I just found some recent-ish images of Christopher Neame in Google, and boy he looks a bit different now.

I think that's due loss of hair. Kinda round-faced.
How old is he by now? Late fifties?

That's like Ron Howard. If you'd see him now and in his Happy Days time there's also a major difference. From a decent good looking kid in Happy Days to a man older than he actually is and he's either very late fifties early sixties. In the last episode of Arrested Development he has a small cameo. With a cap on and beardless, he still looks like good ol' Richie Cunningham. But without the cap, he also suffered hairloss and with the beard, he looks pretty old.

Believe it or not we're going to experience this as well.

Hee! That's cool! It is great to see a recent photo.

Here's a really old one (circa 1972):

Aw, he looks like Mommy is holding his hand...

To tell you the truth, I think he still looks pretty much the same.

Compare that to RDA. When I started watching MacGyver after I had seen some Stargate SG1 with Jack O'Neill, I couldn't believe it was the same man. Even today I find it hard to bring the two of them together. Of course that has to do with great acting, but also with physical change. And boy, has he changed.

Euhm, Dick Player?

That is his character's name, I swear!

IMDB: Colditz

Sounds a bit MacGruberish

Fortunately, 'Colditz' is not a SNL skit. Poor Lt. Player's name is perhaps the only comical thing about this show. But even so--and even because of that--it is a showcase of a talent little utilized by other American television producers. Christopher spends most of his time in solitary confinement for attempted escapes, and most of that time whumped.

When he's not whumped or locked up-however-he is notorious for taking off shirt.

Yes, I know about Colditz (never saw it though), I was just referring to the poor man's name.


Wasn't there also a funny Colditz, called Hogan's Heroes?

Well, there was a sitcom set in a WWII POW camp, called Hogan's Heroes -- I watched it when I was growing up and didn't know any better. Whether you thought it was funny probably depends on how thick your skin is -- I look at it now and cringe in horror that Hollywood ever attempted to make a comedy out of such a situation.

I have seen some of the episodes a long time ago, but it is all very vague. I remember one guy in it who was really funny. At that age I had no idea of the horrors of World War II.

But it certainly wasn't the last so called funny tv show about the war. Have you ever heard of a British sitcom called Allo Allo, about the French resistance in a little village during the war? It was a huge hit. The Nazis are portrayed like quite likable guys, and it also has a lot of cross dressing in it, all along the lines of the thick ambiguous humor the British are famous for.
It's a typical British genre. Other examples are 'It ain't half hot mum', about a group of soldiers/actors in British India of old times, and 'Dad's Army'. There are many more, but a distinct feature in all of these shows is the typical gay character (the poof) that is always the target of dubious jokes, which the British seem to love.

NB: in Allo Allo the actor who plays the womanizing René is gay in real life and the actor who portrays the German 'poof' is played by a straight man who is married with six children.

I always thought of Hogan's Heroes as poking fun at the Nazi's myself because it portrayed them as a bunch of idiots.

But yeah Traveller is right, it certainly wasn't the only comedy based on war. Look at how well MASH did, and yes Allo Allo was quite a big international hit also.