Filmgoers dressed in 1940s attire for a classic screening of the Dad's Army movie today, which was attended by one of its stars.

Frank Williams, who played the vicar in the long-running series, was the VIP guest at the former Wymondham Regal cinema. The Wymondham Ex-Services Club was full for the movie show organised by the Regal Experience group.

Mr Williams, who was a regular visitor to Norfolk when Dad's Army was filmed at Thetford, between 1968 and 1977, said he had ceased being surprised by the popularity of the second world war-themed comedy about the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard.

'When we have the Dad's Army day at Bressingham, the entire family comes along. It really is fascinating to me that little children like it. I think it is good family viewing and there are a lot of silly old men doing daft things. People love the characters.'

The 79-year-old added that it had been many years since he last saw the Dad's Army movie, which was filmed in 1970 in Chalfont St Giles, in Buckinghamshire, and not the usual Thetford set for the television series.

Mr Williams also praised the work of the Norfolk people who continue to run Dad's Army tours and commemorate the famous sitcom.

'It is quite amazing. When I went to the unveiling of the Dad's Army statue [in Thetford] and I sat next to Mainwaring I thought it was quite uncanny and I thought he had come back to life.'

Mr Williams also signed copies of his autobiography during the interval. The Regal Experience event was the first classic screening of 2011. The group puts on eight classic films at the Wymondham Ex-Services Club every year. The building closed as a cinema in 1993.