey Dinner"

Series 8	"Ring Dem Bells" "When You've Got to Go" "Is There Honey Still for Tea?" "Come In, Your Time Is Up" "High Finance" "The Face on the Poster"

Series 9	"Wake Up Walmington" "The Making of Private Pike" "Knights of Madness" "The Miser's Hoard" "Number Engaged" "Never Too Old"

Specials	"Untitled Sketch" "Broadcast to the Empire" "Battle of the Giants!" "My Brother and I" "The Love of Three Oranges"