WE’RE DOOMED! THE DAD’S ARMY STORY, BBC2, 9pm DAD’S Army is one of the best-loved sitcoms but this comedy drama tells the story of its troubled creation and how it nearly failed to make it. It’s set in the BBC of the 1960s in what seems like a dingy British equivalent of Mad Men: executives in boxy suits smoke in their offices but the American show’s sleek glamour is replaced here with absurdity and frustration. Jimmy Perry came up with the idea for Dad’s Army when he was a struggling actor being constantly rejected for roles. He turned to writing out of desperation, thinking he could create a part for himself where he’d be sure to be cast. Teaming up with David Croft, they perfected the script but there were grumblings from BBC bigwigs that the war was “old hat” and no-one would be interested in the show. Then there was the task of persuading actors to take on silly roles. Poor Perry, despite having written a part from himself, was told he couldn’t be cast as the show would work as an “ensemble” and an actor can’t also be the writer as it would upset the balance. Heartbroken, he threw himself into making it the best sitcom it could be, and worked to court and persuade the chosen actors, many of whom were initially difficult and not impressed at being asked to play daft old men. CHILDREN TALKING, BBC4, 7pm SINCE when do children “talk”? Taking my dog out, we often pass a local primary school and it’s clear there’s no talking being done; there’s screaming, howling, crying and the emitting of rebel yells to make a Confederate soldier blush. These little people don’t “talk”. This programme is made of archive footage from the 60s and 70s where children of the day sat down in front of a camera, the boys in neat little jumpers and the girls in satin hair ribbons, and were prompted to speak about the world and how they experience it.