Get Some In!
Get Some In! is a British television sitcom about National Service life in the Royal Air Force, broadcast between 1975 and 1978 by Thames Television. Scripts were by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, the team behind sitcoms like Brush Strokes and The Good Life.
The programme drew its inspiration from late 1950s – early 1960s National Service situation-comedy The Army Game and from nostalgic BBC TV sitcom Dad's Army but the RAF setting gave it enough originality not to seem formulaic. Thirty-four half-hour episodes were made.
The title is a contraction of "Get some service in!", which was a piece of Second World War-era military slang sometimes shouted by conscripted soldiers at civilians of conscription age whom the conscripts may have believed were avoiding call-up.
The series has never been repeated in full on terrestrial TV in the UK, although the UKTV Gold cable channel has aired the episodes uncut. The whole series was shown on Forces TV in 2016 and again in 2019, and on Talking Pictures TV in 2019. It was screened in Australia in the early 1980s.
Characters
National Service recruits
- Ken Richardson. A grammar school pupil, Ken is very well-mannered much to the disgust of Corporal Marsh. Due to his education, he often finds himself on the receiving end of insults from Corporal Marsh such as "poofhouse" and "Nance". Far from being homosexual, Richardson falls quickly for the charms of Lilley's sister Agnes, and later for Mrs. Fairfax - an officer's wife. Richardson is kind to all the other national servicemen, despite exhibiting obvious differences from them. Played by David Janson.
- Jakey Smith, a Teddy Boy from London. Jakey soon finds himself at odds with Corporal Marsh, and dislikes the whole concept of National Service. He has little or no respect for authority but is at heart a decent individual. Marsh delights in calling him "Edward VII", an allusion to his former Teddy Boy culture, though on leave Jakey finds himself no longer accepted amongst the Teds. Played by Robert Lindsay until Lindsay got his own show Citizen Smith, and then by Karl Howman.
- Matthew Lilley, a vicar's son who plays the harpsichord and is very well-mannered. Raised to be God-fearing, Lilley prides himself on not hating anybody - not even Marsh. Though naturally shy, Matthew is usually the first to object to Corporal Marsh's shady schemes. Marsh sometimes calls him "Holy Joe" or "Christopher Robin" - the latter an allusion to the popular poem Vespers by A.A. Milne. Played by Gerard Ryder.
- Bruce Leckie. A Scotsman from Glasgow, Bruce has a very cynical view of life and is a pessimist. Cpl. Marsh called him "Jockstrap" and "Jock". Like Jakey, he does not like being conscripted for National Service. Bruce is very shy around women but eventually falls in love with and finds happiness with Corporal Wendy, though this happiness is short-lived as after Bruce completes his trade training they are both posted to different RAF stations. Played by Brian Pettifer.
Officers and instructors
- Corporal Percy Marsh GM. Corporal, later Sergeant, later Corporal, later AC1, later Corporal Marsh is a drill instructor who becomes the bane of the recruits' lives. A man with a sadistic sense of humour and few friends, he continually makes his charges' lives miserable. He has an eidetic memory and an eerie aptitude for mental arithmetic which are sometimes mistaken for intelligence. Marsh always craves promotion but his own schemes usually backfire preventing him from attaining his goal. Played by Tony Selby.
- Squadron Leader Clive Baker. Medical Officer of RAF Skelton and later anatomy instructor at RAF Midham. Played by John D. Collins.
- Flight Lieutenant Roland Grant. Commanding officer of C Flight and Marsh's superior at Skelton. He dislikes Marsh's bullying but his public school code of conduct prevents him from doing much about it; when forced to exert his authority he generally sides with Marsh. Played by David Quilter.
- Padre Played by Tim Barrett.
Other characters
- Alice Theresa Marsh. Corporal Marsh's wife. She is constantly irritated by her husband's lack of advancement in the RAF, but she is a kind-hearted woman and is good to the recruits, much to the irritation of Marsh. She left him during the fourth series, only to return in the end. Played by Lori Wells.
- Mrs Fairfax. Wife of one of the senior officers, a beautiful and compassionate lady who despises Marsh and is kind to recruits. Richardson develops a crush on her in Series 2. Played by Angela Thorne.
- Corporal Wendy. A WRAF corporal, married in the fourth series to Bruce Leckie. Played by Jenny Cryst.
Theme song
Episodes
Series 1 (1975)
Special (1975)
Series 2 (1976)
Series 3 (1977)
Series 4 (1977)
Series 5 (1978)
Stage show
A stage version of Get Some In! was produced for a 1977 summer season at the Princess Theatre, Torquay.Setting and filming locations
Series 1–2 were set at the fictional Royal Air Force station RAF Skelton. They were filmed at Hobbs Barracks near Felbridge in Surrey. The barracks are, as of 2017, an industrial estate.At the beginning of the third series, the recruits' barracks hut is destroyed by fire and so in series 3–4 events were set at fictional RAF Midham. Series 5 was set at fictional RAF hospital Druidswater.
The Christmas special, set at RAF Skelton, was captioned "Christmas 1955", but the remainder of the series continued to be set in 1955.
Home release
All five series including a 5-DVD set of the complete series of Get Some In! have been released by Network.| DVD | Release date |
| The Complete Series 1 | 19 September 2008 |
| The Complete Series 2 | 28 January 2009 |
| The Complete Series 3 | 6 April 2009 |
| The Complete Series 4 | 20 July 2009 |
| The Complete Series 5 | 5 October 2009 |
| The Complete Series 1 to 5 Box Set | 2 November 2009 |