Cover of programme for the stage show.

In 1959 the hit Granada TV sitcom The Army Game transferred to the Blackpool stage for a summer season stage show at ABC's Hippodrome, Blackpool from 26th June till 30th September 1959, in the break between Series 2 and 3 of Granada's 4-series hit sitcom.

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This was the first direct TV sitcom stage adaptation, although stage shows of BBC radio comedies had been mounted before, and many new shows built around TV comedy stars like Hancock etc. The show starred Alfie Bass and Bill Fraser as Bootsie and Snudge and Ted Lune as Private Bone from the then current TV Series 2. It was also the last Army Game appearance of Michael Medwin as Corporal Springer, when the TV series returned for its third series a little over a week after this summer season finished he was replaced by Harry Fowler's Corporal 'Flogger' Hoskins. Oddly, the summer season also included Norman Rossington as Private 'Cupcake' Cook although he'd left the TV show a couple of episodes into the 39-episode Series 2 in September 1958. Possibly brought back in as a more familiar face after Carry On Sergeant.

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Prior to opening at Blackpool for the summer season it had a weeks' try-out twice nightly at The Globe, Stockton for week commencing 15th June 1959. This was quite usual to try it out in a smaller theatre to test the water and iron out any wrinkles. Then, three days before this summer season started on 26th June the same Army Game cast had appeared in a sketch in the Royal Variety Show at the Palace Theatre, Manchester on 23rd June in front of the Queen Mother.

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The Blackpool show mixed traditional variety with a variety bill taking up the first half of the show including musical comedy/novelty act Albert & Les Ward, ventriloquist act Saveen & Daisy May (who beat Archie Andrews to having the first radio ventriloquist show in 1950) and singer Rosemary Squires. The Army Game half of the show then included the sketch On the Square, then in Hut 29, then The Medical Inspection, and after Albert & Les Ward gave another musical interlude Ted Lune had a solo spot of Private Bone in Civvy Street which included Lune singing (ironically it'd be Bootsie & Snudge who later got the TV Civvy Street spin-off) and finally the whole company back on parade.

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The summer season proved very successful. Lots of other TV stars were being drawn to summer seasons to boost theatre numbers including many in other Blackpool theatres at the same time (Charlie Drake was in summer season at the neighbouring North Pier Theatre, Jewel & Warris were resident at the Blackpool Opera House, Roy Castle at the Blackpool Palace and Thora Hird at the Blackpool Grand for the same summer season) but this is the first time a stage show was adapted directly from a hit TV sitcom rather than something new built around a TV comedy star. The Blackpool shows' producer Bernard Delfont announced at the end that The Army Game stage show had broken all Blackpool box office records and going forward stage adaptations of sitcoms would become a fairly regular thing, particularly in the 70s.

Towards the end of the shows' run on 31st August 1959 Norman Rossington got himself on the wrong side of the law when he appeared at Blackpool Magistrats Court and was fined £2 for speeding on the promenade!

The show finished on 30th September but there was no time to rest as a little over a week later on 9th October 1959 Series 3 started so Bootsie, Snudge and Bone were straight back to Nether Hopping Barracks.