DALE Johnson doesn’t need much invitation to start rolling his Rs and crying: “We’re doomed, DOOMED!”

However his sunny character could not be more different to the character he plays in a Dad’s Army re-enactment group.

The 72-year-old from Ferndown plays the dour Scotsman Private Frazer from the wartime sitcom.

“I must have been something of an actor my whole life but it’s lain dormant,” enthused Dale, who previously had a career in the furnishing trade.

“I can’t claim to look exactly like John Laurie, but our Captain Mainwaring is just brilliant as Arthur Lowe.”

The group is called The Real Dad’s Army and is based in Sussex.

Their next show will be on the final weekend of June at the Wartime Weekend at Chartwell, the former home of Winston Churchill.

They don’t act out scenes but improvise what their characters might say.

Dad’s Army ran from 1968 to 1977 but has been enjoyed by generations of people since then.

Dale’s favourite episode is ‘Deadly Attachment’, when the platoon comes up against a captured submarine crew, with the German commander’s demand: “I don’t vant any nasty soggy chips!”

Dale is also a member of the Sussex Home Guard re-enactment group, and plays a Lieutenant in the 23rd (Hastings) Battalion.

One of their specialities is a 15-minute firepower demonstration where they fire off all their weapons to show the Home Guard was still a fighting force, despite all of the jokes.

He lectures on the Home Guard at Bovington Tank Museum and can also be seen driving around in his 1933 Austin 7 Home Guard van.

It’s painted to look like it belonged to 2137 Motor Transport Company, a Home Guard unit based in Ferndown.

“Children are all doing activities about the war in school,” he said.

“Young people know what we are doing and are generally interested.”