Now the much-loved sitcom – arguably one of the best ever made – is brought to the stage at the Key Theatre in a new production that brings to life the so-called "lost" episodes – programmes that were wiped by the BBC as they transferred the episodes to the new video format.

Co-creator of Dad's Army Jimmy Perry OBE, spoke exclusively to The Guide about the stage show, which he and David Croft have been heavily involved with from the very beginning.

The term "comedy legend" is thrown around a little too frequently nowadays, and applied to everyone, from unwitting figures of fun such as David Hasselhoff to kitschy television presenters from our childhoods.

There are some people, however, who genuinely warrant the term, and Jimmy Perry – who also counts Hi-De-Hi and It 'Aint Half Hot Mum among his creations with David Croft – must surely be one of them.

At 84, Perry is a charming and lively nterviewee and explained that bringing the lost episodes of Dad's Army back to life has been something of a labour of love for all concerned. He admitted, though, that he was entirely thrown by the idea of bringing them to the stage at first.

"The chap Ed O Driscoll called about it and we thought he was nuts . . . he was an impressario from Liverpool," he said.

"The thought of doing Dad's Army with a different cast, as sadly all the originals are no longer with us or are retired, seemed strange, but it's been the most amazing surprise – people have been queuing everywhere."

Jimmy said David and himself were involved from the very beginning. Indeed, each of them began their careers in the theatre before making the move to television, and Jimmy said it was refreshing to return to a medium that is instantly rewarded by a live audience.

"Theatre is my first home, really, and the strange thing about the theatre is that the audience are so warm."

The new show features a cast that includes former EastEnder Leslie Grantham, who steps from the Dirty Den role he made entirely his own into the shoes of Private Joe Walker, the wheeler-dealing spiv, originally played by James Beck.

"I've worked with the cast and got to know them," Jimmy said.

"The important thing is that we were very careful not to have them doing impressions of the original cast – they are 100 per cent professional actors and they act the parts as opposed to doing impressions."

Jimmy said the success of the new show has been a genuine surprise to the partnership, which was equally astounded by the success of the original television programme, which debuted on our screens in 1968.

"We didn't know it was going to be successful at all . . . we both realised we were into something that we both liked. People ask how has it lasted so long, and I think it's giving people something to laugh at in a time that was very hard.

"The story behind it is that I was in the Home Guard as a boy of 16. David went into the Army, and later I went into the Army as well.