Everybody was joining up, so I went into the recruitment office. They said to me, ‘How old are you?’ and I said, ‘17, sir’

The moving memories of Scots soldiers will be heard tonight in a landmark documentary marking the Armistice centenary.

Award-winning director Peter Jackson has brought colour to the sepia pictures of the First World War using the latest digital techniques to remaster archive footage in a film that has already won acclaim after being shown in cinemas.

Nineteen shots of Scottish regiments appear in They Shall Not Grow Old, including the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and the recorded voice of Private Donald Bain, from the Seaforth Highlanders, tells the story of his own enlistment.

He explains: “Everybody else was joining up, so I went into the recruitment office. “They said to me, ‘How old are you?’ and I said, ‘17, sir’.

“He replied, ‘Well go outside and come back and say you’re 18’. So, of course, I went outside (came back) and said I was 18.”

They Shall Not Grow Old, tonight, 9.30pm, BBC Two.