A Wisbech cinema put on a special screening of Dads’ Army exclusively for cancer sufferer Michael Wilding after responding to a plea from his daughter Louisa.

She told the Light Cinema that her father “cannot go and watch the film at a packed cinema for one unfortunate reason - he has cancer and is neutropenic.

“It means he has no immune system and is not allowed to be out in any kind of crowd at all, due to him not being able to fight off any infection he could pick up. No matter how small, just a little cold would potentially kill him.”

“Dads Army is one of my father’s favourites and has been for as long as I can remember.”

Marketing co-ordinator Emma McGuire arranged for Louisa and Michael to go in on Friday before the cinema opened to watch the film.

Ms Collins said: “This really means so much to us all. As a family it’s a nightmare to watch somebody you love go through hell and to know that you can’t do anything to take away the pain and suffering they’re going through.

“My dad is so brave. He’s definitely my hero, and to be able to help make him smile and laugh and escape from reality, even if it’s just for a few hours, was the best thing I could have done.

“I am so incredibly grateful to the Light Cinema for their help in arranging for my dad to watch the film, though thank you doesn’t seem enough somehow.”

She said her father’s condition is called myelodysplasia and this turned into acute myeloid leukaemia in October 2015.

“He had intensive chemotherapy and had gone into remission from leukaemia but still needed a stem cell transplant to cure the myelodysplasia,” she said.

“My brother was due to be the donor for stem cell transplantation for my dad to try and cure his myelodysplasia. However, we had devastating news that he was too unwell for the transplant as the leukaemia has returned a second time.

“He is due to go into Peterborough City hospital on Monday for a final dose of chemotherapy; unfortunately the odds are against him.”