The very strong start to series 5 continues with the terrific Getting the Bird, an episode that once again benefits from Croft and Perry's ability to combine broader laughs with dramatic moments and solid character beats. In this case, a daft story about Walker filling the church hall with live pigeons dovetails seamlessly with a more emotional plot about Wilson being on the outs with Mrs. Pike. He has been spotted around town with a much younger woman and Mavis has thrown him out of the house as a result. This culminates in a brilliant sequence in which a very hungover Wilson is found behind the curtain in the Church Hall and, while being chastised by Mainwaring, begins to spot one of Walker's pigeons appearing behind him. Whenever Mainwaring turns to look, the pigeon has gone and even Wilson thinks he's imagining it. This is well-played farce tempered by good dramatic writing, since Wilson's turmoil is real and kept understated. The fact that the woman he has been seen with ultimately turns out to be his daughter could've also been played for farce but instead it is turned into a beautiful, surprisingly tender moment between Wilson and Fraser, after Fraser overhears them saying goodbye. The revelation that her mother left Wilson before he moved to Walmington-on-Sea gives the character a backstory filled with vulnerability, while the fact that it is Fraser in whom he ends up confiding, and that Fraser's sympathy is sincere, gives one of Dad's Army's hardest-edged characters a rarely-glimpsed sense of humanity too. And then the episode ends with a goofball gag involving pigeons in a pipe organ which brings the deft tonal tango to a satisfying conclusion.
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