A DARWEN man is putting his flat feet up in bed after nearly crippling himself in front of six million people on ITV1's Lads' Army show.

Viewers saw Jamie Dodd, 23, of Earnsdale Avenue, Sunnyhurst, leaving the Gosport barracks in tears of agony and regret on Friday night. He was forced to quit the show after three weeks of punishing physical army life took its toll on his health.

The show's doctors warned his spine could have been permanently damaged had he continued. He has now been ordered to rest in bed for six weeks.

Despite the sour ending, Jamie loved his time of the show, in which a group of 18 to 24 year-olds attempted to complete a month of national service in a 1950s-style army barracks. The 30 men were treated as genuine raw recruits for the social experiment to see if they could cope.

Days were spent cleaning toilets with tooth brushes, cutting grass with nail clippers, walking for miles with two stone in a rucksack, while being bullied and abused by a colonel. Six recruits quit when the pain became too much, despite beating 7,000 applicants and passing a psychological and psychometric test to appear on the show.

Jamie, on the other hand, attempted to defy the odds to stay. He tried putting cotton wool in his 1950s boots to ease the pain, to no avail, and marched for three weeks in agony. People with flat feet were excluded from the army in the 1950s. The show tries to be authentic to its time, so Jamie could be offered no extra help in the form of special shoes.

He said it was "the worst week ever" after he left as the remaining recruits completed their stay in the barracks.

Jamie has been back in Darwen for several days as he returns to normality. He said he did not miss television, magazines, or many modern comforts, although he savoured his first meal out of the barracks - a McDonald's Big Mac.

"I enjoyed the camaraderie and made a lot of friends in the barracks. If you are cleaning a toilet with a razor blade you have to get on with the person next to you," he said. "Since I've been back I've been waking at 6.15am every day. I was very messy before I went on the show, but now I am tidy. It has also given me a lot more confidence. I realise now that I am not rubbish because I kept going through with the show despite the pain."

But Jamie believes national service is an outdated idea. "It wouldn't work in today's society. The punishment and hardship is too severe and they would be sued left right and centre."