The Peacetime Conscripts

Presented by Charles Wheeler, this series looks at the experience of National Service in the post-war years, from 1945 to 1963. Six programmes cover the receipt of call-up papers, the rigours of basic training, postings home and abroad, the Suez crisis, the last days of National Service and the return to civilian life. It also asks, with the hindsight of forty years, whether National Service was a worthwhile institution. There are contributions from some of the men who underwent National Service training, including some well-known Denis Healey, Brian Sewell, Jeremy Young and Trevor Baylis.