Director Clive Donner, who had been working in advertising, was approached to make a documentary to promote the Duke of Edinburgh scheme.

Donner felt the documentary would only reach people who already knew about the scheme, and suggested they make a dramatic feature instead.

Wills cigarette factory, Royal York Crescent, Clifton Suspension Bridge, the Theatre Royal, the Palace Hotel, Bristol South public baths, the city docks, The Portway and Lockleaze, with Lockleaze School used for much of the interior filming.

Briskly unfolded against a vivid Bristol city backdrop ... the picture leaves a few things unexplained, but, by and large, it’s a laughable and holding working-class mosaic, illuminated by lofty sentiment.

Unfortunately, it has nothing to add to that now painfully familiar delinquency formula which combines a liking for coffee bars, motor bikes and guitars with an inability to talk reasonably to Father.

"[12] Leslie Halliwell said: "Bland propaganda for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme for young people, quite acceptably presented, with pop music ad lib.

"[13] The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "This coffee bar musical arrived two months before The Beatles, but its moral values are those of the early 1950s: motorbikes and pop music equal juvenile delinquency, and what young tearaways need is spiritual guidance. ...