Lads' Army


Lads' Army is a reality game show specifically of the kind that constitutes a historically derived social experiment – other examples being The 1900 House and The Frontier House. Shown on ITV, Bad Lads Army is based on the premise of subjecting today's delinquent young men to the conditions of conscripts to British Army National Service of the 1950s to see if this could rehabilitate them.
The programme was derived from an earlier one called simply Lads Army in which a number of volunteers underwent four weeks of basic training for 1950s National Service. Unlike the three sequel series, the original programme's experiment was merely to see if 18-24 year old members of the modern British public could cope with the 1950s training, and how they compared to the public of that period. The success of the original series led to the experiment being repeated with the recruits having committed criminal offences, often given the option to undergo the training by courts as an alternative to serving pending sentences, to explore the proposition that it would be beneficial to reinstate National Service for petty criminals and delinquents as an alternative to more conventional sentences. Season 4 lowered the age to 17.5 and raised the age to 26.
The programme format is relatively simple. The recruits are issued period uniforms and equipment and fed, quartered and trained according to the standards of the era. Their free time is limited to visits to the NAAFI with period refreshments and facilities. The recruits form a single platoon made up of two sections, each under the care of a section commander, either Richard Nauyokas or Joe Murray. During training the sections compete against each other, building a sense of competition but also of teamwork and loyalty. Success brings modest rewards. Praise is given for whole-hearted attempts at tasks. The NCOs and officers running the training are all, or have been, professional British soldiers.
Each season had a slightly different format to its predecessors, although the theme of 1950s military training is common to all seasons. The 3rd season had the volunteers train to become officers while the 4th season had the volunteers train to become paratroopers.
Within each series a small number of the recruits have either walked out, or been ejected. The majority of the remainder claim some benefit from the experience and some have chosen the British Army as a career at the end of it.
The narrator for the first series was Kevin Whately, then Dennis Waterman took over until the show ended in 2006.
Seasons 1-3 had included interviews with celebrities who had completed National Service in the 1950s, including Joss Ackland, Michael Aspel, Brian Blessed, Richard Briers, Paul Daniels, Frederick Forsyth, Bernard Manning, Nosher Powell, Andrew Sachs and Brian Sewell. During re-airings of the first series, the interviews were edited out.

Contestants:

Series 1 - (Lads Army, 2002)

WATERLOO PLATOON RECRUITS:

Series Overview:

PASSED OUT = Recruit was present at the final stages of training, at the Passing Out Parade.
LEFT = Recruit quit or was discharged before making it to the final parade.
David Gardner received the “Best Recruit” award, James Willingham was awarded the platoons “Most Improved Recruit”. 2 Section won “Best Section”.
During the series, Tom Woolfe was dishonourably discharged/back squadded from the camp. Paul Clayden, Lee Wooten, and Chris Hampson chose the leave voluntarily. Nicholas Sandford deserted the base and never returned to camp. Jamie Dodd and Aaron Larson were medically discharged from the camp. William Wood’s exit is unknown as his exit never aired.
After William Wood and Paul Clayden left, William Bate and Paul Eagle were drafted in as replacement recruits.
Captain Richard Owen, Waterloo Platoon’s CO, died after the filming of the series in 2014, age 48.

Series 2 - (Bad Lads Army, 2004)

MONTGOMERY PLATOON RECRUITS:
1 Section
CPL Richard Nauyokas		Ages:Occupation:STATUS:2 Section
CPL Joe Murray		Ages:Occupation:STATUS:
Tjobbe Andrew22 Website DesignerPASSED OUTChris Andrew21 UnemployedPASSED OUT
Marcus Birks23 UnemployedPASSED OUTMichael Blackham19 UnemployedPASSED OUT
David Butler21 JoinerPASSED OUTAlan Brown23 UnemployedLEFT
Shaun Carr18 StudentPASSED OUTLuke Brown23 UnemployedLEFT
Peter Cray23 ActorPASSED OUTChris Davis19 StudentLEFTDamien Ellis23 GraduatePASSED OUT
Matthew Gilks21 BuilderPASSED OUTDaniel Kett21 Civil EngineerLEFT
Robert Grundy17 UnemployedPASSED OUTMichael Lowes22 SalespersonPASSED OUT
Chris Harkin17 UnemployedPASSED OUTAlex Rennie24 StudentPASSED OUT
John Kyprianou23 BarmanPASSED OUTShingi Sekerama19 UnemployedPASSED OUT
Mark Lamont20 UnemployedPASSED OUTRobert Shutler22 StudentPASSED OUT
Ashley Morton21 Landscape GardenerLEFTScott Simpson18 UnemployedLEFT
Wil Moynihan20 BarmanPASSED OUTWayne Spiller24 StudentPASSED OUT
Hassan Murtada24 ScaffolderPASSED OUTChristopher Townsend20 Barman/StudentLEFT
Robert Pembrook19 UnemployedPASSED OUTRichard Weaver20 Cinema Team LeaderPASSED OUT
N/A N/AN/AN/AStilianos Xidakis18 High School StudentPASSED OUT

