It follows the exploits of Hut 29, a dysfunctional group of soldiers and their National Service conscription into the British Army during the post war years.

The original cast consisted of William Hartnell, Michael Medwin, Geoffrey Sumner, Alfie Bass, Charles Hawtrey, Bernard Bresslaw and Norman Rossington.

The cast would change over the years with actors such as Bill Fraser, Ted Lune, Frank Williams, Harry Fowler and Dick Emery appearing in subsequent series.

The creator, Sid Colin, was inspired by a 1956 film, Private's Progress, that starred Ian Carmichael, Richard Attenborough and Terry-Thomas.

The show centres on a group of conscripts assigned to the Surplus Ordnance Department at Nether Hopping, Staffordshire.

Other popular characters included Harry Fowler's Cpl 'Flogger' Hoskins (a replacement for Medwin's Springer) and Ted Lune's Pte Leonard Bone, a sort of northern England variation on Bresslaw's Popplewell.

[6] On the back of the series Bresslaw became a star of the late fifties and would also use the Popplewell characteristics for other roles of the period, such as the 1959 films Too Many Crooks and The Ugly Duckling.