Get Some In!

Lore & Background

The overarching concept follows a single hut of recruits at RAF Skelton in 1955. They are a disparate group led, through default, by Jakey Smith. Most stories concern their ongoing conflict with the sadistic corporal who runs the hut. The corporal lives in married quarters on site, and this female dimension gives an occasional sexual dimension to the plots. Relocation in series 3 to RAF Midham next to a WAAF station allowed an additional sexual angle, as did Corporal Marsh moving into married quarters on-site (albeit a caravan). Marsh also decides to retrain and effectively becomes an equal rather than superior to the other men as all train to be medics. Series 4 ends with the main group posted to Malta as medics. Series 5 is effectively a hospital comedy.

Reader's Guide

Get Some In! was a British television sitcom that ran for five series from 1975 to 1978, produced by Thames Television. It focused on the experiences of National Service recruits in the Royal Air Force during 1955. The title is a contraction of 'Get some service in!', a piece of Second World War-era military slang. The series was written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, who also wrote The Good Life. It drew inspiration from earlier sitcoms The Army Game and Dad's Army. The show featured a recurring conflict between recruits and their bullying corporal, Percy Marsh. The series was repeated on UK Gold between 1994 and 1996, on Forces TV in 2016 and 2019, and on Talking Pictures TV in 2019, 2021, and 2022. It was also screened in Australia in the early 1980s. A stage version was produced for a 1977 summer season at the Princess Theatre, Torquay. All five series have been released on DVD by Network.

Creative Roots and the Meaning Behind the Title

The sitcom Get Some In! emerged from a well-established tradition of British military comedy. Its writers, John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, had already proven their comedic instincts behind The Good Life, and they consciously drew upon two earlier landmarks: the late-1950s and early-1960s National Service farce The Army Game and the nostalgic BBC ensemble Dad's Army. Rather than simply imitating those predecessors, the pair transplanted the formula into the Royal Air Force, setting their stories in 1955 at the fictional station RAF Skelton. Thames Television commissioned the series, which ran from 1975 to 1978 and ultimately produced thirty-four half-hour episodes. The show's title itself carries a piece of military history: it is a shortened form of "Get some service in!", a phrase conscripted soldiers in the Second World War would hurl at civilians of draft age whom they suspected of dodging call-up. That irreverent, working-class snark toward authority and the civilian world became a tonal undercurrent running through every episode.

The Hut, the Corporal, and a Cast of Misfits

At the heart of every episode sits a single RAF hut occupied by a deliberately mismatched group of National Service conscripts. Their nominal leader, Jakey Smith, is a former London Teddy Boy who resents the entire institution of conscription and shows zero deference to rank. Beside him are Ken Richardson, a grammar-school graduate whose polished manners infuriate the drill instructor; Matthew Lilley, a shy vicar's son who plays the harpsichord and prides himself on hating no one; and Bruce Leckie, a cynical Glasgow Rangers supporter from Scotland who is painfully awkward around women. All four are perpetually at the mercy of Corporal Percy Marsh, a sadistic drill instructor with an eidetic memory and a talent for mental arithmetic that others mistake for genuine intelligence. Marsh lives in married quarters on the base, which introduces a recurring romantic subplot, and his endless schemes for promotion consistently backfire. His nicknames for the men—"Edward VII," "poofhouse," "Holy Joe," "Jockstrap"—become running gags that define the show's voice.

Shifting Ground: How the Series Evolved

The show's narrative architecture changed noticeably as it progressed. The first two series kept the action firmly at RAF Skelton, but series three relocated the group to RAF Midham, situated beside a WAAF station, which opened up new romantic and comedic possibilities. Corporal Marsh also moved into on-site married quarters—albeit a caravan—and the cast collectively began retraining as medics, which shifted the power dynamic by making Marsh effectively an equal rather than a superior. By the end of series four, the main group was posted to Malta in their new medical roles, and Marsh suffered a demotion after being caught cheating in an exam, though he later clawed his way back by fabricating an act of heroism that earned him the George Medal. Series five then pivoted into what is essentially a hospital comedy. On the casting front, Robert Lindsay departed after series four to front his own vehicle, Citizen Smith, and Karl Howman stepped in to replace him as Jakey Smith for the final run.

Life Beyond the Original Broadcast

Although Thames Television's original run ended in 1978, the show's afterlife has been remarkably long. A stage adaptation was mounted for a summer season at the Princess Theatre in Torquay in 1977, bringing the hut's antics to a live audience. Internationally, the series found an audience in Australia during the early 1980s. In the UK, the programme enjoyed a significant revival on UK Gold between 1994 and 1996, introducing it to a younger generation of viewers. More recently, Forces TV repeated the complete series in both 2016 and 2019, while Talking Pictures TV aired further reruns in 2019, 2021, and 2022. These repeated broadcasts have kept the show in circulation for nearly five decades after its initial transmission, ensuring that the bickering, the corporal's backfiring schemes, and the recruits' quiet rebellions continue to find new audiences well beyond the original 1970s viewers who first tuned in.

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