The episode begins in the then-present day (1968), with local Walmington-on-Sea dignitary George Mainwaring announcing that he is backing Britain.
George Mainwaring and his clerks, Arthur Wilson and Frank Pike, are laying sandbags at the window.
He finds out more about this on the wireless, having been told by a clerk, Janet King, that Anthony Eden is about to make a Ministerial broadcast.
Thus, the series was delayed from its originally planned debut in order to find a suitable thirty-five-minute slot.
[2] The deleted scenes mostly introduced the various characters more fully, and including an additional altercation between Mainwaring and Hodges, which suggests the feud between the pair had been running for many years prior.
[2] The episode, and thus the series, begins with a pre-opening credits scene set in the (then) modern day, with the characters, older, gathered at a meal with Mainwaring announcing that he is backing Britain (it is also subtly hinted but not confirmed, that this may be his retirement party from his role of bank manager), as a television set by the characters shows scenes from the Second World War, leading into the opening credits and the series proper.
[2] Due to the episode overrunning, the series was delayed from its originally planned debut on Wednesday, 5 June 1968 in order to find a suitable thirty-five-minute slot.
[2] The day after the episode aired, Ron Boyle from The Daily Express wrote that, while he did not "raise a good hearty belly-laugh", he believed that "the BBC [was] about to come up with a classic comedy series".