Series Overview:

PASSED OUT = Recruit was present at the final stages of training, at the Passing Out Parade.
LEFT = Recruit quit or was discharged before making it to the final parade.
Tjobbe Andrews, Matthew Gilks and Robert Shutler were given Officer Recommendations. This would be the goal of the following season. John Kyprianou received the Platoon’s Top Shot. Marcus Birks received the Best Recruit award at the Pass Out Parade, with Robert Pembrook receiving the Most Improved award. 2 Section won Best Section. With 2 Section winning best section, CPL Murray was promoted to SGT at the Passing Out Parade.
Luke Brown and Ashley Morton were dishonourably discharged. Scott Simpson, Daniel Kett and Chris Townsend chose to leave voluntarily. Ashley Cummings and Alan Brown's status' are unknown, as how they were discharged was never specified.
After Scott Simpson quit before even being issued a single item of kit or his uniform, Alex Rennie was drafted in as a replacement recruit. At the time of the seasons release, there was speculation that Tom Woolfe from the first series who was back squadded was set to return but never did for unknown reasons. This is heavily suspected, as there was no replacement for 1 Section after Ashley Cummings left and Woolfe was in 1 Section during the first season, however, to this date, nothing has been confirmed.
Michael Lowes died after the filming of the series in 2010, age 28.

Series 3 - (Bad Lads Army: Officer Class, 2005)

CHURCHILL PLATOON RECRUITS:

Series Overview:

YES = Recruit was selected for officer training.
NO = Recruit was not selected for officer training.
LEFT = Recruit left the series, either voluntarily, due to being dishonourably discharged or a medical discharge.
The Passing Out Parade never stated who received “Best Recruit”, or “Most Improved Recruit”, as well as which Section were the winners overall.
Wesley Worrall, Steven Bedford, and Matthew Tate were dishonourably discharged from the camp, Kirk Woodend chose to leave voluntarily and Adam Oakley was medically discharged, Dale Tate deserted the section and never returned to the Platoon; his brother deserted with him, but later returned. Simon Pinkney and Adrian Turton left the camp, however their exits were never aired.
After Wesley Worrall and Steven Bedford were discharged, Chris Danns and Matthew Rawlings were drafted in, as replacement recruits.
Robert Page initially was selected for officer training but quit before training began and was forced to return to unit.
At the end of the final episode, the narrator stated that 11 of 24 who passed out had subsequently applied to join the regular British Army.
Robert Page died after the filming of the series, in 2020, age 36.

Series 4 - (Bad Lads Army: Extreme, 2006)

PEGASUS PLATOON RECRUITS:

Series Overview:

YES = Recruit was selected for the Final Parachute Jump
NO = Recruit was not selected for Final Parachute Jump.
LEFT = Recruit left the series, either voluntarily, due to being dishonourably discharged or a medical discharge.
The Passing Out Parade never stated who received “Best Recruit”, or “Most Improved Recruit”. Blue Section were the winning section.
Colin Elliot was Dishonourably Discharged from the camp. Keith Burke, Adam Mercer, Joel Whittaker, and Andrew Jimson were dismissed on Bin Day, just before the interrogation phase. Ron Spike, Leon White, Luke Howard, Matthew Reed, Raymond Impey, Darren McDonald and Luke Moyes were all dismissed from the camp but their exits never aired. This season features a high amount of unusual dismissals, with 12 exits total.
After Colin Elliot and Ron Spike were discharged, Joe Peto and Steven Walker were drafted in, as replacement recruits. This was the first time that both replacement recruits went into the same section.
Aiden Chaffe died after the filming of the series, in 2018, age 30 in a parachute accident with a malfunction.

Transmissions

Ratings

Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.

Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

Series 4