AS a man who has taken risks all though his career, Steve Milne took one of his biggest when he announced he was to be executive producer on the new Dad’s Army film – setting off a roar of protest at daring to meddle with what has become a national treasure.

Loved by generations of television viewers young and old, and shown weekly on television stations around the world, there was horror at plans to make film version of the beloved Dad’s Army.

And worse, it was to feature none of the original actors.

One common question was: Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr Producer? You Stupid Boy – referring to one of the best-known phrases uttered by Captain Mainwaring to Private Pike in the show.

Well Steve is not such a ‘stupid boy’ now as the film is proving a box office hit and in the top five comedy releases this year.

And soon another of his big-screen productions will see the cinematic light of day in the shape of Ad Fab, based on the hit television show and this time with the original cast. The script by Jennifer Saunders is pure comedy and she stars with Joanna Lumley, causing havoc in the world of fashion and high-class living.

At Easter, Steve will be executive producer for a one-off film special of The Railway Children and, still in the world of children’s literature, Henry Williamson’s Swallows and Amazons, which will be out this summer.

One of the things he loves about these productions, especially Dad’s Army, is that they are “a celebration about being British”.

Already an Oscar winner for The King’s Speech, which broke box office records, Steve is executive chairman of top post-production company Molinare and the founder of the British Film Company, and DJ Films. Along with his colleagues, Steve has been a major part of our entertainment world for some years now, producing drama, including The Night Manager, which premiered on television last month, comedy and thought-provoking documentaries.

He has based his British Film Company at his beautiful home in Holybourne, near Alton, where he lives with wife, Catherine, and children Georgina, John and Charles, with dogs, horses and chickens adding to the rural charm.

It is a place “where I can dream” and have time to think about future projects, away from the frenetic world of Molinare headquarters in London, said Steve, or jetting in and out of airports to deal with the movers and shakers of the film and television world.

It was not a career Steve ever thought about growing up as the child of an RAF officer and moving from base to base and country to country, finally settling in Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire.

Although admitting he “loved the movies as a child, going to a lot of films with my mother”, his career took him into the world of commerce and he spent 18 years with packaging giant Tetra Pak.

Like a lot of men when they hit 40, Steve had a life-changing moment motivated by the sudden death of his father. He decided to learn to fly on a fast-track course in South Africa, gaining his pilot’s licence.

But he gained much more as it gave him the confidence to quit his job and begin researching a film about speed ace Donald Campbell and Bluebird.

Campbell died in a spectacular crash on Coniston Water during an attempt to set another water speed record.

So he and Catherine took a trip to Coniston, in Cumbria’s Lake District, and it was there their first child Georgina Blue was born.

It was 2011. Catherine was editing on a national magazine and Steve quit his job to look after the new baby while “taking every course I could on film making” and “watching a million DVDs” which gained him an A-Level in film studies at St Mary’s College in Basingstoke.

He joined post-production company Molinare as sales and marketing director and seven weeks later bought the company as part of a two-man management buy-in.

Post-production is the process, after a film is made, when it is “put into shape” by cutting and editing, to reduce it down to screen time and give it the right sound levels so it is ready to be shown in a cinema.

Earlier, in September 2003, Molinare was refocused upmarket on high-end television such as Masterchef and New Tricks and in 2005 also entered the feature film arena.

Since then the company has worked on more than 200 British independent films and invested in more than 40, such as last year’s Bafta-winning Moon and Oscar-shortlisted feature documentary Mugabe and the White African.

Now in charge and with Molinare flourishing, Steve decided to go ahead with the idea of a dream he had in his garden shed to produce what became the blockbuster The King’s Speech.

“It was a gamble. Big costume dramas like The Duchess were proving a flop at the box office so we brought it in on a £10m budget working with a gifted director called Tom Hooper. It had its premiere at The Toronto Film Festival in 2010 and that night it was also lead actor Colin Firth’s 50th birthday, so there was a cake and everyone sang happy birthday.

“Then we had to wait until it was released worldwide and we wondered if anyone want to go and see a film about two men talking to each other, and one with a stammer.”

The film was to net him and Molinare four Oscars as post-producer and investor and, having been nominated for an unprecedented 12 gongs, it ended up taking awards for Best Motion Picture of the Year, Colin Firth was named Best Actor, David Seidler won the gong for Most Original Screen Play, and Tom Hooper was named Best Director.

Steve and Catherine attended the Oscar ceremony – he was also at this year’s Bafta’s with actress Julie Walters on his arm – and they and the staff of Molinare celebrated what was a “dream come true”.

But like all things in life there are highs and lows, and Steve admitted he had been “pretty low” when, just after this big success, he sold Molinare which by then had 140 staff and, worse still, when it was on the brink of administration under its new owners.

“I was worried about the staff at Molinare and also I have broken the rules of a post-production executive by investing money in films and did lose money.”

He is particularly proud of the documentary McCullin (nominated for two Baftas), about the Sunday Times war correspondent, and Attacking The Devil, a film by Jacqui and Dave Morris about newspaper editor Harold Evans’ relentless search to find the cause of the invention of Thalidomide which begins in Nazi Germany.

But it was while he was at another Toronto film festival that he saw a film directed by Robert Redford for the American Film Company. “I thought ‘do we have a British Film Company and why don’t we?’ So in 2012 I flew to New York, consulted with a colleague, Christen Eisenbeiss, and in four days we had founded the British Film Company, DJ Films, and Christen is chairman.”

He was also to buy back Molinare – with colleague Julie Parmenter, managing director – which is now one of the leading post-production companies in the world working on both top box office films and most of the television shows we, the British public, watch.

Basing his British Film Company at his home gives him that chance to dream about exciting future productions, some already being filmed and some still to come.

He already has footage of the Donald Campbell story he hopes to complete one day and he would like to do something on the life of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, even one depicting his “black dog” bouts of depression.

“I studied so much about the great man but there are already a lot of films and plays about him. I am thinking maybe I could focus on his wilderness years when no-one would listen to him about the German threat of war,” he said.

One that is already in progress is The Crown, depicting 70 years of the monarchy, and it promises to be a lavish production.

Steve is also working on a feature documentary entitled Spitfire with fellow professionals Ant Palmer, of Four Marks, and David Fairhead, who lives in Farnham.

Now at the height of his career and still only in his early 50s, Steve says his work is now 80 per cent television and 20 per cent film making, which doesn’t sound like there’s much time for dreaming, but the quietness of his Holybourne studio will help him formulate any dreams into award-winning films and documentaries.

Away from the world of showbusiness Steve likes to be involved in community life, he has lived in Holybourne for 18 years, and the British Film Company has just decided to sponsor the Alton Under-12s rugby team for the coming season.