Get Some In!

Just to say that those who would like to see again this classic 70's sitcom (and a rare good one from ITV), check out a certain well known video sharing site. Like others, I recall watching this as a kid, my Dad who did National Service, though in the army, loved it too and thought it realistic. The writers both did National Service in the RAF in the 1950's. A classic line, from the very first episode, from the wonderful Tony Selby as the fearsome NCO, 'my name is Marsh, that's B-A-S-T-A-R-D!' As well as giving Robert Lindsay his first major role, before another well remembered part where he was also named 'Smith'. I don't think there has been any real intention of not repeating this series due to some PC concerns, it's just got lost in the crowd of 70's sitcoms, though popular it's just not as well known as others like 'Porridge'. It might be that the BBC just looks after it's sitcom legacy better. The corporate convulsions of the old ITV network in the 1990's and 2000's might also have played a part here.

This is perhaps only viewed as a somewhat nostalgic memory. I was a volunteer in the army starting life as a boy soldier engineer at Chepstow but due to being thick moving on to the cavalry in what was then known as the ROYAL SCOTS GREYS. My training was at Catterick and while the live in barracks were new much of our time was spent in the wooden hut like buildings learning things like Guard duty. Yes her we would meet the character represented by Alfred Marks but thankfully not the drunk liable to destroy a career of a just starting soldier. I must admit that I never met a Corporal Marsh type in my training days as a boy soldier or my Catterick days. I was and do not remember a swearing at me or us instructor or a bully so cannot fully appreciate the humour of such comedies other than as a stereotypical effort. corporal Marsh was no Sgt Major Shut up Williams as in 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum'. Perhaps the RAF was not able to conjure up a background such as the army did with here and the ARMY GAME with Bootsie and Snudge. How could a public that had more perceived knowledge of the military as it being the army understand that in Get some in we are historically told is an effeminate old fashioned hair oiled RAF. Do not understand this gel headed perception This is trying to show the RAF doing its best to be animal like its senior arm. A load of Wannabes possibly. Admittedly it does have the RAF Regiment which is effectively the same as the army but in RAF blue. It guards airfields but is not an aggressive arm to my knowledge. Due to this it can spend more hours perfecting those now non essential drill movements making them a most accomplished drill smart unit that can carry out a choreographed movement lasting some time and envied. The real ARMY in times gone by did this under fire. But conversely I was with 23 Parachute Field Ambulance for some time and I can relate that for the parachute period of training the Paras are not entrusted with this but it is carried out by the RAF. Perhaps due to a less aggressive training attitude giving the lie to Marsh's training principles.

While this has not been a positive review the series did crate a diversion recently for me but in its day due to my service commitments missed so much. I did however see It Ain't half hot mum start and even the last few series as I had left the army by then. Get some in did not match up. Dads army coming from a different viewpoint also was much superior. While I can empathise with any conscript in any part or the services it does not always transfer on to the silver screen. This is a vehicle for making money and not to give history lessons or create nostalgia. I do not think that our actors were notable other than the swine Selby. The turn out in uniform shows that no one had much interest in realism unlike dear Windsor Davies who would not have looked out of place in the real world. Marsh while having been a CORPORAL for 8 years mu have had previous service. Assuming that he worked his way through the ranks I can give him a another three years from joining the RAF. This make surely his entrance at about 1944. Not a ribbon in sight for one entrusted with the moulding of recruits. In truth Marsh should never have been given this task. Training post wartime took on a new and more enlightened role. While I enjoyed this for a little nostalgia and the ability to laugh at idiotic behaviour. It is not a classic as suggested by I suppose Riff Raff veterans. In any case allow me to say that any ex service man who willingly gave his all, I do not mean gave his life, for his unit/ship/etc is to be applauded. May I be able to enjoy a good laugh at all the comedic situations that story tellers can without malicious intent conjure up for our entertainment. My overall thinking is that it showed National service with the RAF as opposed to the usual Army fare. It did introduce some new people into the TV world. Robert Lindsay of course its main export.

If "It Ain't Half Hot Mum" has suffered acutely from Politically Correct retro-censorship, being rarely repeated (and then only the odd episode that gets past the new puritans), "Get Some In!" has been officially airbrushed out of late 70s British sitcom history. The total ban on repeats of this series means that I have not seen it since it was originally aired. Set in the 1950s, when young British men were still obliged to undergo compulsory National Service in one of the armed forces, my recollections of this series take me back, nevertheless, to the late 1970s, when such National Service seemed a dim and remote memory (to teenagers like myself, smugly ineligible). It aired in that bizarre cusp or hinge of time between decadent hippie-dom (concept albums, and rock stars in mansions) and early punk, and sought to demythologise the wizard-prang, pipe-between-the-teeth image of the RAF by showing the lowly, earthbound National Service recruits to the air force ("Though you're in the RAF, you'll never see a plane" went one line of the theme song). The recruits ("erks", if memory serves) were the standard-issue collection of heterogeneous types, running the gamut of the English class system and its miscellaneous sub-categories, most notably including the brilliant David Janson, subsequently much under-used, and the no less brilliant Robert Lindsay, in his first starring role (pre-"Citizen Smith"). Presiding over these raw recruits was the fearsome NCO, Tony Selby, a superb utility actor who had graced "The Avengers", "Ace Of Wands" and many another must-see British series of the late 60s and early 70s. With a strong cast, and what seemed at the time to be funny scripts, it is puzzling that this series has never re-aired, but perhaps it reflected too closely the PC insensitivities of the 50s. Our loss!

I find it odd that people are raving about this show. What I can remember of it was turgid and predictable, but people profess to think it marvellous despite the fact that it has been practically 30 years since they saw it. Good memories or rose tinted spectacles. My guess would be the latter. Also most of the comments on this page are bemoaning the fact that this isn't repeated due to political correctness. It may also not be reproduced on DVD since it isn't exactly Fawlty Towers. They haven't had any problem putting Love Thy Neighbour out on satellite television but you will see that the appalling Mixed Blessings, about an interracial couple and the "hilarious" angry reaction of their families and the general public never sees the light of day. Stuff goes because its rubbish.

Forget your 'Dad's Armys', and 'Aint 'Alf Hot Mum's, this was the business. I fortunately was able to recapture it when the complete series was aired on satellite in the UK. While watching them, I actually found myself utterly embarrassed...Because I was laughing aloud at the Television like an unhinged school boy.

I guess that's because it was made in the care free days of the 1970s, when sitcoms were actually funny.

NCO: 'Smiff? Is that spelt wiv one F or two.'

SMITH: 'No. Three.'