Dad’s Army star Ian Lavender was remembered by celebs and villagers alike at his funeral at St Mary’s Church in Woolpit, Suffolk on Thursday.
The actor, best known as the young Private Pike, was the last remaining main cast member from the wartime-set BBC show and died on Friday, February 2 aged 77, with his wife and sons at his side.
The service included an emotional rendition of Bring Him Home by Alfie Boe and Rick Wakeman as well as touching tributes to his role in Dad’s Army.
Draped on top of his coffin was an army beret worn by his character and a scarf in the colours of his favourite football team, Aston Villa.
Stars including Tim Healy, of Auf Wiedersehen Pet and Benidorm fame, were also in attendance.
Dad’s Army star Ian Lavender was remembered by celebs and villagers alike at his funeral at St Mary’s Church in Woolpit, Suffolk on Thursday
The actor was the last remaining main cast member from the wartime-set BBC show and died on Friday, February 2 aged 77, with his wife and sons at his side
Lavender, best known as the young Private Pike, was cast in the classic comedy series at the age of 22 in 1968 (seen with John Laurie (Private James Frazer) and Clive Dunn (Lance Corporal Jones))
Led by Reverend Ruth Farrell, the congregation heard tributes from his film director son Sam Lavender and musician Rick.
On departure to the churchyard, the Dad’s Army theme tune was played on the organ, to remember his time in the comedy.
The Birmingham-born actor was well-known in the village of Woolpit, with many residents attending to pay their respects.
Alfie and Ian performed together at the Royal British Legion concert produced by Live Nation and the BBC back in 2015.
Lavender revealed he would take his cast-members’ secrets to the grave just months before his death.
He told of how the show’s iconic cast were so close they shared secrets with each other that they ‘never told their wives’.
The actor admitted that he once promised co-star John Laurie (who played Private James Frazer) that he would never divulge the secrets they shared.
Lavender told the We Have Ways of Making You Talk podcast: ‘I talked with John [Laurie] for so many hours. He said, ‘There are things I’ve told you I’ve never told my wife, or my daughter. You must promise me you must never tell anybody yourself’.
Lavender pictured in 2016 at the Dad’s Army film premiere in London
The service included an emotional rendition of Bring Him Home by Alfie Boe (pictured) as well as touching tributes to his role in Dad’s Army
Rick Wakeman and Graham Cole paid their respects
Tim Healy of Auf Wiedersehen Pet and Benidorm fame attended the service
Draped on top of his coffin was an army beret worn by his character and a scarf in the colours of his favourite football team, Aston Villa
Ian Lavender’s family, including his wife Miki Hardy pictured
He went on to gush about his fellow co-stars and recalled filming as ‘great fun’ 10-weeks every year with ‘wonderful people who became great friends’.
Lavender also revealed that the cast were shocked with the show’s success after the first series originally failed to find an audience.
The post announcing his death read: ‘We are deeply saddened to hear the passing of the wonderful, Ian Lavender.
‘In what truly marks the end of an era, Ian was the last surviving member of the Dad’s Army main cast.’
Lavender, who was born in Birmingham in 1946, was twice married. His first wife was actress Suzanne Kerchiss in a union that lasted from 1967 to 1976, and the pair had two sons Dan and Sam.
From then on, he lived happily with American-born Miki Hardy. The couple married after 16 years together in 1993, following Lavender’s diagnosis with bladder cancer, which was successfully treated. He also survived a heart attack.
Outside of acting, he was a keen supporter of Aston Villa Football Club and chose a claret and blue scarf as part of Pike’s wardrobe.
The Birmingham-born actor was well-known in the village of Woolpit, with many residents attending to pay their respects
Led by Reverend Ruth Farrell, the congregation heard tributes from his film director son Sam Lavender and musician Rick
On departure to the churchyard, the Dad’s Army theme tune was played on the organ, to remember his time in the comedy
Last January Lavender said how the show’s iconic cast were so close they shared secrets with each other that they ‘never told their wives’ (cast is pictured)
He admitted that he once promised co-star John Laurie (who played Private James Frazer) that he would never divulge the secrets they shared
The cast of Dad’s Army, a popular TV series depicting the activities of the Home Guard (from left) Clive Dunn, James Beck, John LeMesurier, Arthur Lowe, John, Ian and Arnold Ridley at Shepperton Studios in 1970
Lavender had only recently graduated from drama school and had just one previous TV appearance to his name when he was cast in Dad’s Army, in stark contrast to the rest of the cast – who were comic veterans.
He was earning £9 a week during a six-month stint at Canterbury Rep when someone came up to him and said he looked stupid enough to do Pike.
