Pte. James Frazer

A dour Scottish undertaker serving in the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard, Frazer meets every crisis with the same wild-eyed relish for catastrophe. He's suspicious, thrifty, quick to needle Captain Mainwaring, and never happier than when predicting that they're all 'doomed' — a prophecy delivered with grim theatrical glee rather than despair.

John Laurie plays doom as pure comic music: that rolled, rising 'DOOMED' becomes a catchphrase precisely because he commits to it like tragedy while everyone around him just wants a quiet parade. The writing gives him a blade-sharp tongue and old-soldier cunning, and Laurie's gaunt, glaring intensity turns a small, cranky role into something unforgettable.