‘To treat it as an object of shame is just wrong’: 50 years of It Ain’t Half Hot Mum

• “When you think of some of the stuff on TV these days, it’s hard to see why It Ain’t Half Hot Mum is seen as too offensive to be shown on the BBC,” says Melvyn Hayes. “Nobody swore, there was no rudeness and what we used to call ‘the coloured characters’ came out on top every time. I feel very privileged to have been a part of it.”