‘I was a complete beginner and I suddenly joined what was probably Britain’s most experienced team of character actors,’ he said.
‘I was in a state of shock finding myself suddenly among so many great actors. When the moment came for me to speak, that funny voice of Pike just came out in a moment of panic.
‘Since then at the start of every new series it has been one hell of a job trying to conjure it up again.
‘But Private Pike took me from obscurity into the TV big time. I could never have achieved that if I hadn’t learned to say: ‘Ooh Captain Mainwaring, my mum said even if the Germans come I mustn’t catch cold.”
The acting gig was only expected to last for eight weeks – but the show’s phenomenal success meant it endured for the best part of a decade.
Attracting audiences of 18 million, it ran from 1968 to 1977 and saw Lavender become a household name.
As Pike, Lavender was a comedic stooge in the series, frequently berated as a ‘stupid boy’ by the troupe’s Captain Mainwairing, played by Arthur Lowe, although the other members of the reserve army behaved more warmly to him.
Lavender was key to one of Dad’s Army’s funniest moments where he had performed a song that called Hitler a ‘twerp’ in front of German forces.
The Nazi captain says his name will also go on a list of people he will take revenge on. Asked what it is, Captain Mainwaring urges ‘Don’t tell him, Pike’, accidentally revealing his name.
His bungling soldier routine in the Home Guard comedy brought him fan mail from all over Britain – especially from women who wanted to mother him.
‘I get letters from schoolgirls and middle-aged ladies who want to mother me. I miss out on ladies my own age,’ he joked once.
Lavender’s closest friend and mentor amongst the cast was Scottish actor John Laurie, who starred as the gruff undertaker Frazer.
Offscreen, the pair would often chat and tell each other jokes, a skill Lavender learnt from Laurie.
‘If I could choose one member of the cast to survive it would be John,’ Lavender told the Telegraph in 2018.
‘I loved him, actually. He was naughty, he was impish and he suffered no fools.’
In retrospect, Lavender suggested the part of Pike had put limits on his career, once telling The Independent: ‘I’ve certainly been typecast, but nobody expects you to come up with that character.
‘People don’t want Frank Pike, but they do expect you to be funny.’
After years of service in the show’s fiction seat of Wilmington on Sea, guest-starred in many television series and also took to the stage. He treaded the boards with Dustin Hoffman in The Merchant of Venice and also appeared in Sister Act: The Musical.
Outside of Dads Army, his biggest impact on the silver screen was as Derek Harkinson in EastEnders from 2001 to 2005, and again from 2016 to 2017. Initially the boyfriend of Christian (John Partridge), Derek became firm friends with the show’s matriarch Pauline Fowler (Wendy Craig).
Commissioned for an eight-week stint, Dad’s Army proved such a runaway success that it lasted from 1968 to 1977 (Pictured: Clive Dunn, Ian Lavender and Arthur Lowe in 1974 episode ‘The Godiva Affair’)
Lavender on the red carpet of The Oldie of the Year Awards in London in 2015
After Dad’s Army, Lavender found renewed success in BBC One’s EastEnders, starring as Derek Harkinson – a friend of Pauline Fowler’s – from 2001 to 2005, and again from 2016 to 2017
As Pauline’s gay best friend Derek, Lavender found himself drawn into many of the soap’s key storylines in the early 2000s. He left the series in 2005, later returning in 2016
Ian Lavender as Monsignor Howard in Sister Act: The Musical at London’s Palladium Theatre in August 2010
Lavender also starred in Carry On Behind, pictured with actress Adrienne Posta
Lavender’s official EastEnders profile picture, showing his character Derek Harkinson outside the show’s iconic Queen Vic pub
Lavender, who was born in Birmingham in 1946, was twice married. His first wife was actress Suzanne Kerchiss in a union that lasted from 1967 to 1976, and the pair had two sons Dan and Sam
From 1977, Lavender lived happily with American-born Miki Hardy. The couple married after 16 years together in 1993, following Lavender’s diagnosis with bladder cancer, which was successfully treated
He starred in 240 episodes of the BBC One soap in total.
Lavender was the last surviving member of the Dad’s Army cast. Clive Dunn, who played Lance Corporal Jones, died in 2012, while Bill Pertwee (air raid warden Hodges) died in 2013.
Arthur Lowe died from a heart attack in 1982 and John Le Mesurier, the long-suffering Sergeant Wilson, died the following year.
Lavender made a cameo appearance as Brigadier Pritchard in the 2016 Dad’s Army film, which starred Toby Jones and Bill Nighy.
In the film, The Inbetweeners star Blake Harrison played Private Pike.
