A call sheet, movement order and maps from the first Dad’s Army film reveal the slick behind-the-scenes operation that helped the classic BBC comedy become a hit.

The documents - which belonged to John Laurie, who played Private Frazer - offer unique insights into how legions of crew pulled off the hilarious comedy.

And they are now set for auction just four months after Ian Lavender, who played Private Pike, became the final member of the main cast to pass away.

The call sheet, which is signed by all the major original actors, except for James Beck, relates to location filming for the Dad's Army feature film, released in 1971.

It lists the actors, their characters, and which caravan served as their dressing room, along with timings for their make-up and when they were due on set.

Filming took place between August and September 1970, at Shepperton Studios - with location shoots scheduled at Lock Cut, Cookham and Cliveden, Berkshire.

And the movement order includes the names and phone numbers of the premises and ground landlords of Cookham Lock, where a scene was filmed.

It also has the names and contact details of the immediate neighbours, the police, the nearest station and hospital.

Even parking spaces are listed, and the directions are accompanied by an important note warning that the bridges to the common have a weight limit of five tons.

Two detailed hand-drawn maps of the area are also included, which lay out in detail the different shoot locations.

The film charts how the hapless band of Home Guard volunteers come together to prepare for the expected German invasion of 1940 following Operation Dynamo.

It begins with a Wehrmacht colonel scanning the English coast across the Channel, only to spy Private Godfrey coming out of the lavatory.

Despite the clowning around, the film also includes notable scenes of pluck and bravery.

And it showed the characters as rounded personalities with whom the audience can identify rather than just comic cyphers – one of the keys to Dad’s Army’s success.

The seller’s parents had been living in Maidenhead, Berkshire, when filming was taking place.

And whilst visiting a pub in Cliveden, their mother, also Scottish, struck up a conversation with John Laurie who had been shooting locally that day. 

Laurie asked the cast to sign his call sheet and then presented it to her.

The documents are now expected to fetch between £300 and 500 when they come up for auction on May 30 at Ewbank’s Auction House.

Senior Partner Andrew Ewbank from the firm said: “This is a wonderful moment of entertainment history captured forever in the humdrum pages of a film location shoot’s instructions.

"It is the equivalent of finding a rare fossil that reveals new facts about the past.”

“Dad’s Army is one of the best-loved comedy series ever to be shown on British television, and this sale provides a chance to acquire a small slice of its history.”