AT SIXTEEN Samuel Bruce-Angland got kicked out of school, fell out with his parents, moved out of home, and fell in with the wrong crowd.

But after several years drinking, getting into trouble and falling in and out of jobs, he has signed up for a short, sharp dose of 1950s-style army training.

His experiences are being televised in the new series of ITV's Bad Lads Army.

Samuel, now 21, joined 30 lads, aged 18 to 24, who between them have notched up more than 2,000 days in prison, 2,500 hours of community service, and more than £30,000 in fines.

The new recruits will undergo British Paratroop training as it was in the 1950s, which was as tough as it got both physically and mentally.

Those who fail to make the grade will be subjected to a range of physical punishments, or "beastings", the likes of which they have never experienced before.

Malingerers will be unceremoniously booted off camp. And if all else fails, the lads will be marched off to the dreaded camp jail.

Samuel, of Nuttall Street, Accrington, said he decided to sign up for the show to try and get his life back on track.

After auditions in Manchester and London, he was included in the final 30.

He said: "It was either have a go at this and prove to people that I can do something good, or carry on going the way I was and end up in jail, or dead.

"I got kicked out of boarding school at 16 for fighting. I came back home and it just went downhill from there.

"I was hanging round with the wrong crowd and getting into trouble.

"I had a big argument with my mum and moved out. I was drinking and getting into fights mainly.

"I got into trouble with the police, but I never got any convictions. I seemed to keep getting away with things."

Two years ago, following a one-night stand, he became a dad and it is his son Gage, two, who has been the main motivation for him trying to turn his life around.

He said: "I never got to see him properly because of the way I was acting. I would say I was going to see him, but never show up. Sorting out my relationship with him has been the key motivation for me to go on this training."

Samuel said the first few days at the Browndown Army barracks were a shock to the system.

He said: "We were thrown straight into training and we were getting beasted'. It was really, really tough. I was thinking why have I done this?'."

People will have to tune in to see whether Samuel survives the discipline and whether it has helped this young troublemaker turn his life around.

The first of the eight-part series is being screened on ITV1 on Tuesday night.