BRADFORD youngsters stepped back into the war years when they joined a star-studded cast in the new film of Dad's Army.

The young actors, who attend drama classes at Articulate Speech, Drama and Casting in Bradford, played support roles in the movie, filming in locations such as the East coast, Pickering and Leeds.

Set in 1944, nearing the end of the Second World War, the film follows the antics of Captain Mainwaring's Home Guard In Walmington-on-Sea, which is visited by a glamorous journalist, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, reporting on the platoon.

The film, which also stars Toby Jones, Bill Nighy, Tom Courtenay, Michael Gambon and Bill Paterson, had its Yorkshire premiere in Bridlington last week.

The youngsters were dressed in authentic 1940s clothes and styled before they arrived on set. Amy Harrison, 16, said: "One of the most exciting things was meeting the huge crew and seeing the scale of the production. One minute my hair was being styled by a man who won a Bafta for Downtown Abbey and the next the runners were putting blankets around us to keep us warm in between takes. It was incredible to be on such a huge production, yet it still felt so friendly.

"We had to do several shots with the camera in different places, and different improvisations. We invented stories for our characters and were given direction; sometimes you'd buy a paper, sometimes you'd be meeting your mum and other times you'd be flirting with soldiers. It was so much fun to play so many different roles.

"Filming with the 1940s costume and hairstyles made you forget about the cameras and be fully immersed in the era".

Ava-Edith Malin, 10, added: "I had to go to Scarborough to get my outfit fitted, which was a genuine 1940s outfit that an evacuee would have worn. That was really cool! The next day I went to Leeds to film, I got my hair done in plaits and wore a beret. We filmed outside Leeds Town Hall, there was loads of cameras. It was so exciting. Everyone looked amazing in their 1940s outfits.

"It was a fabulous experience, I'm really looking forward to seeing the film."

Stacey Burrows, director of Articulate, said: "It's wonderful when I see my students in the theatre and on television, but seeing them in a hugely exciting feature film, on the scale of Dad's Army, is really something else.

"I'm very much looking forward to seeing the film, not just to see the Articulate kids, but also the star-studded cast and the familiar Yorkshire locations that were used."