This Means War (LOL)! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hogan's Heroes

Werner Klemperer is Colonel Klink, who runs the fictitious Prisoner of War camp, Stalag 13, which proudly boasts that no one has successfully escaped from its prison. In truth, Klink and his guards are so inept that they never come to realize that their camp is riddled with tunnels and that the prisoners come and go as they please.

Colonel Hogan (Bob Crane) leads a multinational team of experts in various fields, who conduct counter-espionage activities within Nazi Germany, using the prison camp as their base of operations. Accordingly, it is in their interests to ensure that there are no escapes from the camp as it keeps the inept Klink entrenched in their camp as the leader.

The show first aired on the CBS network in 1965 and ran for six seasons.

Answer: F Troop

As stated, this show is set towards the end of the American Civil War in the fictional outpost of Fort Courage. The reason that the Army keeps sending its undesirable, or most inept, soldiers there is in the hope that they will desert. The show revolves around Captain Parmenter (Ken Berry) who has been awarded the Medal of Honor for (accidentally) instigating the final charge at the Battle of the Appomattox, then winning a Purple Heart when the medal is pinned on him and pierces his chest. He is supported by two non-commissioned officers in Sergeant O'Rourke (Forrest Tucker) and Colonel Agarn (Larry Storch). Both are likeable rogues who keep coming up with a series of shady deals. They are in league with Chief Wild Eagle (Frank de Lova) of the local Hekawi tribe.

The series which was launched in 1965, gave little regard to historical facts, featured rock bands playing 1960s songs, but only ran for two seasons. That, however, hasn't stopped it from developing a strong cult following.

Answer: It Ain't Half Hot Mum

The series was originally set in 1945, toward the end of World War II in India, with the threat of a Japanese invasion still in the air. The Royal Concert party are technically soldiers, however, this rag-tag bunch are more adept at singing, dancing and dressing up in drag than being lean, mean fighting machines. Consequently, they will do whatever they can to avoid being called up to the front-line.

The key characters are Bombardier "Solly" Solomon (George Layton), the party's musical producer and Bearer Rangi Ram (Michael Bates), who considers himself British and speaks a broken form of pigeon English. However, the pair are dwarfed by Windsor Davies, who plays the bombastic Sergeant Major Williams. Williams is mortified that he is not leading "real" soldiers and takes his frustrations out on the troupe, constantly bellowing at them to "shut up" and, derogatorily, calling them "poofs". The latter being an example of a treatment that would struggle to pass muster in today's market.

Released on BBC1 in 1974, the show ran for eight seasons. In the fifth season the location moved from India to Burma.

Answer: The Phil Silvers Show

Master Sergeant Ernest Bilko (Silvers) is a wily, though lazy, son of a gun, who is in charge of the motor pool at Fort Baxter, an army base in the fictional town of Roseville in Kansas. Lazy, because he spends very little time doing what he's supposed to do and finds numerous methods to either weasel out of jobs or find someone else to do it for him. Wily, because he is constantly coming with some shambolic get-rich-quick scheme, such as midnight cruises on navy landing craft or trading Jeep tyres for spare parts to on sell for a profit. Colonel Hall (Paul Ford) is the man who tries to keep Bilko in check but fails miserably and, generally, winds up on the receiving end of Bilko's jokes.

The sitcom ran on CBS for four seasons commencing in 1955 and was so well written that it scored the Emmy for Best Comedy series in three consecutive years. The show has also gone by the names of "Sergeant Bilko" or just "Bilko".

Answer: 68 Whiskey

More of a dramedy than a straight out comedy, this 2020 Paramount release was based on an Israeli television show called "Charlie Golf One" (2016). Sadly, Paramount did not see fit to extend the programme beyond its first season.

The show follows a group of men and women medics of various ethnicities based in a forward operating base called "The Orphanage" in an Afghan war zone. In a similar way to "M*A*S*H" (1972-83), the series manages to blend great drama with outrageously comedic moments in a seamless manner. The absurdity of war and the danger that surrounds these intrepid doctors and nurses is negated, to some extent, by the intense camaraderie and the whacky behaviour of the team.

The series starred Sam Keeley, Jeremy Tardy and Gage Golightly.

Answer: Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.

The extremely popular and highly rated "Gomer Pyle" (1964) is a spin-off of the "Andy Griffiths Show" (1960-68) with the last show of season four of the latter, serving as the pilot episode for "Gomer Pyle".

As stated, Gomer is a gas station attendant in Mayberry and, aside from his good nature, is pretty naïve. It is this naivety that provides the tone for most of the comedy within the show. Gomer is shown up as a fish-out-of-water, a young country boy raised on the principles of honesty and a simple life, trying to meld his sweetness and light with the toughness required by the military. His wetness behind the ears leads to him either putting his foot in his mouth or (unintentionally) breaking the rules, all of which drives his drill instructor, Gunnery Sergeant Carter (Frank Sutton) spare.

"Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C" ran for five seasons without falling out of the top ten rated shows each year of its existence.

Answer: Blackadder Goes Forth

The irreverent Rowan Atkinson returns as Blackadder. On this occasion he is a professional soldier, with the rank of Captain who finds himself on the Western Front in 1917. His biggest fear is that he and his men will be given the order by his superior, General Melchett (Stephen Fry), to go "over the top" for a final big push against the Germans. The issue for Blackadder is that this would mean certain death, a prospect he is not overly impressed about.

As a consequence, he concocts a range of schemes to get himself out of this predicament but, much to his chagrin, they all seem to go awry. Bad luck does play a small part in this, however, more often than not, the failure boils down to the total incompetence of his two right-hand men, Lieutenant George St. Barleigh (Hugh Laurie) and Private S. Baldrick (Tony Richardson).

The title of the series is a pun to indicate that it is also the fourth instalment of the "Blackadder" series. Cleverly written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, it was released on BBC1 in 1989.

Answer: Dad's Army

It is 1940 during World War II and France has fallen to the Germans. Adolf Hitler has set his sights on invading Great Britain and all through the nation volunteer Home Guards are set up in the towns. These are generally made up of older men, or those that do not qualify for enlistment, as the last line of defense to repel the mighty "Boche", should Hitler actually succeed with his invasion of Great Britain. "Dad's Army" follows the adventures of one such Home Guard, based at the (fictional) small south coast town of Walmington-on-Sea.

The humour ranges on being subtle - focusing on the class differences between the grammar school educated Captain Mainwaring (Arthur Lowe) and the public school education of Sergeant Wilson (John Le Mesurier) and their lack of any actual participation in war action - to the outright slapstick. The latter is best exemplified by Lance Corporal Jack Jones (Clive Dunn) screaming "Don't panic!" while running around like a headless chook (chicken). Even the selection of Clive Dunn, nearly the oldest member in the cast, to play the role of the youngest member of the squad, has a touch of skew-balled humour attached to it.

"Dad's Army", which ran for nine seasons, was first launched by the BBC in 1968. The story is told in flashback with the pilot episode opening in the present day (1968) and Captain Mainwaring addressing his squad as part of the "I'm Backing Britain" campaign - a campaign that was launched by the British government in 1968 in an effort to use patriotism to help fire up its stalling economy. This condition was imposed upon the writers as the studio feared that the show may belittle the efforts of the Home Guard during the war.

Answer: McHale's Navy

This US sitcom originated from a one hour drama called "Seven Against the Sea" (1962). That was set on the Pacific Island base of Taratupa. The base had been bombed by the Japanese and only 18 of the pilots and Marines survived. The onus of leadership would fall in the lap of Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale (Ernest Borgnine), who was not averse to avoiding work and bending the rules. The Japanese were so thick in the area that it made it far too risky for their superiors to launch a rescue mission. This, basically, left the men are left to fend for themselves. This they manage to do quite successfully, thanks to their own ingenuity and the friendship they have struck with the local natives. McHale and his crew have come to enjoy an idyllic lifestyle.

The sitcom takes on board McHale and his crew. They are still looking to do as little as possible, come up with money making schemes, find ways to track down booze and attract a bevy of women. McHale now has a superior officer, Captain Wallace Bingham (Joe Flynn), at the base and Bingham is looking to get rid of McHale by any means necessary. Bingham doesn't care if that be by way of transfer or, better still, via a court martial.

The show aired on the ABC for four seasons, commencing in 1962. The first three seasons were set in the Pacific but moved to Italy in the last.

Answer: 'Allo 'Allo

Rene Artois (Gordon Kaye) is the owner of the café in question and his whole life is in turmoil. Each day he has to juggle his dealings with a dishonest German officer, Colonel Kurt Von Strohm (Richard Marner), who has stolen a valuable painting ("The Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies") and has entrusted Rene to keep it hidden, a German Gestapo agent, Herr Otto Flick (initially Richard Gibson), who is determined to track down the painting, providing a safe house to two British airmen, Fairfax and Carstairs (John D. Collins & Nicholas Frankau), Michelle Dubois (Kirsten Cooke) of the French Resistance who is constantly embroiling poor Rene in her plans to blow things up and Yvette Carte-Blanche (Vicki Michelle), one of his wait staff with whom he is having an affair and trying desperately to keep it hidden from his wife Edith, played by Carmen Silvera.

The series is a British sitcom, which was originally broadcast on BBC1 in 1982 and ran successfully for nine seasons. It relied heavily on visually gags and catchphrases but it also came up with a unique way of dealing with the four significant languages in the show; French, German, English and Italian. Rather than providing sub-titles, which they felt would overwhelm the audience, they had the characters speak in English in cliched accents. When two different accents were conversing together, the characters concerned would look at each other with blank looks as if to signify that they didn't understand each other.